The Shoe Market: Best Viewed in 3D
Beyond the technical aspects, digitalizing tangible shopping experiences require imagination and creativity — two elements that surface with Merrell’s Augmented Reality feature
A recent report claims that over a quarter of the US population now uses Augmented Reality (AR), pushing it to be mainstream and comparable to other key media in terms of usage. The numbers speak for themselves — there are 90.9 million AR users in 2023, competing with other categories such as smart wearables and smartphone health and fitness apps.
Treading on the realm of health and fitness, Merrell saw the benefit of giving their online customers the option to see their products in 3D. Personally, it still incites a sense of novelty to engage with AR executions, seeing it as a form of technology that gives the customer more control and ultimately, purchase confidence. There are three key points to my experience with Merrell’s AR feature:
The Novelty
There are two elements to shopping in brick and mortar settings: visuals and immersion. In fact, around 40% of consumers still cite physical stores as a better experience with the ability to see, touch, and try products before purchasing. When those characteristics are seamlessly translated virtually, there will be a touch of personal engagement with the customer that enables them to browse longer, pushing brands to also achieve their website metrics — increased page views, decreased bounce rates, etc.
The Purpose
As with most product development in the tech space, Google is an omnipresence. In the past year, they’ve been bullish with pilot programs for machine learning tools that can generate “spinnable” images by stitching together 2D merchandise photos. They cite that more than ever, this function is crucial to the retail market as “consumers are 50% more likely to engage with an item with 3D images than they do with static photos.”
The Decision
Athletic brands get the most rep from the quality of their material, function, and fit — checkboxes that were ticked in Merrel’s product pages. Detailed descriptions are one thing, but visualizing the material and build of a shoe via the AR feature is a transformative solution. Janice Tennant, Merrel’s CMO, emphasizes their goal to eliminate ‘shoe fit’ as a pain point for their consumers by improving their website’s tech features. In addition to effectively solving woes, these advancements are also sustainable in terms of manufacturing processes and the logistical implications of dealing with a volume of merchandise returns.
Overall, the 3D view is capturing purchase confidence and will most likely continue on in the years to come.
