Product-Configuration with AR

Solutions that use augmented reality to allow users to virtually view furniture, industrial products and other objects in a room before they buy them offer great value to e-commerce and industry. Product configurators with augmented reality functionality go one step further and are already being used by the first brands. Here we describe the applications, use cases and benefits of this technology for product presentation.

Augmented reality configurators allow consumers not only to place the piece of furniture in the room and see it in a real environment, but also to customize it according to their preferences. What color goes best with the carpet? And what size of furniture will fit into the proportions of the living room?

Application examples

A massive number of applications can currently be found in the furniture and interior design sectors, but exciting scenarios are also emerging in the industrial context. Two typical applications are listed below:

Sofas, sideboards, shelving systems

Many suppliers of modular products in the furniture and interior design sector already offer their customers good configurators for customization. New AR technologies can be used to enhance these to radically improve the shopping experience for the customer. Products that have been configured to suit personal tastes or requirements can be virtually placed in the room by the customer and viewed in terms of style and size - making it easy to try out and compare different options.

Industrial products

Mechanical products with many configuration options are very common in industry and especially in engineering. These products can be configured and presented particularly well using AR technologies. The advantage is that such a 3D product configurator is an excellent sales tool for interactively customizing the product with the customer and demonstrating all functions - on a tablet, trade fair terminal, in showrooms or via video call/remote control.

Augmented reality kit

In principle, a configurator should be an integral part of any AR toolkit. Kits allow users to create AR applications rapidly and with little experience. However, they only really become useful when end users can customize products and elements.
There are, of course, many other applications. In principle, the technology can be applied to any configurable product.

Benefits for users

For the user and potential customer, there are numerous advantages over conventional and non-immersive solutions:

• A more realistic impression of the product
• Preview in a real environment and better assessment of the dimensions of the product
• Easier decision-making despite many possible product variations
• Possibly no annoying returns

Benefits for merchants

• Increase in conversion rate (statistics vary between 3% and 100%+ depending on
  product and statistical method), the effect is usually significant
• Potential reduction in return rate
• Improve the shopping experience, increasing brand awareness and time spent on the site

WebAR makes it possible

The approach to AR-based configurators is not entirely new. In the past, however, such experiences were primarily limited to native technologies, requiring the user to download a separate application. Web-based AR (or WebAR for short) has made a technological leap lately and now enables very high quality 3D rendering and tracking.

Another advantage of WebAR is that it is easier to distribute. Such experiences can be easily loaded and displayed in any modern browser. This makes it relatively easy to integrate augmented reality into existing e-commerce systems.

Existing WebGL-based configurators can easily be extended to WebAR applications.

Practical example

We already have a lot of experience with configurators. With our Augmented Reality configurator, companies can offer their customers an exciting shopping experience.

Retailers can easily integrate our configurator into their shop system or app. With WebAR, shoppers can use their smartphone to place a 3D representation of products in a room.

The augmented reality product configurator is integrated into the online shop in collaboration with us and linked to the shopping basket.

Try the configurator now: AR configurator example

Future prospects and trends

The future of AR configurators in online stores is promising, with several trends pointing to a growing role in e-commerce:

• Advances in AR technology: Continued improvements in AR technology, including better hardware and more sophisticated software, will improve the capabilities and accessibility of AR configurators.
• Integration with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning: Combining AR with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can provide personalized recommendations and optimizations based on user behavior and preferences.
• Social participation and collaboration: AR configurators could include social sharing and collaboration features, allowing customers to get real-time feedback from friends or family members.
• Sustainability: By providing a more accurate representation of products, AR configurators can help reduce the number of returns, contributing to more sustainable e-commerce.

Wrap-Up

Augmented reality configurators are extremely profitable eCommerce tools, especially on the web. Their great strength also lies in the fact that they are not one-sidedly useful, but offer equal benefits to both sides (supplier and customer). The technology is currently under active development and is already ready for use.