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Blog AR/VR

Shopify AR Makes Shopping in Augmented Reality

Ravikumar G
December 13, 2019 |

Shopify, a forerunner in delivering eCommerce platforms that serves as a subscription-based software, helps over 800,000+ businesses across the globe. With impeccable features such as unlimited products, overview dashboard, fraud analysis, multi-language support, customizable checkout, multiple currencies, high scalability, powerful analytics, 24/7 support, and wholesale management.

Shopify is the game-changer that every online store needs. It helps you to create your own website by giving access to the admin to sell products, manage orders, and store data through your shopping site with their exclusive cart solution.

The AR Experience

Augmented Reality (AR) gives us a real-time experience of real-world objects and of the environment as computer-generated models or graphics. AR gives a real 3D experience and real-time interactions of the objects based on virtual information.

AR in eCommerce

Almost all the customers surfing around eCommerce sites are very clear about their experience during their shopping. Customers are looking for real-time experiences when it comes to purchasing their desired products, and this is where AR helps in providing a real-time product experience. Customers can explore their desired modifications and previews of the products through AR.

Dream Online Store

How Does Augmented Reality (AR) Work?

Augmented Reality works using computers and trail cameras to attach a virtual object to some specific purpose in your surroundings. As your camera is moved around and gets closer to the area, the object maintains its scale and location in your view of the real world.

With Shopify’s Augmented Reality, you can delight your customers with a better sense of your product’s size, scale, and detail. Shopify AR helps in promoting mobile shopping by bringing products to life with the aid of 3D models. These 3D models help in sizing up the products and adds views from different angles.

Web-powered AR helps with better visualization of the products through mobile browsers. Shopify merchants have already modeled their products through Shopify AR.

Shopify AR allows customers using the Safari browser on iOS 12 devices to view the realistic and interactive versions of your products in augmented reality (AR). The 3D Warehouse app enables AR experiences, where you can upload 3D models and link them to the products in your store.

Shopify is exploring the way to improve AR to be used by all types of customers, but the complexity prevailing around it is that the AR kit requires a separate app to run.

Products in Front of You

With Shopify AR, customers can visualize the virtual version of the products through AR supported smartphone cameras. Shopify provides an accessible AR toolkit to create your own AR experience for your Shopify store. AR can offer customers 360-degree product walkthroughs.

Usually, product images will be taken from different angles, such as the top, right, left, bottom, front, and back for creating 3D models to show more details of the product. These techniques are carried out to allow customers to visualize the products as something real with complete detail.

Shopify Products - 3D Model

Image Source: Shopify

Shopify AR makes people change their way of discovering products and analyzing them. It helps the customers to engage more with the products and makes the process of shopping much easier. With Shopify AR, you can create an interactive 3D experience that can bring in more customers to your store, along with increasing your business. Shopify AR offers your product more context and provides more valuable and personalized information, which helps in improving the customer experience, thus allowing customers to enjoy their purchase.

Shopify AR

Image Source: Shopify

Interactive AR to Customers

Interactive AR helps in deciding the placement and time of the AR scenes to be placed, and that’s the beauty of mobile AR. Deciding when and where the AR scenes should be placed makes customers feel delighted and convenient. These Interactive AR scene displays can improve or enhance your product launches.

Shopify’s interactive AR helps to create an interactive and effective AR experience for the customers on mobile devices with the help of the 3D models of the products. Shopify AR shows suggestions in your mobile device when the customers open the app with their mobile AR device.

Enhanced AR personalization products will be shown as recommendations for your household products like furniture or sports goods on your AR device. With the help of these recommendations, customers can personalize their living space, or any environment, to make them more comfortable and engage them with the AR experience.

Customization Made Easier

Generally, customization becomes more convenient and comfortable when the product outcome comes with a complete 360-degree view. Texture, color, pictures/clip art, and adding accessories to the product with a complete 360 view becomes, which makes the customers more comfortable and confident with their customization. The customers can view their customization with zoom, while choosing product attributes, without any restrictions.

Shopify AR is easily available on iOS devices (for now), and consumers on iOS 12 will have easy access to Shopify AR. Shopify brings another feature called the – AR Quick Look, a feature that enables products to be previewed in AR directly from Safari.

One main drawback of Shopify AR is that it requires a separate app to be downloaded by the customers. Customers with iOS 12 will be able to upload the product or view the products by their browsers without the need for any separate app.

With Shopify AR in the iOS Safari browser, customers can upload the 3D models of the products to their online Shopify store in USDZ format to visualize their desired products in 3D format. When a USDZ file formatted 3D product is uploaded to the Shopify store, customers can find a 3D badge icon on the top-right corner of the product. By tapping the badge icon, customers can visualize the quick look of the product, place the product as they wish, in any place, and experience it. The USDZ file formats are shareable, and if any customer needs the 3D model to be changed, the customer can send the virtual product by means of chat or mail with Shopify.

Shopify 3D Badge Icon

3D Badge Icon | Image Source: Shopify

Bringing augmented reality in eCommerce will bring a revolutionary change to the business. Shopify AR will be available to all customers in a short span of time, as AR supported devices are under development and are not yet available to all customers. Many leading companies have implemented Shopify AR, and they aim to grow their business with 3D customization. Shopify has been developing AR for being more accessible and valuable to all merchants.

Shopify services include Shopify AR. Give your shoppers a truer sense of your products with augmented reality (AR).

Ravikumar G

Ravikumar G is a Shopify developer who has been working at DCKAP for around a year as a Shopify and Ruby on Rails developer. His interest lies in developing apps and creating artworks.

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