Augmented Reality (AR) has gone from a future business investment into a potent tool for helping companies improve operational productivity. As businesses expand into new markets and industries, AR is increasingly used to solve real-world problems and make employees’ work more productive. In the context of marketing, augmented reality enables businesses to provide consumers with unique and immersive digital experiences while also creatively engaging them. In 2022, it is estimated that 1.1 billion people will use AR on their phones alone.
AR is being used right now in many companies to make work safer, more efficient, and cost-effective. For extensive resources on how businesses can implement augmented reality in their daily operations, please refer to IT Support Vermont.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality (AR) uses technology to add artificial, digital qualities to real-life objects. It quickly displays on a smartphone’s camera screen and overlays virtual objects over a real-world image it captures. This technology uses computer vision-based recognition algorithms to augment graphics, videos, and sound.
In simpler terms, any time you use software or a device to add new sights, sounds, or sensory stimuli to something you’re seeing, that’s AR. That’s why AR is commonly thought of as solely smartphone apps that add new visual elements to what you’re looking at. However, AR is far broader than this one of use.
A typical example of AR is when shopping for glasses online. You “try on” your glasses; you’re not physically putting on new frames since you can’t just reach into the screen and touch them. Instead, you’re taking a photo of the structures and superimposing them over your face to best estimate how you’ll look with the glasses on. You’re augmenting the reality of your face – and once you order and start wearing your glasses, that augmented identity will become your real one.
5 Benefits of Augmented Reality in E-Commerce
What can AR do to help your organization? Well, AR has many benefits that can enhance your business right now. This article will show that many familiar companies are already doing just that and how it provides them with real value.
There are 5 significant benefits of Augmented Reality that cannot be denied. They are tangible and deliver measurable results that brands have already started leveraging AR to their advantage. Here is a quick brief of the benefits of Augmented Reality.
1. Enhanced Customer Experiences
AR Technology allows businesses to create a new level of customer interaction that was impossible before. Many e-commerce retailers embed augmented reality in their brand apps, so customers can try on products before buying them. With this “try before you buy” approach, businesses can improve their conversion rates and reduce goods returns to their brick and mortar stores.
Smartphones are the most common AR devices used by consumers. However, many dedicated devices have been developed for AR: Microsoft HoloLens is a wearable device that uses mixed reality; Google Glasses use augmented reality glasses, and Apple has developed its own AR headset called ARKit.
2. Improved Brand Visibility
Though AR appeared in the late ’60s, this technology was rarely used for mass use until the 2000s. As a regular user novelty, many businesses leverage AR to surprise customers and create a solid and favourable impression of their brands. This way, customers quickly remember the promoted brand and become its loyal followers. One way businesses can leverage AR is to surprise customers with unexpected and engaging content.
This way, AR can help businesses to improve brand visibility and create a favourable impression of their brands.
3. Increased Business Performance
AR in business can also be implemented to improve inner workflow processes, increasing productivity. For example, manufacturing businesses can use this visual technology to monitor production processes, factory equipment, navigation, or product presentations. As a result, business staff can quickly grab the essential data and make better decisions faster.
Hence business performance can be increased if AR is implemented correctly.
4. Accessible Training and Improved Safety
Many businesses use AR and VR to train staff. The two technologies can be used for visual data presentation during lectures and for training personnel in complex working conditions. For example, AR allows electricians to use electrical circuits and trains them to work with them in a safe virtual environment.
They can perform maintenance work with the help of augmented reality. In another example, virtual reality allows employees to learn how to operate heavy machinery or repair machinery by providing an immersive experience. One of the main advantages of this technology is that it will enable doctors and other medical staff to provide remote care to patients who cannot visit their physicians. For example, a doctor can provide an ultrasound examination in a virtual setting and then transfer the data to a specialist.
5. Enhanced Navigation
Some car manufacturing companies are experimenting with AR. Audi, BMW, Porsche, and others, embed AR in their cars’ dashboards to enhance their navigation. This way, drivers can check street names, building addresses, and some additional instructions in just a glimpse and faster navigate around cities and congested roads.
AR makes our work easier through its navigation feature.
Conclusion
More and more companies from various industries have started implementing virtual and augmented reality to improve their inner working processes and marketing campaigns.
This is because virtual and augmented reality technologies are the future of technology. AR is a highly visual technology that allows companies to access essential data and monitor ongoing processes quickly. Meanwhile, leveraged for brand development, it helps businesses attract and retain more customers through unusual brand designs and improved customer experience.
The term “augmented reality” (AR) refers to technology that merges real-world objects with digital images, sounds, or other sensory inputs. The concept was first introduced in the 1970s. Today, we can see AR on our smartphones. Augmented Reality Benefits for Marketing in marketing, AR is used to enhance your business presence. It can be applied to a variety of marketing campaigns.
Post courtesy: Nora Erspamer, Director of Digital Marketing at New Charter Technologies.
