IKEA: The Artist of AR Technology

Consumers cannot rely solely on the graphics of the product or the design and texture of the product, but also need to buy it and put it at home to finally determine whether the product really matches the design style of the home, resulting in returns and exchanges. Reduced consumer satisfaction is a common pain point in the home furnishing industry.

Giants in the home furnishing industry have also been actively using various technological means to solve this problem many years ago. Among them, AR technology is the most widely used solution. The reason is that AR, as a means of augmenting the real world, allows consumers to establish a comprehensive perception of goods in advance and assist in purchasing decisions.

Among furniture companies, IKEA can be said to be the industry benchmark for the application of AR.

IKEA PLACE AR experience
IKEA is the forerunner of global scene marketing. The signboard model room builds consumers’ beautiful vision for the dreamer, and encourages consumers to buy the same model one after another and build their own model room of the same IKEA model.

With the comprehensive rise of e-commerce platforms, IKEA has also established an online e-commerce platform. How to remain invincible in sales in the Internet age is one of the issues for brands to think about. The IKEA PLACE experience launched by IKEA in 2016 focuses on the use of AR technology, starting from three different applications to enhance the overall experience of IKEA consumers and increase online sales growth.

The first application is the AR home matching service. IKEA is the first brand in the world to use SLAM AR technology for furniture placement. When consumers turn on the camera to identify the ground, they can see IKEA furniture products placed in the real environment, helping consumers to intuitively see whether the product conforms to their own decoration style. Assist in reducing the return rate of consumers and improving customer satisfaction.

The second application is the furniture AR installation instruction manual. “Install your own furniture yourself” is one of the features of IKEA products in addition to the model room. On the one hand, consumers with strong hands-on ability can experience the joy of building, on the other hand, a considerable number of consumers are discouraged by the thick assembly manual.

In response to this problem, IKEA PALACE has launched the function of AR manual, which visualizes the construction steps. Consumers do not need to read the paper instructions, but only need to find parts with the same shape and install the furniture like Lego. The assembly difficulty is cleared up for the user and the user experience is improved.

The third is AR toy interaction. Environmental protection is a common topic in the world in recent years. IKEA produces a large number of cartons every year for product packaging. IKEA has launched the AR toy box function. You only need to open the mobile phone and scan the IKEA carton to see the shapes of the various parts of the toy appear on the carton. Consumers can easily assemble the carton into a corrugated toy by cutting out the corresponding part shapes along the dotted line and piecing them together, turning waste into treasure.

In terms of brands, in addition to the significance of environmental protection, the interesting interaction of AR toys also increases the dialogue between consumers and brands, and enhances consumer stickiness. At the same time, the unique creative game can promote consumers’ independent secondary communication, form social fission, and comprehensively enhance the brand’s voice.

IKEA STUDIO AR experience
Last year, IKEA also joined hands with Apple again to launch a new AR application, IKEA Studio, which can experience the AR effect of redecorating the whole room.

Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro series or iPad Pro all have LiDAR sensors, and with a more powerful camera, open the IKEA Studio App to scan the room, including the size, shape and position of every piece of furniture, and how they relate to the room’s windows and walls. The relative position can be accurately measured, and a complete indoor 3D map can be constructed.

After that, the program “erases” the original old furniture, so that you can “move” the furniture into the new vacant room. Customers can try different furniture, different color schemes, different decorations, different lighting shades, different colored walls and curtains. After the “decoration” is complete, IKEA Studio can also generate 3D or 2D renderings to share with family members.

But neither the previous IKEA Place nor the current IKEA Studio support shopping, so you have to exit the AR app to buy furniture online. Although it is not mature enough, this AR kit-based application allows enterprises to see the application space of AR in the consumer market. And for customers, using AR technology, they can decorate their new homes wherever they want.

Therefore, for enterprises, AR shopping method has obtained more potential customers for them and attracted more customer traffic; for consumers, AR shopping method is not only their most desirable shopping method, but also convenient for them to choose.

Future prospect of AR application
In the past two years, AR/VR technology and its derived metaverse concept have received extensive attention around the world. AR/VR technology has also developed by leaps and bounds in recent years.

And in the furniture industry, I think AR applications will continue to be popular and developed. According to Cylindo research, 60% of consumers want to use AR apps to buy furniture. AR applications can not only attract young consumers, but also stimulate the purchasing desire of potential customers.

Today’s customers crave visual information. Due to the lack of a tactile experience, customers rely on their visual perception to make purchasing decisions. As the focus on customer experience becomes imperative, technology will play a major role in merging online and brick-and-mortar retail.

With the full rollout of 5 and the breakthrough of technical points such as point cloud and real physical occlusion, there will be opportunities to emerge more excellent AR home furnishing applications in the future to assist consumers in choosing more suitable home furnishing products and increase brand sales.