Technological advances are affecting every aspect of our lives, and shopping is no exception. It’s now changing for the better! The modern shopping experience is catching up with the needs of consumers, and has become more flexible than ever. Why bother visiting a mall, when you can shop right from the comfort of your own home?
Since COVID-19 hit, online shopping has turned into the first choice for many. However, despite offering comfort and safety, it also has drawbacks. We can’t be sure of the quality or fit of a product just by looking at photos! The only way to know is to test or try it on. This is where augmented reality comes into play.
Thank you for reaching out,
User!
Make sure to check for details.
This technology brings new possibilities to business domains where there were previously none. One of the niches with the potential to thrive with the help of augmented reality is shopping for jewelry.
If AR as a trend still doesn’t sound convincing to you, let’s take a look at statistics. The global AR market is expected to be worth more than $88bn by 2026, growing by 31.5% from 2021. There will be over 1.7bn mobile augmented reality users all around the world by 2024. Sounds pretty good, right?
But the most important thing is the user feedback on AR. According to ThinkMobiles blog post, 61% of customers prefer online shops that use AR features, while 45% of customers confirmed that AR helped them to decide on a purchase quicker. This is what makes augmented reality a perfect business tool to engage with more leads.
Now that we know how essential AR is for shopping, let’s get more specific. What’s so special about augmented reality in relation to jewelry shopping?
Shopping for jewelry is not something that people would traditionally do online. A combination of high prices and the importance of having an opportunity to see what a jewelry piece looks like in real life meant that people hesitated buying gold bracelets or diamond rings on the Internet.
This all changed when online jewelry stores began embracing AR technologies. AR-powered jewelry apps give customers fully-immersive, real-time experiences when trying on jewelry pieces, almost as if they were actually in the stores.
When customers experience augmented reality during their shopping, it not only excites them, but also involves them in the process more intimately. It even adds a ‘gamification effect’ to an otherwise routine event. AR creates a sense of immersion within the customer’s device, giving them much more interactivity than they would experience at a brick-and-mortar shop.
Integrating AR jewelry apps into their marketing strategies, jewelry brands receive:
AR jewelry apps are both entertaining for customers and beneficial for businesses. Now we will take a look at the benefits that the use of AR jewelry shopping apps can bring to businesses.
When it comes to business, it is important to get good returns on your investments. This is particularly important when it comes to the jewelry business.
The use of AR jewelry apps gives brands numerous benefits:
The main purpose of AR in jewelry is to attract customers and generate more purchases. When speaking in terms of converting hot leads into sales, augmented reality helps customers try on jewels and decide on a purchase faster. In terms of warm and cold leads, or people who’d like to check new products and try them on, but aren’t ready to buy them, AR acts as an intermediary between the brand and the customers.
Apps with augmented reality functions have a greater chance of persuading customers to buy a product. Businesswire’s recent piece states that 72% of those asked said they’d purchased products they hadn’t planned to because of the influence of AR.
What’s more, industry research shows that people using AR filters spend on average 75 seconds interacting with them, which is four times longer than with mobile video. This is a legitimate reason for a brand to invest in the feature.
An immersive jewelry shopping experience with AR tools helps customers make better buying decisions by allowing them to virtually try several jewelry pieces on and see the play of light on the gemstones thanks to the realistic rendering technology. Also, AR helps package a call-to-action message into an interactive experience that’s difficult to escape.
According to Deloitte Digital, brands offering custom AR experiences were 41% more likely to be considered by customers, and nearly three in four consumers said they were willing to pay more for a product that they could explore with AR.
For instance, the sunglasses producer Goodr reported a 32% increase in conversion rates among mobile shoppers who used AR try-on features.
With AR, you don’t need to print new catalogues each time your brand releases a new jewelry collection. Now you can simply add a 3D catalogue with virtual jewelry that comes with an augmented reality image, so customers can try new models on and check prices anytime they like.
Another benefit AR can offer your business is social shopping. Whenever customers have doubts about a jewelry purchase, or they want to ask their friends or relatives’ opinions, they can easily share the AR product view with anybody.
Considering all the useful features AR brings to online shopping, it’s only a matter of time until it expands into other businesses, and will soon become a common sight on any shopping app.
Postindustria has developed a unique AR tryon app for rings that helps jewelry brands make online jewelry shopping more engaging.
As potential customers open the app, they are offered to take a photo of their hand and virtually try on a ring from a selection of jewelry pieces available in a virtual gallery. The realistic rendering of the gemstones meets the needs of the most demanding customers. The ray tracing technology allows app users to see the play of light in the gemstones and exactly what they look like in real life.
The hand-tracking technique that Postindustria used, relying on its R&D boasts the highest precision available in the market.
Using Postindustria’s ring tryon app with a sizing tool, jewelry brands can rest assured that a ring won’t sit on a knuckle or float on the user’s smartphone screen.
Old-style solutions for online customers – such as measuring the circumference of a finger with tape or sending out free plastic ring sizers – are inconvenient and out of date in the era of disruptive technologies.
Postindustria leveraged the power of high-resolution smartphone cameras and developed a digital tool that measures the size of a ring finger with the help of a credit card. The finger should be placed next to a standard-sized object in the same photo to show the proportions and determine the size. The result — a margin of error that doesn’t exceed 0.1mm.
As augmented reality becomes more of a trend in the jewelry industry, more brands are in need of experts to build an AR jewelry app to meet their needs. Only teams with deep product understanding and knowledge of tech components can create an app that will deliver an outstanding experience for your customers.
Postindustria’s engineers have mastered the skill of replicating a complete showroom experience on any mobile device. We offer a full menu of AR development services — from a virtual try-on tool and 3D galleries, to an entire eCommerce platform development with your ideas in mind.
Leave us your contact details by filling in the form above and we’ll discuss your future project to bring your ideas to life.
Find out more about how disruptive technologies are transforming industries. Check out Postindustria’s eBook on the application of augmented reality for business needs:
