E-commerce

Adding AR to your e-commerce site? Here are 3 crucial questions to ask

Rob Weaver, chief revenue officer at Vertebrae, explains that while increasing deployment of AR and 3D technology within the e-commerce strategy is paying off, retailers need to keep in mind the long-term potential — to view 3D and AR as pillars of the digital experience now and in the future, rather than as a quick fix.

Photo by istock.com

August 28, 2020 by Rob Weaver

Retailers are relying more than ever on their e-commerce sites to engage and win customers — and increasingly, they're turning to augmented reality and 3D to boost shoppers' confidence in buying. As sellers consider their options, it's crucial to prioritize strategy, adaptability, and performance accountability to ensure immersive solutions are poised for long-term growth.

Four in 10 U.S. consumers are shopping more on the Web than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Forecasters predict a host of new habits, from ordering groceries online to using curbside pickup services, are here to stay -- which means that it's more crucial than ever for sellers to optimize their e-commerce offerings.

As part of the process, many retailers are opting to launch 3D and AR, which have the potential to overcome shoppers' reservations about buying items they haven't inspected or tried in person. By allowing consumers to spin, flip, and zoom in on virtual product images, place renderings in their real-life environments, and virtually try on new looks, 3D and AR provide detailed views and accurate contextual cues about fit, size and scale that no other e-commerce feature can match. Including 3D and AR gives the shopper ownership of the buying experience online and removes the imagination gap in the purchase decision.

By overcoming key purchase hurdles, AR and 3D boosts engagement and sales. Online retailer eBags saw mobile conversion rates zoom 112% and revenue per visit jump 87% for shoppers interacting with 3D and AR assets.

With such impressive results, it's no wonder retailers are rushing to launch immersive features. But retailers also need to keep in mind the long-term potential — to view 3D and AR as pillars of the digital experience now and in the future, rather than as a quick-fix "set it and forget it" features. This is quickly becoming the expectation of the online shopper.

To set the stage for maximum ROI, picking the right technology and the right implementation strategy are crucial. As retailers evaluate their 3D and AR options, they should ask themselves:

Are we getting a feature or a solution?

Not only are more retailers adopting 3D and AR commerce, but innovation from some of the Web's biggest players means that immersive features are appearing on social media, in search results, and in digital ad formats, with further iterations on the horizon. Retailers should be on the lookout for technology that doesn't simply add 3D and AR assets to an app, but serves as the foundation for broad end-to-end deployment.

Multi-touchpoint capability should come hand-in-hand with strategic understanding of how best to use it in service of individual retailers' needs and constraints.

Depending on the audience and the product category, one seller may start out using 3D and AR on a subset of top selling products on the flagship e-commerce and mobile site, expand into social media campaigns, and then add app functionality, while another may prioritize converting pre-existing assets for the entire catalog for e-commerce first and foremost. The right solution can be configured for myriad entry points into immersive selling, with built-in best practices specific to e-commerce to help drive results and flexible pathways to expansion and growth.

Will the right experience be served to the right user?

It's easy enough to upload and convert assets into AR that works for iPhone users — but as of July 2020, that excludes the 47.5% of North American mobile users on Android phones, and in Europe and worldwide, iPhones are in the minority. Sellers need technology to swiftly detect the user's device and browser and optimize the experience in alignment with available rendering capabilities.

Further, mobile commerce still accounts for less than half of all online revenue, which means retailers hoping to use AR and 3D to make a sizable impact on e-commerce conversion must convince shoppers on full-fledged computers to try them. Immersive experiences should either work on desktop or laptop browsers, or connect users seamlessly to viewing capabilities on shoppers' phones -- and back again -- without hitting a dead end in the path to purchase.

Offline experiences should be a factor, as well, given that even with the pandemic, forecasters predict that more than 8 in 10 retail dollars in 2020 will still be generated in stores. QR codes that link shoppers quickly to mobile AR experiences can be used on signage and self tags for in-store display or even on direct mail pieces and catalogs to reach consumers staying at home.

How will we know it's working?

As e-commerce veterans know, it's one thing to launch a new feature or offering, and another altogether to prove its direct impact on sales. As the customer journey becomes more circuitous, tracking how touchpoints interact to drive purchase decisions has become more challenging. Initiatives from influencer marketing to on-site personalization can come under fire due to retailers' inability to accurately track consumer behavior across touchpoints; just 5% of firms say the quality of their data meets their business needs.

With immersive commerce, retailers should learn from past missteps and demand performance accountability from the get-go. Tools should enable access to interaction data at the user and session level for detailed insights, as well as interoperating seamlessly with other analytics platforms to create a holistic view of how shoppers interact with e-commerce site features. In addition, a new class of metrics from spatial interactions can help brands and retailers uncover which product features are most important to shoppers, influencing future design and development.

Conclusion

3D and AR shopping tools aren't just quick fixes to counteract COVID-induced shutdowns; they're part of an immersive commerce revolution that is fundamentally changing the way consumers shop. Vetting strategic plans and potential vendors for adaptability, portability, and accountability can help retailers stay at the forefront of 3D and AR shopping innovation, now and in the future.

Rob Weaver is chief revenue officer at Vertebrae.