Selling sure has changed over the years, especially with the advent of the digital age. Today, we’re seeing the emergence of exciting new technology that’s poised to forever change the world of sales across virtually every single industry. In fact, augmented reality, also called “AR”, is already making a significant impact on the world of retails sales.
As it stands, AR technology is slated to generate nearly $140 billion in sales by the year 2021. That’s a huge slice of the market, so if you’re in retail sales, now is the time to stand up and pay attention to AR.
In this article, we’re going to shed light on six major ways augmented reality can help you close more online sales than ever.
1. AR is Immersive
Augmented reality gives customers a firsthand look at items they’re interested in, whether that’s furniture, cars, home décor, or virtually anything else. Customers can see colors, textures, and features in 3D views that let them swivel the image and see every possible detail.
While online browsing has long given customers a look at items, the advent of AR is the first time that customers have been able to get such an immersive, up-close view of products they are interested in. Since AR offers this amazing view of products that seems to enthrall prospects, many of the prospects who view products through such platforms are likely to become paying customers.
2. AR is Easy to Access and Use
Thanks to handheld technology, such as smartphones and tablets, AR platforms are simple to access and use. Prospective customer can take a look at products they’re interested in the palm of their hands. It might be as easy as going to a retail store’s website and using a built-in AR feature to browse products, or it might entail downloading an app and using its AR technology to take a look at products.
Either way, AR makes it easy and quick for prospective customers to browse products they’re interested in. Thanks to this efficiency, retailers are finding that more and more prospects who use AR are likely to convert into sales.
3. Customers Make Better Decisions
With AR, customers have the power of making a truly informed decision. In fact, we’re already seeing that AR is actually reducing the level of product returns. This is a great deal for retailers because it reduces their backend work, but also because it heightens their customer service. When customers are able to make better decisions with AR, they are more likely to be happy for the long-term with their purchase, and this means they are likely to refer other prospects to that company.
At the end of the day, not only does AR help secure sales, but it helps grow companies with even more sales.
4. Customers Can See Products Not Physically Present
In cases where a retailer offers a showroom floor or gallery, such as in the case of the automobile and furniture sales industries, sometimes products aren’t physically present. In the past, this has basically killed any chance of making an on the spot sale of that product. With AR, however, customers can still take a look at the product, get answers to their questions, and make an informed purchasing decision.
For retailers, this is huge. While they might only have a limited stock available on the showroom floor, they can offer a huge amount of inventory that doesn’t require the extra space. All the space they need is right there on their phone.
5. AR Drives Traffic
As all retailers know, driving traffic to brick and mortar locations and websites is a critical factor in securing sales. With AR, retailers can easily drive traffic straight to their products. Not only are they driving traffic, but they are driving massive volumes. This heavy volume is leading to higher sales. What’s even better is that this can be done at a rather cost-effective rate.
In essence, you’re getting the best of both worlds. Your customers are being driven to your products in massive volumes at a great price in comparison with other marketing strategies that don’t yield those high volumes. If you want to get the most sales, you’ve got to be drawing in more prospects, and AR helps you do just that.
6. AR Helps Overcome Language Barriers
If you are a retailer in a local market, then you can make a solid bottom line. On the other hand, you might have come to the realization that if you’re an online retailer, you can make even more sales when you offer your products to a bigger market.
One of the biggest obstacles of offering your products to customers in a global market is always going to be language barrier. Even on a smaller scale, language barrier can still be an issue.
For years, the language barrier issue has killed sales, but thanks to AR, you don’t have to turn away a single customer because of language barrier. Instead, you can offer them a close-up look at your product and the opportunity to purchase without ever having to worry about language barrier.
Takeaway
Augmented reality is an effective and amazing technology that continues to grow and adapt. It would seem that every day, industries are discovering new ways to apply augmented reality to grow their businesses. Some companies are finding ways to use AR to show customers what products would look like in their homes, which is another great way to use AR to close sales.
We hope this guide has opened your eyes to the true power of AR and given you ideas for how you can implement this remarkable technology in your own business.
