Mon, 12 Feb 2018
Augmented reality has been coined the “next big thing” for innovators everywhere, disrupting numerous industries including food, automotive and digital marketing. As it transitions into business applications, we would like to take a look at how it will soon be making its way into the mainstream customer journey.
A recent study titled “74% of digital natives tired of brands shouting at them”, found that a majority of 16-39 year olds stop using social networks where they feel like they’re just targets for advertising. “They want it to be a conversation, they want to engage,” Rob Tarkoff, president and CEO of Lithium Technologies, told SFGate. “It has to be a two-way interaction if brands want to succeed. It can’t be one way any longer.”
Customers need to be able to visualise how brands can become a part of their daily life. Augmented reality has challenged this issue by elevating advertising to the next level, giving consumers the ability to transport brands, products, and stories directly into the consumer’s world. Ikea has famously integrated A.R into their brand in a unique way.
The Ikea Place app allows users to see how a piece of furniture would look in each space by scrolling through the Ikea catalogue, pointing their smartphone camera at the location they would like to place it and magically seeing the item appear on the smartphone camera in that location.
A.R is working to solve the issue of understaffed and disorganised stores by allowing customers to quickly and easily find product information and navigate to other complimentary products from their initial search.
Customers are now able to scan a product and get all the information they need in one place, making the retail experience much simpler and convenient. It is hoped that the ease of the experience will see customers coming back for more.
The days of calling the customer service line and being left on hold could be coming to an end. AR have combated the issue of overflowing call traffic and impatient customers by reducing the amount of calls in innovate ways.
AR incorporates How-To’s and instructional set-ups to deal with customer issues. Customers can simply point their phone at the issue and AR overlays can walk you through the process of fixing it.
Augmate is a B2B augmented reality enterprise that is on the cutting edge of AR. For more information on how A.R is disrupting industries, visit their website here.
Rebecca Lam
Rebecca Lam