As we move forward into the next decade, technological advances are moving with us. Experiences like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) seemed impossible only a generation ago, but now we are seeing it come to life in industries like gaming, real estate, and even healthcare.
What’s the difference between VR and AR?
Virtual reality is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. This technology is best used for gaming, traveling, and overall entertainment. Due to the full immersion, VR is best used for a set amount of time for a specific goal, like playing a game.
Augmented reality is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world. Augmentation can be used in everyday life because it is an enhancement on the physical world. Examples of this include the Pokémon Go app that trended in 2016, and more recently, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2019.
So, how can AR help your business? ECommerce retailers are finding great use out of AR for product design, development, marketing, and more. Here are benefits of Augmented Reality for online stores.
In the design process, visualization is a core activity. When you start designing any products in the initial stages of its development and user experience, concepts are practically envisioned and shaped through either modeling or sketching. By using 2D methods, designers can make an efficient visualization of their envisioned product, but they face difficulties in showing the concepts in relation to scale and spatial context.
AR allows you to pull the idea out of the screen and drop it into reality on a full scale. It will help you to walk around it or within it. Through this, you can get a better feel for your product’s proportions, form, and relationship to the environment.
Moving the design out of the screen is entirely different from seeing it within the actual context of use. With the help AR, you can understand and analyze the product. It will let you know the presence of the idea in reality, and you can select a powerful and useful approach. It is far better than making the entire product with the tools and redoes it if you feel about choosing a different plan.
Moving the design out of the screen is entirely different from seeing it within the actual context of use. AR has tangible benefits and helps in assessing alternatives to the concepts. With the help of these features, you can understand and analyze the product. It will let you know the presence of the idea in reality, and you can select a powerful and useful approach. It is far better than making the entire product with the tools and redoes it if you feel about choosing a different plan.
Virtual collaboration tools have been in our lives for years, and augmented reality offers another way to see products in real-time. You can portray products to your stakeholders for reviewing the progress and the virtual assets in a more natural way. Using holographic and realistic 3D imagery, you can analyze inside and outside of the product and can make changes before finalizing the product.
AR can streamline development when it is paired with other prototyping methods. You can explore your options by visualizing the product in the initial stages. It will reduce the investment and allow you to tweak and speed up your pace. As you are narrowing your concepts, you can use 3D paintings and AR together to enhance your visualization. When you are using a mixed reality prototype, you can test your concepts and get valuable insights far earlier than the traditional way of processing.
Although the implementation of AR is just getting started for most industries, many of the enterprises are showing a lot of promise towards it. ECommerce retailers are just one of hundreds of industries that AR can be applied to. In the next decade, it wouldn’t be surprising to see AR and VR used regularly in the consumer market.