Amisha Sheth is a passionate and skilled woman with more than 20 years of experience in the colossal field of advertising and marketing. With a Master’s Degree in Marketing & Advertising from the esteemed NMIMS, Mumbai she has worked with reputed retail brands such as Target & Best Buy in the USA. With an undying passion for entrepreneurship and marketing, Amisha laid the foundation for Cranberry Design Studio in 2015 with the goal of transforming businesses into brands! Over the years, Cranberry has grown and made a mark in the world of graphic design and digital marketing with clients spread across the globe. With a futuristic approach and team of enthusiasts across the digital marketing and graphic design field, Cranberry is always on the lookout for new trends, technologies and paving a path for themselves to bring our clients’ brands at the forefront of their respective industries.
Storytelling has always been at the heart of any successful marketing plan, and the new immersive technologies are offering us a fresh look at how content has advanced. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality provide us with marketing and content. Even though Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have had early success in domains such as gaming, entertainment, sports, travel, and education, their application in the marketing field is rather unexplored.
Are Augmented and Virtual Reality in marketing, a new approach to attract consumers and digital visitors? To dive deeper into the abyss of marketing and technology, it is important to understand what AR and VR mean.
At its most basic level, AR capabilities are a layer of digital information in some form or another above the physical world we live in. To put it in perspective, AR makes digital material appear to be a part of the real environment. This is in contrast to Virtual Reality (VR), which immerses users in a digital environment.
The overwhelmingly successful mobile app, Pokemon Go, has been the most newsworthy example of augmented reality. This software employs mobile device cameras and geolocation technologies to transform the player’s actual area into a gaming environment that promotes exploration and discovery.
Virtual reality is a type of computer technology that allows users to feel as though they are in another place. It uses software to generate pictures, sounds, and other sensations in order to create a distinct environment in which the user feels as if he or she is truly a part of it.
One of the upcoming and popular examples of the application of virtual reality is
eBay Australia, which is teaming up with retail brand Myer to bring a forward-thinking way of shopping to consumers in the form of a virtual reality department store, enabling consumers to use a special viewer to virtually walk through the store before completing their purchase via the eBay application.
Using innovative marketing strategies to sell products and services has become the need of the hour. Commonly used digital advertising techniques like online video, pop-ups, pop-unders, displays, banners and others were deemed to be unpleasant and invasive by several users resulting in the development of ad blockers, lowering the efficacy of ads. New approaches were thought to be necessary to deliver unique experiences to the target audience. The use of virtual reality and augmented reality in marketing has drastically altered the playing field.
Retailers are steadily integrating augmented reality in the purchasing process. According to recent research 1% of businesses are already using augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) in their customer purchasing experience. For merchants who do the majority of their business online, AR may help buyers get a better idea of how a product will appear and feel in their environment. The ability to communicate product features via augmented reality can assist buyers to comprehend what they’re purchasing, making it simpler to satisfy customer expectations and resulting in better post-purchase satisfaction.
Every industry is looking to base its marketing strategies on the foundation of AR and VR because of the consumer experience it provides. 61% of consumers say they prefer retailers with AR experiences. Furniture industry-leaders, IKEA, have transformed their consumer experience altogether. Customers want to be able to know that the product they purchase will fit their needs. For furniture, that means customizing a product to match existing decor. IKEA released the IKEA Place app, which allows customers to visualize furniture in their space with real-time customizations. Having this power at the customer’s fingertips with AR means that retailers can see a decrease in returns and fewer wasted logistics costs.
AR and VR are transforming the in-store experience into something genuinely unique and exciting. They increase involvement, engagement, and provide a lot of fun. Online shopping cannot match the experience, and it will help brick-and-mortar retailers significantly grow their customer base. This is especially true in India, where traditional businesses are having to compete with online shopping platforms that offer huge discounts.
Retailers may use the technology in a variety of ways to expand their client base and increase customer satisfaction. Because they combine the real and digital worlds, these technologies may be used for a variety of purposes. There is a huge possibility to boost sales by combining online and offline experiences into an omnichannel marketing approach.
While AR and VR technologies have been around for a while, businesses are just now discovering and realising their full potential. There’s still a lot of ground to cover in terms of using AR and VR to promote businesses and brands.
Companies may use virtual reality marketing to bridge the gap between experience and action. You may utilise virtual reality to create a digital experience that can be used to sell products and services instead of a physical one. Customers will be more involved in what you’re doing, and you’ll have a source of feedback as a result of this. Most significantly, virtual reality alters the relationship between brands and customers. People seek out VR brand encounters rather than employing ad blockers or clicking out of advertising as fast as feasible. Your customers come to you rather than you having to go out of your way to attract them.
The use of augmented reality (AR) in marketing and sales techniques is becoming increasingly popular. It enables businesses to provide consumers with one-of-a-kind experiences through the use of their mobile devices. When it comes to boosting sales and enhancing brand value through mobile devices, AR provides you another tool. With augmented shopping experiences becoming increasingly popular, brands can utilise AR to let the consumer experience items before they buy them. Testing everything from cosmetics to a potential new vehicle!
Looking at the possible prospects of AR & VR being a game-changer in the field of marketing, it is now imperative for marketers to envision the future of the application of AR and VR in different industries. At Cranberry, a Digital Marketing & Graphic Design Studio, we are already looking for opportunities to expand our horizons and incorporate AR and VR in our marketing strategies for our clients worldwide.