The retail industry has a new set of enablers that facilitates its unique bonding with customers. Immersive technologies, AR and VR, have catapulted the dream ventures of so many retailers around the world. They believe that customer immersion would rather be a key to enhancing the overall customer experience in offline stores. The market value of AR and VR technologies is expected to touch a massive $97 billion by the year 2025. Surely, your retail brand cannot overlook the scope of adopting them now! In this age of Phygital, it is the clubbing of the physical world with the digital world that leads to the transformation of a retail space into a customer-centric space. AR/VR-led customer immersion is a compelling way to boost engagement today. Let’s see how you can leverage these immersive technologies, AR/VR, to boost your business growth.

AR/VR  Benefits

1. Personalized Customer Experience

Big retailers across the globe have realized the immense benefits that personalized, targeted marketing entails. So, why would you use AR and VR in your retail store? These digital technologies help in creating personalized marketing strategies for varied platforms, viz., physical stores or offline retail stores using mobile phones, digital kiosks, web shopping platforms, and so on. The personalized marketing strategies using Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual reality(VR) help to provide your customers an enhanced level of shopping experience. As a retailer, you are not providing a simple 2D banner but 3D graphics-rich content, which does the wonderous job for you! Yes, the ultimate result is the total immersive experience for customers increasing engagement. Don’t you think this is increasing your sales, too? After all, happy customers mean happy retailers!AR tools like Magic Mirror can design customized apparels, or any products like cosmetics, as per the demand of your customers shopping in the retail store. Thus, AR and VR do create a customized, personalized in-store shopping experience leading to an increased users’ buy rate. Using these technologies, You can get a much detailed view of your customers’ preferences so that you can curate their shopping options for the future.

2. In-Store Navigation

Big retailers are focusing on the minimum physical contacts in their in-stores. For instance, AR applications enable in-store navigation a very easy process for the consumers. Like, there is signage (AR-based) for product-finder, pathfinder, virtual concierge, lift& learn facility, in-store catalog, in-door maps, and so on. This way, you can help consumers to find products quickly, and even can call ‘staff’ on requirement.

3. Contactless Trial for Products

 If you are a big retailer, owning a big retail showroom with a huge collection of apparel, cosmetics, accessories, wearables, you must be having a large customer base (and loyal customers, too). Today, people don’t want to go to the trial room and try clothes, or, they even don’t want to use testers (that are repeated with customers until done) while buying cosmetics. AR magic mirror with its aesthetic appeal handles this challenge, too. AR with video walls in-store and AR app mobile phones, people just love shopping offline and online on this platform.

4. Improved Customer Engagement

Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) technologies help to improve your customer engagement as well as personal involvement to a higher level. As said earlier, your customers now can use the AR-powered in-store navigation tool to locate the items they exactly want to buy. It helps in searching for products in your store very easily leading to smooth purchasing. Moreover, Your customers can have a virtual tour of your store from any location, just from wherever they are present now. Certainly, these AR/VR experiences boost a greater level of customer engagement. Your customers can get required product information using VR headsets leading to their immersive buying experience while using AR tools, they can see their items to buy in the real world, for example, digital kiosks, digital magic mirrors. Hence, as a retailer, you can benefit from AR/VR in-store as well as in the online retail segment.

5. Enhanced Content Marketing

The Augmented Reality(AR)and Virtual Reality (VR) are tremendous marketing too. For example, in-store, digital signboards can attract customers by detecting their age, gender and persona and displaying the related items onscreen (that can have the AR-led check-out system, too). Thus, you see, AR/VR can provide you with engaging, intuitive, personalized content for your digital marketing strategies. Even you can capitalize on these technologies for marketing on social media channels and sites. It is not just about displaying non-interactive ads that are providing product information to the users, as that does not always create users’ interests. However, using AR and VR technologies, you can now evoke your users’ interests by providing an engaging advertisement option to them which might lead to checking out the product, too!

6. Enhanced Customer Satisfaction & Retention

If your customers are happy, as a retailer you are also happy. If they are happy with their shopping experience in your retail store, chances are very high they will return to you next time, too. You create a unique bonding now with your happy customers’ thanks to the AR/VR immense capabilities that engage them, enhance their overall shopping experience. AR and VR provide personalized services to your customers that help you to retain them. Also, it is very less likely that they will return your products after purchasing. Thus, the technologies help in boosting customer satisfaction, retaining them, and guaranteeing you a profitable return in the competitive market. So, the adoption of AR and VR technologies is conducive to your retail store bringing in a greater ROI for your business.

