Seeing is believing: A retailers guide to augmented reality
Since the birth of virtual reality, developers have strived towards developing virtual environments, and with manufacturers developing more powerful computers at more affordable prices this dream doesn’t seem so far away.
Playstation Home is an example of such a virtual environment; it seems that sitting in your home playing online on your Playstation is not enough. Instead, you have to be a virtual person sitting in your virtual home, playing a game online…virtually.
Recently, the approach to virtual reality has taken a spin and is instead focussed on bringing the real and the virtual together. Enter augmented reality (AR).
What is augmented reality? eMagin.com says:
‘[Augmented reality] refers to a display in which simulated imagery, graphics, or symbology is superimposed on a view of the surrounding environment’
Put simply, augmented reality displays overlays over the top of real scenery captured through the camera of a phone, PDA, or computer. This has already been seen in several places, including the ‘Metro Paris Subway’ app for the iPhone, and the ‘Wikitude AR travel’ app for the G1.
Metro Paris Subway is an app currently available on the iPhone and takes full advantage of augmented reality. A user can look through the camera and see the scenery on the screen. As the user pans the camera around they can see overlays of nearby shops and their distances from the user’s position. More information can be found about this app here: http://www.metroparisiphone.com
The Wikitude AR travel app is currently available on smartphones using the Google Android platform. This app displays information on the surroundings such as places of interest as the user moves the camera around the scenery. More information can be found here: http://www.wikitude.org/world_browser
So what are the benefits of augmented reality?
With AR a customer no longer has to go into a store or visit online to see details about a retailer. Using their phone the user can simply view the information about that store on their screen, a bit like a visual interactive version of the Internet.
Here are just some examples of how a retailer can use AR to their advantage:
1. A retailer can use the overlays to promote seasonal offers or use it for merchandising opportunities – these
could be displayed when the store is viewed through the camera
2. Customers can see opening times for a store or office just by viewing the building through the camera
3. Retailers could setup overlay information on products to display cross sell/up sell opportunities when the
customer views the product through the camera
4. Customer can see the website URL and phone number for the store or office
Of course there are challenges with augmented reality (AR). Its operation is entirely based on the fact that consumers have phones capable of running AR apps, and assumes that consumers will be happy to walk around scanning their environment with their phones. However with the Smartphone market booming AR could be more widespread than at first anticipated.
Gartner:
‘Smartphone sales in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) totaled 11.7 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 38.7 percent increase from the first quarter of 2008
In North America, smartphone sales totaled 7.3 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 106.2 percent increase from the same period last year.’
The question now remains: Which retailer will be the first to dive into this new technology? I’d be interested to hear about other experiences you have had with AR and any new applications for it.
