Gucci — the first fashion brand to introduce footwear AR in its app
The virtual buying experience brings the real growth of loyalty of the brand.
Gucci is undoubtedly one of the leaders in the luxury industry when it comes to appealing to millennials. The brand doubled its sales in 2018 and consumers under 35 years old accounted for over half of those sales. According to Kering, Gucci’s sales continued to grow in the first quarter of 2019 with revenue up 24.6 per cent.
And this progressive luxury brand’s new AR app for its Ace sneakers has made it easy and fun for its devoted millennial fan base to go virtual shopping.
Gucci’s AR (augmented reality) function allows customers to virtually try on its coveted Ace sneakers. The way it operates is for you to first choose a shoe style, then angle your phone over your feet, which allows the AR Ace sneakers to layer over your feet or the shoes you’re currently wearing, similar to how photo filters work.
In my opinion, this AR marketing strategy of Gucci has obviously greatly improved the brand loyalty of users (especially young users) and ultimately led to revenue growth.
Firstly, during the lockdown caused by the pandemic, online experiences are more popular with users than physical retail stores, and consumers’ demand for virtual shopping environments has greatly increased.
Such tech also seeds brand loyalty in younger fans (who are as yet unable to afford luxury goods) by allowing them to both try on the product digitally and share it with followers.
Finally, this kind of AR try-on service of Gucci also provides personalized interest settings, which brings a similar experience of personal customized services to consumers who pursue personalization.
AR try-on technologies have been found to increase conversion, with Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify claiming that consumers who viewed a product in AR were twice as likely to convert compared to those who didn’t (Shopify, 2019).
Undoubtedly, this in-App AR innovation will benefit Gucci a lot, just as the blog 7 Retail Technology Trends to Look Out for in 2020 said, “The degree to which customers enjoy themselves when interacting with your store, both offline and online, will determine whether you make the sale and, more importantly, retain the customer.”
“One of the ways retailers will improve their customer experiences is through extended reality. Through AR and VR, the top brands will allow potential customers to not only browse but also ‘try’ the items they’re thinking of buying.”
The AR try-on experience before purchase allows marketers to understand what kind of shoes customers are generally attracted to, and for what reasons they will give up buying after trying them, and what kind of shoes consumers expect. It can allow brands to gradually enter the real context of consumer purchase experience, provide customers with more humane services and be more closely connected with them, in order to establish a more loyal customer relationship.
