The holiday shopping season is fast approaching, and businesses are poised to take advantage of the potential for consumer engagement, spending, and lasting brand impressions this holiday season. However, in today's competitive retail and marketing environment, it's important to use creative approaches that engage and excite customers.
One technique gaining significant momentum is Augmented Reality (AR). With augmented reality technology, the user becomes an integral part of the story and an engaged consumer of branded content. Incorporating augmented reality (AR) into your holiday marketing strategy allows you to connect with customers on a deeper level, surprise them, delight them, and deliver more value.
Convince people to visit your store
In an age where online shopping has become so popular, it's hard to convince people to visit a physical store during the holidays. However, augmented reality offers a new approach to overcome this obstacle. Using augmented reality, stores can provide customers with engaging, interactive, location-based experiences that keep them coming back.
According to eMarketer, traditional holiday spending will reach $1 trillion in 2022, up 3.9% year over year. Consumers' willingness to return to brick-and-mortar stores after the pandemic is largely driving foot traffic. To capitalize on this trend, retailers must adopt innovative strategies that continuously attract people to their stores.
Coca-Cola's Halloween collection campaign is a good example of how augmented reality can be used to attract customers. On the campus of the University of Southern California, the company replaced real vending machines with virtual candy dispensers. Five augmented reality (AR) machines were placed around campus and students were able to use a virtual map on the Coca-Cola Halloween Collection microsite. Once activated, the students would instead be transported to a more terrifying parallel universe where a digital copy of the automaton resides. Increasing Patronage of Vending Machines on Campus Create an environment of urgency among students to patronize vending machines on campus.
The campaign used WebAR, a web-based augmented reality technology that does not require users to download separate software. Coca-Cola used WebAR to make its augmented reality experience accessible and easy to use, increasing engagement and visits to its vending machines.
Increase revenue and success rate
Customer satisfaction with the online shopping experience is likely to be enhanced by incorporating augmented reality into the process. For Niantic's AR 2023 Consumer Attitudes Report, 61% of consumers surveyed highlighted the importance of viewing augmented reality during the purchasing process. Customers who were early adopters of augmented reality showed significantly higher purchase intent (15-20%) than those who did not.
Retailers can leverage the potential of AR to increase sales by allowing customers to try on virtually or "see in AR." Whether it's clothing, makeup or accessories, consumers can use these tools to get a better idea of ​​how things will look.
KHAITE, a New York-based apparel company, is an example of a company that has successfully integrated augmented reality visualization into its business strategy. In collaboration with creative agency ROSE, KHAITE has provided industry clients and buyers with an immersive visual experience of their Spring-Summer and Pre-Fall 2021 collections using WebAR. Users were able to explore the smallest details of KHAITE clothing and footwear in an interactive environment. The use of photogrammetry allows designs to be created as 3D models with realistic textures and materials. Users can build scenes, resize and rotate models and see everything from all angles With an average dwell time of more than 4 minutes, this augmented reality experience led to a significant increase in sales of the presented collection.
By enabling shoppers to explore and visualize how products fit seamlessly into their daily lives, augmented reality reduces the likelihood of returns, builds lasting brand loyalty, and accelerates purchase decisions.
The benefits of augmented reality in retail go beyond improving the online shopping experience In-store scavenger hunts and other interactive challenges based on augmented reality (AR) can be used to engage customers, entertain them and ultimately increase sales.
For example, Westfield Shopping Center in Australia and New Zealand launched a massive augmented reality Christmas scavenger hunt across 42 locations. Visitors to the Westfield Santa Squad facility can scan QR codes to access exclusive WebAR mini-games and a life-size portal to Santa's Village. Users can travel to the North Pole by playing portals like Blizzard Squad and Frosting Squad and mini-games featuring interactive augmented reality challenges. By integrating gamification elements into the shopping experience, Westfield Mall was able to increase customer satisfaction, repeat purchases and brand loyalty.
Check out the first source: Adweek
Frequently asked questions
Why is augmented reality (AR) gaining ground in Christmas marketing strategies?
Augmented reality engages consumers in an interactive story, strengthens brand engagement and provides added value, which can be especially effective during the busy holiday shopping season.
How can AR help physical stores drive traffic?
AR provides immersive, location-based interactive experiences in stores, encouraging customers to visit them and enjoy a new shopping experience, especially as online shopping becomes more widespread.
According to eMarketer, how did AR affect physical spending during the holidays?
Holiday spending in brick-and-mortar stores will reach $1 trillion in 2022, up 3.9% from the previous year, as consumers return to brick-and-mortar stores post-pandemic, and augmented reality is a potential driver supporting this trend.
Can you give us an example of a successful AR campaign that drove in-store traffic?
Coca-Cola's Halloween Collection campaign used augmented reality vending machines at the University of Southern California to create an interactive quest that boosted vending machine traffic on campus.
How does WebAR contribute to the AR experience?
WebAR, used in the Coca-Cola campaign, is a web-based augmented reality technology that does not require a separate software download, making augmented reality experiences more accessible and easier to use.
How does AR affect online shopping satisfaction?
In a study conducted by Niantic, 61% of consumers cited the importance of AR visualization in shopping, and early adopters showed 15-20% higher purchase intent, enriching the shopping experience. Online shopping.
What benefits can retailers expect from integrating AR into their business strategies?
AR enables virtual product trials, better visualization, reduced returns, and accelerated purchase decisions that can increase brand loyalty and sales.
How KHAITE used AR to improve its business strategy?
KHAITE has partnered with creative agency ROSE to offer an interactive WebAR experience of its collections, enabling detailed product exploration and significantly increasing sales of select collections.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by Barbara Zandoval; Unsplash - Thanks!