7. Improved Employee Training

Do you find training your employees, staff, sales associates, etc. an arduous process? It is indeed a complicated process for every big retailer in offline retail stores. Even it would incur huge costs if any employee commits mistakes during training, leading to financial loss to your retail company. When you use AR and VR tools, the whole training process becomes smooth with zero risks. It happens this way, these capabilities facilitate training by simulating real-life environments and training situations. Your employees can now be trained smoothly using AR/VR-powered tools wherein they can get hands-on experience handling customers, helping them find a product, emulate buying behavior using Magic mirror, etc.

Augment your Retail Business

AR and VR are the big digital powers that can boost your retail business anywhere around the world. Being a big retailer in the market, it is your competitive edge that can drive customers to revisit your in-stores,  online stores, or both, owing to their immersive and personalized shopping experience. These digital applications can help you immensely in accelerating the decision-making process, generating more sales, and building a large customer following for your business. So, have you adopted these digital technologies in your retail business? Think over, and act soon!

Are you a retailer wondering how to incorporate AR/VR capabilities into your business? Reach Us today and avail of the immense benefits conducive for your retail business.

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Augmented reality has created quite a ring which has left the users wondering how the technology Most of the smartphone users, augmented reality will definitely change a lot for them and allow users to experience a different reality based on personal needs and desires.

Augmented reality will powerfully impact with society and the fields of marketing and advertising will explode with this latest technology. The new mobile applications being advanced will offer facial recognition software that will gain momentum very quickly.

Augmented reality (AR) is a sort of interactive, reality-based display environment that takes the competencies of computer-generated display, sound, text and effects to augment the user’s real-world experience. Augmented reality synthesizes real and computer-based scenes and images to deliver a unified but enhanced view of the world.

Augmented reality has many different implementation models and applications, but its primary objective is to provide a rich audio visual experience. AR works by employing computerized simulation and techniques such as image and speech recognition, animation, head-mounted and hand-held devices and powered display environments to enhance a virtual display on top of real images and surroundings.

Sketch Of Augmented Reality

To somewhat extend, augmented reality was first invented by a cinematographer called Morton Heilig in 1957. He founded the Sensorama which delivered visuals, sounds, vibration and smell to the viewer. Obviously, it wasn’t computer controlled but it was the first example of an endeavor at adding extra data to an experience.

The first perfectly functioning AR system was the one developed at USAF Armstrong’s Research Lab by Louis Rosenberg in 1992. This was called Virtual Fixtures and was an extremely complex robotic system which was intended to compensate for the lack of high-speed 3D graphics processing power in the early 90s.

The first marketable application of AR technology was the yellow “first down” line that initiated appearing in televised football games in 1998. In the past decade, numerous labs and companies have constructed devices that give us augmented reality. In 2009, the MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group presented SixthSense, a device that synthesized the use of a camera, small projector, smartphone and mirror. The device hangs from the user’s chest in a cord fashion from the neck. Four sensor devices on the user’s fingers can be used to operate the images projected by SixthSense.

Moving augmented reality to a more wearable interface, Google rolled out Google Glass in 2013. It displays on the user’s lens screen via a small projector and responds to voice commands, covering images, videos and sounds onto the screen. AR technology allows simplified surgeries, offering safe environments and good experience for patients reducing any medical profile that may arise during and after the surgery. In fact, Google Glass was not only an app but also used in the medical field effectively. Google withdrawn Google Glass at the end of December 2015.

One of the most popular means AR has intruded day to day life is through mobile games. In 2016, “Pokémon Go” an Augmented Reality game became a sensation globally, with over 100 million downloads according to CNET. It concluded up making more than $2 billion. The game let users to see Pokémon characters bouncing around in their own town. The goal was to capture pocket monsters, and use them to battle others, locally, in AR gyms.

In 2018, a mobile AR game named “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery” became worldwide sensation. The game not only entertain the users but also allowed them see the Hogwarts around them while having the ability to cast spells, use potions and to learn from Hogwarts teachers. As of now, the game has around 10 million downloads in the Google Play store.

The Forthcoming Years Of Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is quickly becoming one of the hottest trends in the world and industries, recognized as a creative and innovative way of increasing engagement. It’s a great thing to be a technology enthusiast.  AR has an almost limitless potential and power.

Researchers stated that in future phones and tablets will not be the only venue for AR. Research continues swiftly on including AR functionality in contact lenses, and other wearable devices. The crucial goal of augmented reality is to build a convenient and natural involvement, so there’s a sense that phones and tablets will get replaced, but it’s not sure what those replacements will be. Even glasses will also take on a new form, as “smart glasses” are developed for blind people.

By 2025 the healthcare revenue from augmented and virtual reality will be around $5 billion and some technology insiders expect to see the most advancements of AR technology in the healthcare domain. Already there is AR at work in hospitals and doctor’s offices. By using the Accuvein scanner projects where valves and veins are so that healthcare professionals can easily find a vein for IV placement.

