Amazon is the latest retailer to ad AR shopping to its iOS app
On our recent podcast deep dive on our Connected Society investing theme, we talked about efforts to remove friction to digital shopping. We’ve seen great strides with 2-day delivery and painless return policies, but there are still a few pain points to be overcome. One of them has been the ability for consumers to see items not just in a finished room, but in their own room.
The Disruptive Technology that is Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to change that and we are seeing retailers from Target to Amazon embrace AR in their mobile apps. Want to see how a chair, sofa, kitchenware or something else looks in your room? Use the AR feature in the Amazon app to see how it looks and if it’s good to go, click another button to buy it there and then. Another excuse not to leave the house, but you may have to get up off the couch.
Amazon today is introducing a new feature called AR View that lets customers visualize online products in their own living space, using their smartphone camera. Launched today in the Amazon app for iOS devices, AR View offers the ability to view thousands of products for the home or office – including furniture, electronics, toys, games, home décor and more – in augmented reality.
Many other retailers have pressed forward with AR implementations, especially for shopping furniture – something it’s hard to buy online, as it’s difficult to imagine if the item will really look right in your home. Often, people have preferred to shop furniture in retailers’ showrooms where they can see it placed inside finished rooms, and alongside other decorative items like lamps and rugs.
A number of retailers have recently added AR shopping features to their websites and apps, including Target, Wayfair, and IKEA.Like IKEA’s implementation, Amazon’s new AR View feature takes advantage of Apple’s ARKit – software that allows third-party developers to more easily add AR functionality to their mobile apps. For this reason, AR View in the Amazon app will only work on the iPhone 6S or higher, on devices running Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 11.
Source: Amazon adds an AR shopping feature to its iOS app | TechCrunch
