Business Augmented Reality
ADOPTING
AUGMENTED REALITY Edwin Meijer of Garden Connect explains how new technology is changing the way consumers shop online a ow ar e retailers ca e e t
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nline shopping just gets easier and easier. And if we thought Apple Pay was impressive, there is a whole new area of technology ready to sweep us off our feet – augmented reality. Customers returning their garden furniture because it didn’t “suit their garden” or was “too large for the space” could become a thing of the past with this new technology too, as Garden Connect has made it available for garden furniture online. Augmented reality allows customers to virtually place products, such as garden furniture, in their home or garden via their smartphone. This offers the opportunity for users to see whether the product is the ri ht t for that space hopefully a in a return less li ely if they opt to uy it. Garden furniture could be one of the i est areas to ene t too. arden Connect notes that in 2020, 34% of consu ers purchased or loo ed at arden furniture online, and it is adamant this will not be less this year. So, in February it launched an augmented reality extension for we shops for arden retailers to ta e advantage of this browsing boom, even if they are not currently using Garden Connect services. With the help of a lin on the product page, consumers can virtually place the garden furniture set in their garden using only their s artphone. his a es the purchase of new garden furniture a lot easier,” says Edwin Meijer on behalf of Garden Connect. “A lot of research has already been done into the effectiveness of AR in webshops. The use of AR increases conversion rates by about 94%. This is not surprising because consumers get a true picture of whether a product ts their home or garden.” etailers li e ea ha e already en a ed the innovation. According to the Google Consumer AR Survey, 66% of people say
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Garden Centre Retail April/May 2022
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they are interested in using AR for help when shopping; and six in 10 people say they want to be able to visualise where and how a product could t into their li es says Garden Connect. “Garden furniture is an expensive purchase, so it was a great place to start with for AR,” says Edwin. “Aside from furniture, we have also created a pot and
Aside from furniture, we have also created a pot and plant configurator which is already live and running plant con urator which is already li e and runnin . t allows isitors to choose a pot and a plant and place the combination in his living room. The visitor can then add the chosen combination to his shopping cart with ust one clic . The AR shopping is easy to use too. For a start, no app is required to use the add-on as it can be accessed directly through the browser; the product pages in the we shop contain a lin or code which open the user’s camera on their smartphone when scanned. Once the 3D model has loaded, users can then see how the garden furniture – or plant and pot – will loo in their arden or home. “Our ambition is to help every webshop in the garden industry to use AR, even if they are not on our platform. can code for t is a new technolo y the full experience
that ts well with arden centre products because they are visually strong and so eti es uite e pensi e. n addition to garden furniture, this includes barbecues, decorations, and plants.” To help garden centres promote the use of AR, Garden Connect provides them with promotional materials for their website, and every user has access to database of AR models. “The biggest challenge in implementing AR is creating all the necessary models. Because we have more than 300 shops that partly sell the same products, we can or anise this uic ly. We already ha e ore than odels of well nown brands available, and that number is growing rapidly.” onsu ers are continually loo in at easier ways to a e their purchases – and their purchasing decisions – and augmented reality could be the answer. ◗
www.gardencentreretail.com
06/04/2022 16:04
