Dream or Reality? 3D Product Visualizations at Scale

It’s no secret: online shopping has become the new normal. The global shift that accelerated during the “remote-everything” pandemic of 2020-22 is here to stay. It has pushed retailers to be more imaginative with their online channels while technology vendors struggle to keep up with the demand. As it turns out, delivering immersive shopping experiences flawlessly across categories and for the world’s largest catalogs is challenging, even in the age of generative AI.

Some approaches to immersive shopping are already mature, such as augmented reality (AR), which powers popular retail use cases like Virtual Try-On (VTO) and room design. Others, like realistic 3D product visualizations, are much less evolved: in many ways, the industry is just learning to walk, let alone run. Key questions remain unanswered, such as “How can retailers deliver high-quality 3D experiences  across large catalogs in a way that is financially sustainable?”  

For most retailers, delivering a consistent 3D-like experience across a 10,000+ SKU catalog is not viable. Why? Because: (1) They don’t have the budget for an army of artists to actually create those models, and it simply takes too long for the dynamic nature of their business; and (2) Off-the-shelf GenAI without human intervention introduces many legal risks and falls short of the quality needed for luxury brands. 

Still, the vision of 3D-like experiences holds tremendous promise for closing the gap between in-store and online shopping experiences. Some of the popular 3D use cases for online retail include: 

• 360 or multi-angle product views
• Interactivity and configurability: the ability to interact with 3D products in realtime and adjust various aspects such as size, color, and design
• Richer content options for Product Detail Pages (PDPs) leading to improved conversions
• More realistic visualizations leading to reduced returns

If the goal is to make use cases like these more accessible, we must confront the challenges of 3D adoption for retailers across their entire catalog, such as:

• Creating 3D content for e-commerce at scale is costly and time-consuming
• 3D experiences aren’t as good as they need to be: AR is proven, but 3D implementations aren’t yet proven to drive purchase decisions
• Low performance (generally) results in slower adoption by larger brands and retailers

Tangiblee solves these problems by taking a very practical approach to 3D. First, we take the hassle and costs of creating 3D models out of the equation. We build on your existing 2D product images with human-in-the-loop AI processes to deliver immersive experiences across your catalog at a fraction of the time and cost of other solutions.

Second, Tangiblee makes integration easy. We provide white-glove service from sign-up through commercial rollout with ongoing support and maintenance.  Tangiblee delivers a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by requiring less than 2 hours/month for retailers to reap the benefits of Tangiblee. Every retailer and brand faces unique challenges, so we offer flexible service models to make sure every implementation gets the attention it deserves.

Finally, Tangiblee has been delivering high-quality immersive experiences to top retailers and brands for nearly 10 years. We treat our clients as valuable partners and build the future together. While others have dabbled in immersive technologies only to exit after discovering their business model was not sustainable, we continue to deliver solutions and results for retailers including Citizen, Victorinox, Dana Rebecca Designs, and more. 

In our discussions, we have learned that many of our clients want immersive experiences to be even more prominent on their websites. Why hide something valuable behind a Call-to-Action (CTA) button if it drives sales? Tangiblee has responded with our new Embed experience. The early response to Tangiblee Embed has been tremendous and we expect it to drive increased demand for even more 3D-like imagery and rich media experiences in 2024.

The future of 3D is (nearly) here. While not yet available to the public, we can assure you that our R&D team is working hard to ensure that Tangiblee’s proprietary 3D experience is everything you hoped for and more — accessible, sustainable, and very real. 

Interested in learning more? Schedule a demo today.