The New Customer Experience: Immersive Shopping for Online Retailers
Tangiblee
Tangiblee
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January 24, 2024
If you haven't taken the plunge into immersive shopping yet, 2024 is your year to dive in: 61% of US-based retailers have developed a virtual store, with a remarkable 91% of them subsequently seeing a moderate or significant boost in sales. Looking ahead, 55% of brands are gearing up to invest further in immersive experiences over the next three years.
Curious about what immersive shopping entails? At its core, immersive shopping leverages emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI) to elevate the online shopping experience. Imagine adding a touch of reality to your virtual store, allowing customers to interact with products in a virtual space—that's immersive shopping in action. It’s a personalized touch paired with a way for customers to visualize how they’d use products in their everyday life.
Delving Deeper into Immersive Shopping
In the US, retailers are prioritizing four key areas: virtual stores, AI-driven personalization, gamification, and social shopping. While global adoption has been a bit slower, the tide is turning: A 2022 global study found that although fewer than ten percent of companies in consumer goods and retail are currently using immersive technologies, 25% are actively piloting immersive shopping initiatives.
The numbers speak for themselves—the immersive retail technology market is projected to skyrocket from $7.37 billion in 2023 to $42.5 billion by 2032. Consumer preferences are steering the immersive shopping ship: value-conscious shoppers seek deals and assurance of value, while luxury buyers crave a premium blend of virtual and physical retail. And, increasingly, consumers expect AR and VR to be integral parts of their online shopping experience.
Immersive shopping is an opportunity to add an additional layer of customer confidence, satisfaction, and engagement—and simultaneously improve revenue KPIs while cutting down on return rates.
Ready to go beyond traditional online retail with Tangiblee?
We understand the challenges of online shopping and we're here to help. Our sophisticated customer-facing AR and 3D visualization tools take guesswork out of the equation—by extracting data from your catalog, our software generates product images and 3D visualizations on the fly. Plus, our software seamlessly integrates into your backend without affecting site performance for a true plug-and-play solution.
We've expanded beyond accessories, apparel, and home decor to cover sectors like department stores, fitness equipment, and pet supplies—we’re committed to tailoring our solutions to the unique needs of each client.
The future of retail is immersive, and we’re bringing the future to you: schedule a free demoto see how Tangiblee can answer your product visualization needs for retail.
The world of gemstones is a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and sizes, each with a unique allure. This inherent diversity presents a significant challenge for online retailers, as accurately conveying the size and scale of these precious stones can be incredibly complex.
Tangiblee's gemstone sizing tool empowers jewelry retailers and gemstone producers to elevate their online presence and drive sales by offering customers a unique and valuable shopping experience.
The Challenge:
Online jewelry shopping presents unique challenges. Customers struggle to visualize the size and scale of gemstones, leading to uncertainty and potential returns.
This can negatively impact customer satisfaction and erode retailer and producer profitability.
Tangiblee's Solution:
Tangiblee addresses this challenge with a cutting-edge gemstone sizing tool that allows customers to:
Visualize Gemstones on Hand or Ear: Experience how different-sized gemstones appear on a hand or earlobe, providing a realistic preview before purchase.
Explore Various Shapes: Easily switch between different gemstone shapes (round, oval, pear, etc.) and see how each looks in various sizes.
Enhance the Shopping Journey: Create an interactive and engaging shopping experience that captivates customers and encourages exploration.
Benefits for Retailers & Producers:
Reduced Returns: By minimizing the "guesswork" for customers, you significantly reduce the likelihood of returns, improving customer satisfaction and boosting your bottom line.
Increased Sales: The interactive and engaging experience encourages customers to spend more time on your website, leading to increased dwell time and, ultimately, higher conversion rates.
Enhanced Brand Image: Position your brand as innovative and customer-centric by offering a unique and valuable shopping experience.
Competitive Advantage: Differentiate yourself from competitors by providing a cutting-edge tool that enhances the online shopping experience.
Stronger Retailer Relationships: For gemstone producers, this tool fosters more substantial relationships with retailers by providing them with a valuable tool to enhance their own customer experience.
Easy Integration and Customization:
Tangiblee's gemstone sizing tool is designed for easy integration into your existing website. It can be customized to match your brand's aesthetics and seamlessly integrate with your existing online store platform.
Here is an example of our current client, Reve Diamonds. View "Hand Visualizer"
Introduction: VTO Clip vs. Classic AR – What’s the Difference?
VTO Clip and live AR work differently. These differences affect their performance and users' feelings about them.
