AR in Retail, Marketing and Sales in 2021

Technology in any industry must be practical in order to be useful and reach mass adoption. This is often a large barrier for experimental technology, however, AR is ready to be deployed to drive sales for businesses. MobiDev’s Mobile Development team has outlined the main areas of AR use in retail, marketing, and sales in 2021:

Virtual Manuals: New Ways of Presenting Information to Customers

Traditional vehicle guides, typically booklets with hundreds of pages each, can be confusing and dense. By pointing their device’s camera at various parts of the vehicle, the user can tap and learn about features at their disposal. This kind of technology makes it possible to brief drivers on how to use their vehicles and take care of them properly.

Retail Industry: AR Experiences That Help Shoppers

Although customers gain a great deal of convenience by being able to shop from home online, they lose out on the ability to test out what those products will be like. This can make or break a sale, and augmented reality can help drive those conversions by offering a valuable compromise. AR technology can also bridge the gap between online and offline shopping, an important step after the pandemic lockdowns of 2020.

Home Improvement: Furniture, Appliances, and Paint

It can be difficult to imagine what a color of paint will look like while visiting an in-person store, and augmented reality technology can allow customers to imagine exactly what that color of paint will look like in their living room, kitchen, and bedroom.

AR Can Allow Customers to Try on Apparel from Home

One of the applications of AR in the retail, marketing, and sales space is using AR to simulate the role of in-person fitting rooms at outlet stores. Although virtual try-on technology existed previously, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 accelerated the development of this technology and it was quickly adopted by various industry leaders.

Using AR to Navigate Stores: Navigation in Indoor Environments

If you have a complex series of paths throughout your store similar to Ikea, customers often may find themselves lost. Augmented reality can help customers navigate these areas by providing on-screen directions. In recent years such technologies support indoor positioning systems including BLE beacons, Wi-FI RTT, and ultra wide-band technology.

AR Branded Materials: Networking and Marketing

With the help of a QR code on a business card, the customer can use their smartphone’s camera to scan it and be led to a website with a WebAR experience. This can transform the business card into a dynamic, animated, and 3D experience to promote your business. AR business cards may also demonstrate a product and have links to your company’s website.

Leveraging AR to Generate Social Media Interest

Augmented reality has great potential to initiate trends online if used creatively. This can be a major boon for marketing and sales for retail businesses and other sectors. AR advertisements have the power to catch the curious eye of potential customers and engage existing customers to build confidence and reputation for your brand.

Making B2B Sales With Engaging AR Product Presentations

Augmented reality can help business-to-business (B2B) sales by changing the way that clients view and interact with products. This is especially true with proposals for prospective creations. For example, it may be difficult for clients to visualize a building that has not yet been constructed. Augmented reality can help them experience what the structure may be like before it has been built. Andrew Makarov, Head of Mobile Development at MobiDev points out: “There are so many possibilities for AR, what we’ve listed so far has only scratched the surface. What can make or break a business in the market is how they choose to combine AR with other innovative technologies to create a truly unique solution and experience for users.”

AR Product Support: Self Service and Telesupport Applications

Customer support is an important investment for all industries, including retail. The customer experience management market is showing a growing use of digital channels by consumers for communication with brands.

Augmented reality stands to revolutionize the way we market our products and sell them to our audience in stores and online. The technology stands to be a major boom for marketing and sales not only for consumers but also for B2B applications. Taking advantage of these applications where it matters most for your business can give you the edge in the market. More detailed information about AR in retail, marketing and sales in 2021 can be found at: https://mobidev.biz/blog/augmented-reality-marketing-sales

MobiDev is a US-based software engineering company focused on helping visionaries create their products with ease and joy. The company invests into technology research and has years of experience building AI-powered solutions, implementing machine learning, augmented reality, and IoT.