If there is one thing that we have learned from the COVID pandemic, it’s that technology is saving our asses! Not only to develop vaccines or to digitally keep in touch with our loved ones, but technology also allows all of us to do their shopping online in times of quarantine and social distancing.

Online shopping is hot! The corona-crisis has induced a trend towards increased online shopping, with some sectors in the US experiencing up to 15% more online sales compared to a year earlier (Statista 2020). Even though this number might drop again as more people will return to their physical stores, this time there is a difference. Stores have experienced first hand how important their online presence really is. They are now looking for new ways to attract online shoppers and to better cater to their needs while shopping online.

3D and AR is one of those technologies that E-commerce shops can use to digitally visualize their products. Several pieces of research indicate that offering this to clients will increase the time spent on your webshop and can improve conversion rates by around 30%. Not only that, people want to try before they buy. Implementing AR and 3D can therefore also greatly enhance customer satisfaction rates, as 61% of people prefer to have such technology available on a website (Invesp, 2020). Facilitating this can even reduce return rates by 50%, saving webshops tons of money while also saving greatly on return handling time. Not to mention the effect this has on reducing CO2 emissions by package carriers.

It is for good reason that big brands like IKEA (furniture), NIKE (Fashion), ADIDAS (Fashion), Sephora (Cosmetics) TOYOTA (automotive), PureCycles (bicycles), and many more are adopting this technology. AR is here to stay and will play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives in the years to come.

Now, I hear you thinking. “Well, all of these big brands have equally big budgets to spend to develop their own AR-apps and features. The average webshop owner hasn’t got the budget to deliver such an AR-experience and lacks the technical development skills to develop such an app. Is there a solution for them as well?”.

Yes, there certainly is a tool for those companies as well. ARize makes it possible for companies to integrate AR in their webshop, both by connecting to an existing app the company already uses or to regular websites that can be accessed on computers as well. It’s easy, fast and there is no technical skill required on the webshop side. No need to develop a new app, no need for difficult SDK’s for integration, and no external app needed to show the content. Everything is smoothly integrated into the existing webpage/app and easy as displaying a YouTube video.

In short, the process consists of three main steps:

ARize allows webshop owners to upload their existing content onto the platform, which in turn can be converted into AR-models automatically. No human interaction or technical skill required. Not only can webshops visualize their content in a new way (in addition to picture and/or video), As this example shows, the platform allows for easily generating QR-codes that open the product in AR on anyone’s phone or tablet and that can be shared the same way as a website or a YouTube-video can be shared. It’s a great opportunity for promotion and a good way too to attract a bigger audience to your webshop.

The ease of sharing and visualizing products through technology from ARize is new in its kind and effectively provides a new sales channel for webshops. Where other existing AR-providers take days or weeks to create AR and charge fees accordingly, ARize can do it in minutes, cheaper, and in superior quality.

Businesses using ARize are able to manage and track their posted 3D and AR content through the platform. The dashboard can be customized to the house style of the user company and it will give insight into the number of AR/3D posts, the clickthrough rates, and conversion rates. Gathering this data can help companies to structure their next marketing campaigns, help them decide what kind of content they want to display in AR and 3D, and eventually helps them to improve their sales numbers as a result.

ARize, the 3D and Augmented Reality tool for E-commerce that puts a smile on everyone’s face! was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.