Revolutionizing Online Shopping: From Interactive Product Visualization to Immersive Virtual Stores
From its modest origins, e-commerce has gone a long way. It is no longer enough to purchase and sell items online. It is a continually growing field in which technology plays a significant role in improving the user experience. E-commerce is evolving into something more immersive, engaging, and living. How can this be accomplished? By combining Augmented Reality (AR) with Virtual Reality (VR).
Augmented and Virtual Reality’s Impact on E-Commerce
Augmented Reality: Improving the Purchasing Experience
AR Augmented Reality shopping alters the buying experience by superimposing virtual components on the actual environment via the screen of your smartphone or linked glasses. You may now see the product in your environment before you ever enter the store..
Social filters venture into e-commerce:
Through its whimsical filters, popular social media applications such as Instagram and Snapchat have made augmented reality (AR) omnipresent. These technologies are being utilized to digitally test things and go beyond the fun selfie. Cosmetics companies, for example, are utilizing augmented reality to allow consumers to put on different lipsticks or eyeshadows, making the purchasing process more interesting and realistic.
Virtual Reality: a journey into the world of products
Shopping from the convenience of your own home
Virtual reality provides an even more immersive experience. You may visit a virtual store and roam around as if you were actually there using a VR headset. Products may be touched, examined from any aspect, and complete information can be obtained simply by looking at them.
E-commerce behemoths embrace virtual reality
Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, has created Buy+, a virtual reality buying platform. Users may navigate a virtual replica of a shopping mall, explore businesses, examine merchandise, and make purchases without removing their VR headsets. This comprehensive immersion brings the online buying experience closer to the in-store experience, with the added convenience of not having to leave the house.
Creating one-of-a-kind brand experiences
VR also provides marketers with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to create immersive, memorable brand experiences. To illustrate their business purpose of donating a pair of shoes for every pair sold, TOMS, a shoe brand, has produced a VR experience that takes viewers on a virtual tour to Argentina.
The Advantages of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Online Merchants
Cutting down on product returns
Returns’ Influence on Online Commerce
Online shopping has provided customers with the ease of purchasing anywhere and whenever they choose, but it has also presented a big problem: a high incidence of returns. Returns cost merchants not just in terms of shipping and packing, but also in terms of missed sales and brand loyalty.
AR/VR to the rescue
Customers may now receive a more realistic, interactive picture of things before they buy thanks to AR and VR. Customers, for example, may make better-informed decisions by examining a pair of shoes from multiple perspectives and sizes using AR, or by walking around a furnished room in VR, minimizing the likelihood of returns.
Increased Customer Engagement
The importance of e-commerce consumer involvement
Customer involvement has become a critical success factor in the competitive e-commerce industry. The more engaged a consumer is, the more likely they are to spend time on the site, explore more things, and eventually buy.
AR and VR as instruments for engagement
Augmented and virtual reality have the ability to boost customer engagement by providing a one-of-a-kind and unforgettable purchasing experience. These technologies capture customers and urge them to explore more, whether through a virtual product trial with AR or an immersive visit to a store with VR.
Measuring AR and VR Engagement
AR and VR not only deliver a more immersive purchasing experience, but they also provide crucial statistics on client interaction. Retailers can measure where their consumers’ attention is focused, which goods they like, and how they engage with virtual information, allowing them to alter their offer and marketing appropriately.
The Difficulties of Using Augmented and Virtual Reality in E-Commerce
High development costs
Cost is one of the most significant barriers to AR and VR adoption. Creating AR and VR apps may be costly, especially for small and medium-sized organizations.
The requirement for a strong technological infrastructure
Merchants require a strong technological infrastructure to provide a good user experience. This might be difficult for firms who do not have the essential technologies.
Conclusion
Despite these obstacles, augmented reality and virtual reality have immense promise in e-commerce. These technologies will transform the online buying experience as they become more inexpensive and accessible. The shopping experience of the future will be immersive, interactive, and extremely engaging.
About this article
This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Strategy Management. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminating the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DSM.
