How AR can benefit retail stores

Why Augmented Reality?

The retail industry is highly competitive and lets customers switch between different brands because of diverse offerings. Many manufacturers of similar quality for one product make it difficult to stand out as a brand. Nevertheless, 99% of the purchase decisions are emotionally drivenLinking brands or products with emotions is therefore the key to success. Standing out from the mass of products at the point of sale - Augmented Reality (AR) is perfect for this!

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality means that reality is extended by digital, acoustic or olfactory elements. AR thus combines real and digital worlds. In marketing in particular, this is a popular method of bringing customers into contact with a brand or products. AR creates immersive experiences that make customers engage with the product or brand. AR is also seen as a factor for fun, innovativeness and experience. AR is definitely an attention magnet. 

In the stimulus-flooded world, two triggers still work to get people's attention. Hearing one's own name and seeing one's own reflection. A study showed that even under the loudest conditions, we always recognize ourselves or our nameWith AR, we make use of the mirror effect and thus create maximum attention. We humans are not only used to seeing our reflection, but also to taking and sharing a photo of it.  

Now, how can we use this for retail?

We at Sensape have been working with augmented reality at the point of sale for a long time and have already been able to gather a lot of experience. With AR we have already created many experiences, emotions and connected them with brands or products of our customers. And above all, we have come to one realization: The more individually people feel addressed, the stronger the experience and the higher the likelihood of purchase. In our projects, we experienced up to 14,7 times longer uptime than with basic screens and an effectivity up to 13,4 times higher compared to classical ads.

In order to create customized customer approaches, we combine augmented reality with artificial intelligence. This recognizes the external characteristics of a person, such as age, gender and emotion, assigns them to a persona and adapts the AR experience accordingly. This creates a special experience for the customer and an image boost for the brand. 

The effects of AR and AI in retail?

• Automation of the customer approach - customers are addressed personally without the need for extra sales staff. 
• Automation of the sales process - The entire sales process is digitally supported by AR and increases the customer's willingness to buy through interaction. 
• Exclusive brand experience - Customers can explore the brand or product at their leisure and are not influenced by sales staff. 
• Gamification - Playful interaction with the brand creates greater brand awareness. 
• User generated content - It is not uncommon for customers to want to share the special experience with friends. The sharing function integrated by us creates a brand reach away from the POS.
• Edutainment - Through fun, information is better and longer memorized. So is the brand image. 

So AR offers a personalized customer approach and a better image transfer through longer interaction times as well as lead generation through direct purchase conversion or even customer contact in the form of newsletter sign-ups via microsite.  To continue the user journey at home, WebAR gives the opportunity, for example, to bring product labels to life and reveal more interactive information when customers scan a QR-coded package with their smartphone camera. 

A few of our client examples:

• Ritter Sport increases sales by 900% by using interactive AR worlds based on product recognition at the POS. Learn more about the project.
• Oreo boosts its revenue by 1000% by using Augmented Reality at the point of sale. Learn more about the project.
• ‍Pernod increases sales on drinks by using custom AR worlds by persona recognition. Learn more about the project.