The travel industry also has a lot to gain from the AR boom as 84% of consumers all over the world would be interested in using AR as part of their travel experiences and 42% believe that AR is the future of tourism.

Educational platforms are the most underlined sector in AR technology. AR tools are used to develop 3D images, study the universe, or recreate historical events. The opportunities are as extensive as the technology. The pilot studies of using augmented reality in classrooms to present the deeper understanding of a topic have been successful so far. The text and images will turn to more attractive features by integrating Augmented Reality.

Industrial, military and medical applications can excellently use Augmented Reality in the validation of the plans and designs. Instead of a 2D blueprint of the map, soldiers can use a detailed 3D map to plan their mode of attack. In fact even doctors and medical facilitators can use AR to supplement live information that is crucial to the patient’s body, during a surgery.

Conclusion

The impacts of augmented reality is boundless and will move every field and industry vertical. In the Forthcoming years it will be used by everyone including professionals and consumers. It will also become a significant tool for educational purposes in classrooms around the world.

Augmented reality will change the way user’s involvement and will develop the retailers’ abilities to interact with the users. AR absolutely offers endless promises and when combined with a mobile device technology, it will prove to be very powerful. AR will let for geo-tracking that will allow amazing experiences for consumers.

Want to develop your Augmented Reality app? With 18 years of experience of developing mobile apps we, Fusion Informatics are ready to take any challenge to make the best use of our talent for your business. No doubt, Augmented Reality apps improve business processes and increase worker productivity. Get in touch with us ‘Fusion Informatics’ for a better outcome at affordable cost. We are counted at top in the list of mobile application development companies in Bangalore, India. Our services also crossed over to other major cities of India such as Mumbai, Gujarat, and so on.  Contact us today and entitle a best deal!

Fill out the request form or drop us your app project inquiry at sales@fusionInformatics.com. You can also call us +91-63610 54076. We are in a click away!

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In this digital era, the terms like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning are thrown in more often. These four two letter acronyms are the futuristic technologies that are being used in the development of lots of tech products. Most of us don’t know the real meaning of these terms. Though, all four have brought some huge changes in the world of technology, the question “Which Technology can pave the way for the future” has been nagging our minds for a long time. Hope this article gives you a clear idea of how these technologies work and aid you understand their contribution to various fields.

The ‘big four’ are:

• AI – Artificial Intelligence
• ML – Machine Learning
• AR – Augmented Reality
• VR – Virtual Reality

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Let us discuss about one of the revolutionary world changing term Artificial Intelligence. The term coined by John McCarthy is considered the father of AI  in 1955. In fact, AI is the big umbrella under which machine learning and deep learning which are being used for various applications in the market. Deep learning is the latest innovation in AI. AI has a gigantic effect on your life, whether you’re aware of it or not, and its influence is likely to grow in the coming years.

What Are The Uses of AI?

Today AI is ubiquitous, used to recommend what you should buy next online, to recognize your voice and understand what you say to virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, to recognise who and what is in a photo, to spot spam, or detect credit card fraud etc.

A website like Amazon.com uses AI to suggest products that you could like. Facebook tells you whom you could know and want to be friends with. iOS’s Siri, and Windows Mobiles’ Cortana are all intelligent digital personal assistants which help us to find handy information when you ask for it using your voice; you can say “Where’s the nearest Coffee shop?”, “What’s on my schedule today?”, “Remind me to call John at seven o’clock,” and the assistant will respond by getting information, communicating information from your phone, or sending commands to other apps. Siri completes your tasks. Google lists search results based on your location. At the start of this year, the Washington Post reported  an algorithm that was developed by Google to potentially let self-driving cars learn to drive in the same way that humans do, through experience. These programs are all active applications of AI.

Microsoft says that Cortana “continually learns about its user” and that it will ultimately develop the skill to anticipate users’ needs. Virtual personal assistants process an enormous amount of data from a variety of sources to learn about users and be more active in helping them consolidate and track their information.

Many smart home devices now include the ability to learn your behaviour patterns and help you save money by adjusting the settings on your thermostat or other appliances in an effort to increase convenience and save energy. AI is everywhere, and it’s making a huge difference in our lives every day.

Machine Learning (ML)

Now let’s see “what is Machine Learning?”, “The use of Machine leaning” and “how does it work in our day today life?”.

Machine learning is a similar concept of AI. The term machine learning was coined by Arthur Samuel in 1959. Machine Learning is a division of artificial intelligence based on the idea that systems can learn from data, identify patterns and make decisions with minimal human intervention. Machine learning makes use of algorithms to build analytical models, assisting computers “learn” from data.

Detection of network intruders working towards a data breach, email filtering, optical character recognition,  and computer vision are all ML applications.  Machine learning is so ubiquitous today. Many researchers also think that it is the best way to make progress towards human-level AI.