Classic AR relies on the user's device to overlay 3D models directly onto the real-time video feed. This reliance requires the AR system to constantly process the camera's input and render virtual objects in real time, aligning them accurately with the user's movements.
VTO Clip works differently. Instead of relying on real-time rendering, it uses a recorded video of the user's hand or wrist. It is processed on a server where high-poly models and sophisticated rendering techniques are applied.
Both approaches have their strengths, especially for customers who want to see how rings, watches, bracelets, and other accessories look on them before making a purchase.
But Tangiblee's VTO Clip offers several advantages over the classic AR approach. This article discusses these benefits and shows why VTO Clip is a superior choice for retailers and brands.
1. Record Once, Reuse Many Times – The Power of VTO Clip
One of the VTO Clip's most significant advantages is its ability to record a video once and reuse it across all your products.
Imagine you create a video of your hand wearing a generic bracelet. With VTO Clip, the same video can be used to visualize different bracelet styles and sizes without recording a new video for each product. This saves the online customer time and effort and ensures a consistent experience. By eliminating the need for prolonged or repetitive arm positioning during the virtual try-on process, VTO Clip helps avoid discomfort or "gorilla arm syndrome," which can negatively impact user satisfaction.
In contrast, classic AR often requires separate recordings or real-time adjustments for each product, which can be tedious.
2. Superior Quality Through Server-Side Rendering
A significant benefit of VTO Clip is its use of server-side rendering, which allows for a much higher-quality output. While classic AR must render each frame in real-time to avoid lag (usually within 33-50 milliseconds), VTO Clip pre-renders the video on the server.
Server-side rendering allows high-poly models and advanced techniques to produce a more detailed and realistic visualization. By pre-rendering the product visuals onto the recorded video, VTO Clip can afford to take longer—up to 1-2 minutes per frame—to ensure the highest quality output. This server-side processing enables more complex models and higher resolution. It also supports advanced visual effects, like better lighting and shadows. This approach creates a more realistic and attractive try-on experience. It also allows more devices to support the technology, including cheaper or less powerful ones.
3. Interactive & Shareable Content – Engage Your Customers
VTO Clip comes with advanced editing tools that are not available with classic AR. Users can pan through the video, zoom in and out, and stop on specific frames for a detailed look at the product. These features are especially beneficial for high-value items like jewelry and watches, where seeing intricate details from different angles is essential. With VTO Clip, you can explore every angle and detail at your leisure, creating a more thorough and satisfying shopping experience.
This interactive page allows users to pan, zoom, and even stack or move SKUs. Interactivity makes VTO Clip a versatile marketing tool that can be easily shared across different platforms, driving engagement and interest. In contrast, classic AR usually relies on static images and simple links, which are less engaging and shareable.
4. Effortless Coordination and Improved User Experience
Classic AR requires precise hand and finger placement when recording, which can be challenging, especially if you want to display multiple products or move a ring between different fingers.
With VTO Clip, you don't have to worry about perfect positioning while recording. First, recorda high-quality video, then choose and adjust the products. This two-step process simplifies the virtual try-on experience, making it more enjoyable and user-friendly.
5. Accurate Fit and Realistic Sizing for Maximum Confidence
VTO Clip offers a more realistic fit by calibrating for different wrist sizes. Size calibration is particularly useful for virtual try-ons of watches and bracelets, as it more accurately represents how a product will look and fit on your wrist than Classic AR. Accurate sizing is a weakness of classic AR because it requires transmitting multiple 3D models to the user's device; this can impact performance and limit the number of wrist sizes realistically rendered.
This calibration feature is essential in the watch category because traditional AR solutions often scale the entire 3D model rather than adjusting the size of the bracelet or the watch band, leading to an inaccurate representation of how the watch will look on different wrist sizes. Future developments in VTO Clip promise to bring even better body tracking capabilities, enhancing its usefulness and appeal.
Why VTO Clip Is the Future of Virtual Try-Ons
VTO Clip distinguishes itself with its versatility, high quality, and user-friendly features. It excels particularly for products requiring detailed and realistic representation, such as jewelry and watches. Its ability to reuse content across various products, with advanced editing features, beautification options, realistic fit calibration, and superior server-side rendering, makes VTO Clip the preferred choice for brands and e-commerce retailers.
VTO Clip allows scaling across complete product catalogs and avoids the high costs of 3D models.
VTO Clip is ready to lead in technology, providing innovative solutions that enhance user experience and boost e-commerce success.
Keep an eye on Tangiblee.com as we continue pushing the boundaries of what virtual try-ons can do!
