A year or two ago we were discussing how consumers wanted to view furniture products in every possible combination of fabric and material, and due to the pandemic, this is now the global expectation whilst online shopping. As time has gone on, and as the expectations of online customers is on the rise, showing your products in every possible format is quickly becoming the norm. This means that online and digital assets are becoming increasingly important and necessary with each passing day. Online stores with more to offer are quickly becoming the preferred places to shop - even if the quality of the product is lower than those who have less to show visually online.  With the furniture industry being one of the last industries to look into online and digital ways to sell and showcase products online, many of you may be thinking ‘what else can I do if I’m already showing all of my furniture products in all available combinations?’. It may come as a surprise to some of you but the possibilities of digital assets are endless and AR is at the top of the list. 

61%

of customers prefer to shop at stores that offer AR

40%

of customers are willing to pay more for a product if they can experience AR

71%

of customers would return to a retailer more often if they offered AR

AR (augmented reality) is the ability to show a product or object in a real world setting - and when it comes to the furniture industry this means that your customers are able to see your products in their own home...before purchasing the physical thing. With 50% of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, this new technology will quickly become an expectation from customers and will instantly impress.  One of the main benefits of integrating AR into your ecommerce is that your customers are experiencing a much more interactive shopping experience - making them more likely to return and recommend your site to friends and family. Not only are they getting a feel for the product before seeing it in real life with the new ‘try before you buy’ outlook, but customers are able to interact with the product in a new and exciting way… whilst also being able to customise the product to fit their own sense of style! Not only can a customer visualise a product, it’s size, colour and proportions compared to their own living space - but shoppers will have a significantly calmer online shopping experience as AR removes the anxiety customers have surrounding buying furniture online. AR and 3D Product Customisers are completely transforming the sales cycle, and how large items are bought and sold.  As we all know, the furniture industry has stuck to traditional methods when it comes to photography and marketing but in recent months we have been noticing a rapid increase in updates within the industry. Snug Sofa recently revealed their YoY sales have been up +340% which has mainly been due to their social and online presence, once again highlighting the importance of having exceptional digital assets and visuals for your customers. 

Our very own 3D Product Configurator, Envision, offers the whole package. Many other 3D agencies will offer the service of AR, but it can be expensive and often needs additional support through producing its own app. With Envision, the AR capabilities are not only built-in to the plug-in already, but it also works on a native, app-less platform. This means that your customers won’t need to download an additional app to view your products in their own home, simply through scanning a QR code (on desktop) or clicking on the AR logo (on mobile), the 3D model will appear in your phones’ camera app (that’s already part of your mobile). 

Envision is not an AR-only plug-in. It's a complete 3D Product Configurator which will upgrade your customers online shopping experience, along with increasing sales on a 30% average, and decreasing return rates by up to 80%. Envision allows customers to endlessly customise and configure your products, change materials, view them as a 360, 3D model and view your products in their own home with our app-less AR feature.

Customers are 11x more likely to purchase a product after viewing it in 3D. Envision increases interactivity on your site and allows customers to feel more involved in the design process. Our platform can be easily tailored to your brand and website with CSS, which can be done by your website provider, or our team can offer this as an additional service. 

With excellent touch points, user accessibility and seamless use across desktop and mobile devices, Envision can also be used by your in-store sales team, allowing them to showcase multiple products and fabrics that aren’t on your showroom floor, or, they can even customise there-and-then for an in-store customer.

3D Product Configurators and AR plug-ins are swiftly becoming an essential aspect of e-commerce and digital marketing for the furniture industry. More and more well-known retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers are investing and using this type of tech - recently Wayfair appointed a new director to focus on the e-commerce and technical motives of the company. Wayfair has highlighted their drive for improving their e-commerce capabilities by offering an updated shopping experience. With the well-known retailer joining the list of those taking this leap, it really sets the tone for the rest of the industry. Interested in all things AR and Envision and how it can help you? Get in touch with our team for a demo now! 

You can also learn more about our 3D Product Customiser, Envision, here.