Leading retail companies in the augmented reality theme

The future of the retail industry will be shaped by a variety of disruptive topics, with augmented reality (AR) being one of the topics that will have a significant impact on retail businesses.

AR technology allows the user to see the real world overlaid with digital data. AR could completely change the way we shop. The retail industry is evolving at an astounding rate, and retailers that offer a truly omnichannel experience will emerge as winners. AR is essential for retailers to merge the physical with the virtual and adapt to the new retail model.

From warehouses to eCommerce sites to stores, retailers can use AR to address some of the challenges they face today. We’re still waiting for a killer use case for AR in retail, and this will likely come as AR smart glasses become more widely adopted. In the near term, retailers should focus their investments on developing mobile-based AR, such as 3D product display, and store-based AR experiences, such as magic mirrors.

However, not all companies are created equal when it comes to their capabilities and investments in the key issues that matter most to their industry. Understanding how companies are positioned and ranked on the most important issues can be a key indicator of their future earnings potential and relative competitive position.

According to GlobalData’s thematic research report, Augmented Reality in Retailtop adopters include: IKEA , walmart , Nike Alibaba, Amazon, Home Depot, L’Oréal, Lego , ebay Y Sephora .

Information of the best ranked companies 

IKEA

IKEA was an early adopter of AR, with an app that overlaid images of its furniture onto a phone or tablet’s camera view, using a mobile app. The app, launched in 2013, required the user to have a physical account IKEA catalog and place it in the room where they wanted the piece of furniture to ‘appear’. In 2017, IKEA updated the technology, releasing a new app called IKEA Place, which does not require the catalog to function and contains 3,200 separate items. It also uses sound when an item is placed in its place, as well as haptic feedback in proportion to the size and weight of the furniture to provide a more complete AR experience of the product. The app also contains a visual search feature, where users scan an item in the real world and the app suggests IKEA products that are like him.

jd.com

jd.com has developed an AR app called AR styling station, which allows its users to ‘try on’ cosmetics from major manufacturers at home using AR to overlay a visual representation of the makeup onto the selfie view of the users’ smartphone camera. This has the potential to remove one of the key barriers to online sales of cosmetics and has the potential to improve the physical store experience, as trying many different styles in one store is expensive, timely, and inconvenient. The company has also launched a feature where customers can virtually try on shoes and is working with Sony to allow customers to measure their foot size with a smartphone. This feature will use Sony’s Time of Flight (ToF) distance measurement technology.

house deposit

Home Depot implemented AR capabilities within its mobile app six months before the Covid-19 pandemic in September 2019. The app allows users to view items in the context of their own homes. With the pandemic forcing people to shop more online, AR has enabled Home Depot to improve customer engagement and conversion. According to the company, consumers who interact with Home Depot’s augmented reality feature typically convert two to three times more than those who don’t, the retailer says.