The world of eCommerce continues to grow every year. In fact, it is expected that the worldwide eCommerce market will have an increase in sales of over 246 percent by 2021.
The reason for this is that more people are willing to make purchases online as technology becomes more advanced and transforms the shopping experience.
One of the reasons is a growing trend of augmented reality and virtual reality. Today, we will explore what augmented reality and virtual reality are and why they are trending.
At Genius eCommerce, we stay up to date on the latest trends in the eCommerce world so you can stay in the know. It’s who we are and what we do!
Augmented reality is defined as the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time.
Virtual reality is defined as an artificial or computer-generated simulation or recreation of a real-life environment or situation.
The difference between the two is that augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays the new information with it, whereas virtual reality creates an artificial environment that makes the user feel like they are experiencing a situation first-hand.
VR devices are already a popular trend that has developed over recent years. Between video games and immersive television experiences, virtual reality is a way to add yourself to the action as you would in a video.
From an eCommerce standpoint, the way people are experiencing virtual reality is through virtual showrooms and product portals. Whether it is viewing a shop in a virtual setting of a showroom before you physically go to buy or see the product or just a high-quality viewing of the product, the realistic view adds a real-life shopping experience to the eCommerce world.
eCommerce stores can take advantage of virtual reality by providing a glimpse at the product, the expected view of a product or a showroom without physically being there, allowing a look at the general setting before you ever attend. Ultimately, it becomes part of the shopping experience without getting in the car and going to a location. It’s a way to see how a store looks before you ever visit it or to see the product before making a purchase.
A way augmented reality is being implemented is through real-life product visualization. This feature is allowing customers to not only see a product before they purchase it, but to view the product visualized within their home. For example, if you were shopping for a new table, you could see what it looked like in your dining room before ever making the purchase with an augmented reality visualization.
These features both create a more immersive and involved shopping experience, which is ultimately the goal. People don’t want to shop the way they did before. They want to put technology to use, and you have that chance to reach a whole new client base that is interested in completing an entire purchase process from browsing products to check out, all in one place. Giving them the full experience of shopping in a brick-and-mortar location without leaving the comfort of their home is certainly a way to keep interest high.
Now that you have seen how a more immersive experience with augmented and virtual reality is changing the eCommerce world, you can start to take the steps to develop your website to give the user experience that customers desire.
Stay tuned for more eCommerce tips, tricks, updates and trends with Genius eCommerce by reading the Genius eCommerce blog. Remember that we keep you up to date on everything eCommerce so you can stay in the know. It’s who we are and what we do!
