Augmented Reality: The Value of Virtual by Carey McKellar
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hat if everyone’s favorite boutique could come to them? Imagine shopping from home — not through a screen, but from a three-dimensional rack of clothes that could be tried on, changed out, examined and admired. That’s the beauty of augmented reality. Augmented reality enhances the online shopping experience by providing realistic, multi-dimensional representations of products. Images and information can be overlayed onto actual objects, or it can exist independently, allowing shoppers to visualize and engage with virtual products through a smartphone camera, a special viewer or a pair of glasses. “These are photorealistic assets that you can engage with, configure and have at your fingertips to try on, visualize and compare,” explains Patrick Johnson, CEO and founder of Rock Paper Reality, an augmented reality technology agency in San Francisco. The company recently worked with luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue to provide 3D imagery viewable through smart glasses or a smartphone camera. Among the virtual options: browsing a clothing rack, viewing clothing on a mannequin and receiving relevant information and recommendations. AR technology in the form of “wearable computing” has existed since the 1990s, but the migration to ecommerce caused by the pandemic accelerated its development as a shopping tool. In 2020, the AR market was valued at 14.7 billion; thanks to the pandemic, that market is expected to increase to 88.4 billion by 2026, according to a 2021 report from ReportLinker, a tech company that uses artificial intelligence to deliver market data and forecasts. AR’s appeal lies in its ability to improve the shopping experience, says Johnson. It does this in two ways. First, it helps remedy one of the biggest revenuebusters involved in online sales: the return. It also encourages shoppers to feel more confident about their
purchases, so they buy more, which boosts the retailer’s bottom line.The fashion industry sees the highest rate of online returns out of any other product category – one study by SaleCycle set the return rate above 50% of all clothing and shoes purchased online. The number one reason consumers return products is because of fit issues, the second top reason is because the product received was different from the photo on a website, according to Narvar, a post-purchase customer experience platform. AR can help align these expectations, says fashion designer Jenny Seide of Green Neurons, a sustainable product design and development company in Dallas. AR, she says, helps prevent fit issues, serving as a “preventive measure to lower the amount of merchandise being returned.” It worked for Gucci. The Italian luxury brand launched its first AR try-on app in 2019, allowing shoppers to virtually try on the Ace sneaker by pointing their iPhone camera at their feet. This effort was so successful that in 2020, the brand partnered with Snapchat to offer a sneaker try-on filter available through the social media app. (The filter even directed the shopper to the Gucci website to purchase the pair they just tried on.). This try-before-you-buy option eliminated both disappointed customers and product return costs stemming from this disappointment, according to the business news platform Marketing Dive, while also “driving brand loyalty and future sales.” Ecommerce retailers who use AR to support sales also report higher rates of conversion, the term for the percentage of website visitors who make a purchase.
In general, a good conversion rate for ecommerce is between 1% and 4%, according to a 2021 article from OmniConvert, a software company for conversion rate optimization. Adding 3D content to ecommerce can lift convergence by an average of 94%, according to a 2021 ShopifyPlus report on its client retailers and their experience with AR. In a 2020 study by Vertebrae, a Facebook AR partner that works with Coach, Adidas and other major brands, customer conversion rates increased by 90% for customers who engaged with AR compared to those customers who did not. When ShopifyPlus vendor Moscot, a family-owned luxury eyewear brand, revamped its website to offer shoppers the opportunity to virtually try on glasses from every angle overlaid on their face, its conversion rates more than doubled, with overall revenue amongst shoppers who engaged with the 3D and VR increasing by 174%. Ultimately, it’s only a matter of time before every ecommerce fashion platform adopts AR, says Johnson. “Because at the end of the day,” he says, “They’re going to be at a disadvantage because their competitors are going to be using it.” Carey McKellar is a senior majoring in fashion media and minoring in advertising.
“THESE ARE PHOTOREALISTIC ASSETS THAT YOU CAN ENGAGE WITH, CONFIGURE AND HAVE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS TO TRY ON, VISUALIZE AND COMPARE.” SPRING/SUMMER 22 • 27
