Shopify, one of the biggest e-commerce platforms, now allows its online merchants to launch 3-D and augmented reality versions of their products directly on their sites.
Merchants can convert their entire product offerings into 3-D and A.R. models. Shopify is partnering with A.R. platform Poplar Studio to offer the service through an app that costs $49 a month.
Shopify already offered some 3-D and A.R. features, but the experience was fragmented and required multiple apps. The new Poplar Studio platform allows retailers to access all the features in a single app.
3-D and A.R. can help online retailers offer experiences usually only provided by brick-and-mortar stores, allowing customers to better visualize their potential purchases. Shopify claims merchants that have added 3-D images to their websites have experienced 94 percent higher conversion rates.
In the US, Time writes that “Stores from Macy’s to IKEA have made headline using AR and really pulled customers into stores.
“AR lets us redefine the experience for furniture retail once more, in our restless quest to create a better everyday life for everyone, everywhere,” said Inter IKEA Systems Leader Digital Transformation Michael Valdsgaard.
Retailers are particularly innovative on social media channels.
“When you open up Snapchat’s lens carousel, you’re greeted with a variety of filters that let you do everything from smoothing your skin to wearing a flower crown to dancing with a hotdog. Snapchat lenses have for years helped users create funny or glam photos and videos to send to their friends, but recently a more practical category of lens has been on the rise: augmented reality (AR) shopping.
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