As consumers increasingly move to digital commerce in the wake of COVID-19, augmented reality (AR) technology is appearing in various applications as retailers rush to best replicate the physical shopping experience in an entirely virtual context.
The latest entrant into this growing market is eCommerce’s 800-pound gorilla — Amazon. The eCommerce giant is rolling out a new AR shopping tool called “Room Decorator,” TechCrunch reports. The tool allows shoppers to virtually place home decor items into photos of their existing spaces to get a better feel for how the goods will look if actually purchased.
IKEA and Wayfair also offer similar AR products, and Amazon has actually had a version of AR shopping available since 2017. But what makes Room Decorator unique is that it’s not limited to showing shoppers a single product at a time. Consumers can add multiple objects to their rooms to better visualize how a whole host of new products would fit together.