5G<\/a> promises to consign such disasters to history and transform our shopping experience with augmented reality (AR<\/a>) tech. IKEA<\/a> has already begun to show what’s possible with AR, with its app enabling customers to see how its catalogue items would look and fit in shoppers’ homes.
But IKEA is only a pioneer among many. By 2020, 100 million people will be shopping in AR online and in-store, according to Gartner<\/a>. Instore, AR will enable shoppers to view additional information on any product simply by pointing their phones at it.
AR adoption
Bill Ray, a senior director analyst at Gartner\n\t\n, demonstrates how AR will transform such everyday tasks as buying a tin of soup: “You’ll be able to see it displayed in a steaming bowl, or with extra bits added to it as a recipe, so you can value-add in that way.”
More dramatically, away from the store, a lot of guesswork will be taken out of the shopping experience, the hit and miss factor. Instead, consumers will be able to try easily before they buy, to visualise products in local environments — everything from imagining new paint on old walls, to trying on leather jackets before deciding on size.
AR opportunity
For Paul Lee, head of telecom, media and, technology research at Deloitte, it is 5G’s speed, reliability of connection, and lack of drop-out that are key to the success of virtual shopping. “You can go from browse, to try, to buy within a minute,” he says.
Lee also cites the growing trend for consumers to try on makeup virtually. “Instagram offers a face filter, so you can try on lipstick and see how it looks. The benefit of 5G here will be more complex filters that you can download, as well as not worrying about the connection dropping at all,” says Lee.
AR experience
You don’t have to be a big brand to take advantage. It’s good news for the smaller businesses too. “The challenge for everyone will be to maintain the retail experience in-store because so much will be accessible elsewhere,” says Ray.
Lee explains why this makes sense: “People like immediacy. So, if you can deliver an immediate experience that’s better than one which has a lag to it, you’ll have an advantage. For every second that you are waiting for a page to load, you get people who give up.”.
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