259: How AR Is Redefining The Shopping Experience

The realm of digital commerce is expanding, yet many aspects of online shopping have remained surprisingly static. Augmented Reality (AR) has evolved into a tool that can blend the digital and physical channels, creating immersive, interactive consumer experiences. But while the technology is undeniably clever and cool, it can easily slip into gimmicky use cases. It must stack up in terms of practical application for customers, and create tangible commercial value. Join Oliver Banks to delve into the application of AR across varied categories, from fashion and cosmetics to home goods, and explore both the exciting potential and its viable uses in practice.

Listen to this podcast episode and discover:

• The innovative ways businesses are using AR to enhance customer experiences and blend between physical retail spaces and digital channels.
• Examples from various categories about how AR is being implemented.
• A look at the future of AR, examining upcoming technologies, potential applications, and arising concerns like privacy and ethics in its application.
• Crucial considerations for businesses considering AR features to ensure it positively influences buying decisions rather than simply wooing with tech.

 

 

Share your thoughts on social media

What are your views on AR in retail? Share what you took away from this episode and consider using one of Oliver’s question prompts to inspire you.

• Are you a fan of AR? Do you use it for your own shopping, or just to see what it can do?
• Do you think it’s a tool or a gimmick?
• What are the best examples where you’ve found AR genuinely useful? Or genuinely terrible?
• What AR capabilities are you seeing?
• Does it add sufficient value?
• Where would you love to see AR applied next?

If you’re posting on LinkedIn, tag Oliver Banks. Or on Twitter/X, tag @ollie_banks.

Examples of AR in action

There are loads of great examples of AR in action and the best way to see is simply to have a go yourself. Here are some of our favourite examples.

Wayfair’s Decorify app can give your home an instant make-over and furnish it with Wayfair’s products.

Cosmetics is a highly common use case, both in smartphone-based applications as well as for in-store fixtures.

Dallas Cowboys’ AR photos create a fun memory for fans as their favourite football players photobomb their shot.

And AR billboard and adverts can help excite and intrigue customers. This bus stop advert has certainly caught attention.

And finally, a glimpse of what’s to come with a prototype smart contact lens, via Mojo Lens.

Navigate transformation with Oliver Banks

Oliver and OB&Co help retailers accelerate their transformation initiatives whilst successfully navigating disruption. Discover how, together, we can drive your retail transformation forward.

Connect with and message Oliver Banks on LinkedIn or by email at oliver.banks@obandco.uk.

Additional episodes to listen to next

In episode 155, you can explore different ways for Reinventing Digital Shopping. The PLP and shopping the grid ways of ecommerce have not evolved for decades now. Join Oliver and be ready to reconsider how to take a different look at this customer experience.

In a two-parter, Oliver explored how to evolve the shopping experience and how to help inspire customers to explore and be inspired by the ranges. Episode 147: Transforming Discovery In Retail (part 1) focuses on physical retail and how better discovery in store can help evolve the customer experience. Then in episode 148: Transforming Discovery In Retail (part 2), Oliver explores an alternative way of shopping online.

And finally, back in episode 128: AR, VR And Retail In The Metaverse, next-gen tech expert, Cathy Hackl joined to explore these concepts and how retail will change over time.