In India, the retail industry is facing very stiff competition from both brick-and-mortar counterparts and various online stores. Consumers are, therefore, confused about what to go for and thus have decided to depend on online engines to help them read reviews, make recommendations and even get away with interesting offers. Funny enough, the same consumers have also turned out to be fickle as they do not take enough time to make a mature decision but are busy switching from brand to brand. This has therefore made them be more confused and fail to know what to go for as these brands are competing for each in pursuit of high sales than the other. To make the situation worse, these sellers are offering similar products with almost the same quality and having similar impacts. It, therefore, makes the retailers inventive and innovative enough to attract customers to make purchases from them. At this point, the introduction of Augmented Reality into the industry becomes very significant since it is a product believed to be of great standards and could take over the retail industry. This is simply because its quality has been tested fully and its functioning rated to be among the best.
Did you know that you can test a product without necessarily being in or even just close to the retail shop? This is an approach in marketing called experiential marketing and is being employed by various retail sellers today. An example is Lenskart which is an online store dealing with eyewear. Lenskart has an application that can access your device’s camera and mounts a virtual frame that impresses you onto your real picture. This app even goes to the extent of letting you to virtually try out the frame of your choice from different angles.
Another company that has employed this marketing approach is Makaan. Makaan is a company that deals with the aggregation of real estates and it also has an application that is called Makaanview. This application allows you to easily pick the property that might have impressed you and you will get to view a much clearer view of the property or apartments that are available for rent while traveling. This is more convenient since you do not have to get out of your vehicle to get a look at the property you desire. These two examples have put in place the Augmented Reality technology which provides a realistic view of the practical and physical environment. The Augmented reality device used augments the environmental elements using computer-generated sensory inputs such as graphics, video, haptics, GPS data, and sound.
Cases of augmented reality according to newgenapps:
· AR as a marketing tool
Retail sellers have ventured into using the various AR applications to entertain, attract and engage customers. They have chosen this approach since they realized that the focus of customers is usually where sales are made. This is, therefore, a great advancement especially to millennials who grew up in technologically enhanced environments. AR is also capable of attracting customers by using the word of mouth.
· Meeting buyers where they are
When choosing a brand to go for, consumers usually get confused especially when the available retail sellers are stiffly competing. Retail stores that have AR equipped are usually most preferred by customers since they can try out a product without necessarily purchasing it. Apart from that, the customers also have access to product reviews, related products, and prices. In this case, the retail seller will have engaged the customers without necessarily being physically present in the store.
November 15, 2017
