V-commerce to the rescue of retail

1- DEFINITION: VIRTUAL REALITY & AUGMENTED REALITY

To fully understand v-commerce, let's start by defining virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). The latter consists of enriching the real world by adding virtual elements to it. These elements can take different forms (text, 2D or 3D image, sound, etc.) and are only visible through a screen such as a smartphone, tablet, bezel, helmet, screen, etc.

Pokemon GO is the application that has democratized this technology the most. Images (pokemons) are superimposed on the real world filmed by the device. 

giphy

VR is a step further in terms of immersion. The user is necessarily equipped with a helmet, which will both prevent him from seeing the real world but also completely immerse him in a virtual world. As long as headphones are added and it is the two main senses that are disconnected; difficult then to situate oneself in space and to manage one's balance. The experience becomes ultra-immersive. 

Little test to see if you understood correctly: Which image corresponds to virtual reality and augmented reality?

giphy

giphy

Answer: vr (Matrix) above and ar (Iron Man) below

Finally, to learn more about VR only, I refer you toward this article from our blog.

 

2- V-COMMERCE

The v-commerce announced as “THE” great revolution. The date is even more or less fixed since it is not a question of waiting for technological or technical developments but just of guaranteeing a transition.

Everything is ready except the consumer! It is therefore necessary to go slowly to avoid rejection. The experts therefore allow themselves between 3 and 5 years to introduce this technology to the general public. Until then, v-commerce will be limited to early adopters and a few retail / street experiences to highlight its brand image.

A smooth introduction is therefore the key. And for that what better than a less violent or immersive VR? You guessed it (otherwise this is a really badly written article) this is the mission of augmented reality.

Requiring nothing more than a smartphone, the vast majority of French people are ready. Whether to communicate (see the Pepsi video below)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go9rf9GmYpM&w=560&h=315]

or to compensate for the lack of packaging (see below Heinz / Wheaties) this technology is already in our daily lives

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yarZV3J-sig&w=560&h=315]

The half-real / half-virtual experience is the point of convergence between traditional retail and e-commerce. The first very often suffers from a lack of space to display its products, while the second lacks emotions. Augmented reality precisely reconciles the two. The emotion of being in a store with a seller and the depth of a catalog where all the items are presented and visible, all customizable to its context. This is the promise of augmented reality!

Yihaodian's experience is one of the best-known examples:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJqIpIlR3nI&w=560&h=315] Just like the one from Ikea:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDNzTasuYEw&w=560&h=315]  

What Ikea offers may not seem revolutionary. But yet it is! We've all been to Ikea before. The experience is rarely good. Lots of people, the impression of being obliged to follow the pre-drawn route, lack of landmarks… And most of the time it is difficult to project the product at home (not to mention the dimensions). This is why Ikea had started to offer configurators on PC in stores. But again the experience (although useful) remains poor. With this augmented reality solution Ikea corrects all the “pain points” at once. The purchase becomes collective, fast and above all fun.

We saw a similar example proposed by Leroy Merlin at Paris Retail Week last September. The area dedicated to augmented reality and called “Reimagine Shopper UX” was also quite thin. It's a safe bet that in the next edition this area will be the main attraction.

 

CONCLUSION

If augmented reality must (at least) play the role of transition, v-commerce is expected as the holy grail of point-of-sale digitization. Even for some like the most successful form of omnichannel.

Stephane Chilton, UX-Evangelist – UX-commerce Foundation @UX-Republic