AI, as the idea that machines can act intelligently, is an extensive concept. Machine learning is an idea that machines should be able to learn themselves to get access to enough data. This might sound like the territory of geeks, but it could also be a way to deliver personalised recommendations and solutions in the future.

Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple said “I’m excited about Augmented Reality because unlike Virtual Reality which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what’s happening presently… That has resonance.”

AR and VR are very popular in these centuries. Bu the terms can be confusing. Sometimes few think AR and VR are but same.

Let us discuss about importance of AR and VR as well as how does they influenced our day to day life? Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that widens our physical world, merging layers of digital information with the user’s experience in real time. It is Boeing researcher Thomas Caudell who first coined the term Augmented Reality in 1990.

Virtual Reality (VR), by use of computer modelling and simulation, connects the user with an artificial three-dimensional (3-D) visual. In 1987, Jaron Lanier used the term ‘Virtual reality’ for the first time.

How do Augmented and Virtual Realities Differ? Virtual reality provides a digital rebirth of a real-life pulses, while augmented reality delivers virtual elements as a connect to the real world. Augmented reality is being used more and more in mobile devices such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets to change how the real world and digital images, graphics intersect and interact. Whereas in Virtual Reality is usually brought to the user through a head-mounted, or hand-held controller. This equipment establishes a connect between people and virtual reality, allows both to control and navigate their actions in an environment meant to simulate the real-time world.

Let us see, what are the main similarities between AR and VR? In terms of technology, they each exist to serve the user with an enhanced or enriched experience.

With virtual reality, you can swim with sharks. And with augmented reality, you feel a shark coming out of your screen.

When more freedom and promises are made possible for marketers because it does not need to be a head-mounted display.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are the key examples of experiences and interactions enabled by a deep immersion into a simulated land for entertainment and play, or to add a new approach of interaction between digital devices and the real world.

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The growth of AR is a promising concept and the possibility of it impacting all our lives is huge. As of today, the real world is seemingly glad about the outburst of AR apps from android and iPhone. Though the popularity of AR gaming apps is currently leading the contest, educational, e-commerce and manufacturing among other AR applications are not far behind.

Below are four ways this fascinating technological advancement will change our lives-

1. While Behind the wheel

AR since its inception in the world, has been closely tied to and used for the growth of navigation. This means that this field of navigation will definitely be worked on in the near future.

With due course of time, AR will dominate the way we navigate our way through the world; perhaps both indoors and outdoors. In future, AR will most likely give us a view of the street we are driving on-not just in front of the vehicles but, in any direction the drives man-oeuvres. It won’t be surprising if AR tells keeps a watch of pedestrians and other vehicles for us. AR when connected to your car’s sensors, will be able to keep a tab on your fuel tank, your braking distance and speed and perhaps even allow us to see clearly while drive in the dark.

2. The ability to try on/experience items before purchase

Brands like converse and Ikea are already making the most of this technological phenomenon. With AR you can try and see for yourself, how your potential purchase will look on your or in your surroundings.

For instance, you can try different furniture for your house or work space even before you buy it. Just look at your empty living room wearing smart glasses or through your device and arrange the virtual furniture where you please. You can choose the right furniture that matches your room’s size and design. Similarly, in the case of converse and other apparel brands, you place your desired purchase on your foot and see how it looks.

AR will be a boon to online shopping. As of now, Amazon allows you to try on watches on your wrists.

What a treat and benefit it would be to see and make sure that products bought online will suit your purpose-in looks, size and space.

3. Children will learn smarter

Back in the day, learning was not as interesting and easy as it is today. Students were expected to imagine things and then remember the same. A good example will be of studying chemistry. We knew how an atom looked like but did not necessarily know how a nucleus or electron looked like. But today, classes are becoming smart. Schools are using visuals to teach students; students can view how everything thought to them looks like. Students todays, can view videos of electrons moving around the nucleus.

In the near future, kids will see an atom in front of them, they could go around the atom and view how electrons are moving in the 3d space! All thanks to AR.

4. Entertainment and gaming

AR as we all know has maintained a strong hold in the gaming and entertainment industry and does not seem to be one that will diminish anytime soon. Pokémon Go took the world by storm and showed us what mass consumption and craze looked like! It was one of the first apps to make use of AR and successfully carved its name in the wall of fame of the Gaming sector. But with the rapidly moving advancements, AR will without a doubt revolutionize the entertainment industry.

AR headsets like Microsoft HoloLens, Magic Leap, and the Meta 2 are turning our surroundings into digital interfaces. Magic Leap on its part has shown us how gaming in AR would appear, turning your surroundings into an interactive, gaming scene. Virtual reality games have proven to be a great success, but they set a barrier between the player and reality. AR gaming on the other hand allows you to experience and create a reality, making the game-play feel much more natural.

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