Right from artificial intelligence (AI) to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), the latest, emerging technologies are shaping the retail industry at an expeditious pace. Albeit, not yet in the hands of every customer, virtual reality (VR) is gaining a lot traction in the e-commerce industry, lately, and is finding its place in the technology market.
Virtual reality is changing the retail industry not just because of the reasons that customers are covering their eyes with VR glasses. But, the concept of an entirely personalized customer experience, showcasing products you wish, in a place you can relate to, without having to leave your home is sufficient to hone the appetite of a consumer.
On the other side, retailers are also desirous in leveraging the advantages of the virtual reality (VR) solutions, with the virtual reality industry expected to reach nearly $150 billion by the year 2020.
Vcommerce (Virtual reality commerce) is not going to replace e-commerce, not in the near future, at least — But rather become a supportive technology, defining a true omnichannel experience to shoppers. The real ability of vcommerce is bridging the trust gap online shoppers and their online shopping experiences. There are still brick and mortar retailers who offer the advantage of tactile, personal connections to their customers and for those reasons, consumers may be cautious of shopping from online stores especially, international consumers.
Virtual reality lets the consumer interact with the brand, Feel and Check the product for themselves in context and build trust with the retailer. Vcommerce is anticipated to project interest in unique brands producing quality content, but shoppers will continue to shop across devices, in store, and on PCs.
Advantages of virtual reality for online retailers
Rich consumer feedback
Understanding the consumer journey, finding pitfalls in your store, tracking hot spots for consumer navigation and analyzing time spent checking specific products – All of this is possible through virtual reality analytics.
Regardless of whether online or offline, product placement and store layout are important for any retailer. Precise analysis of the way customers shop, from navigational ways to line of sight while scanning item options, lets retailers customize the store layout in order to enhance customer engagement, conversions, and drive retail mobility solutions.
Market Interruption
While virtual reality trials and experimental content is getting a lot of traction, only restricted quality content is right now in availability. Ans this is where actually brands can make a real difference. Virtual changing rooms, VR stylists, etc. are gaining momentum, but some markets remain tender for the interruption, such as automotive.
Envision you are virtually viewing your new house, rather than disappointing with open homes and wasting your time with real estate agents or brokers. Or imagine that you are researching your new car choices without having to leave your home, instead of traveling between two different showrooms. SMBs can gain the benefit by being quicker to market, more creative in their content, and more reactive to customer feedback than large enterprise brands.
Minimizing friction
Frictionless transactions have always been on the top of the goal list of the retailers, of course, both online and offline. While in-app and invisible payments constantly enhance the shopping experience, the perspective for a truly frictionless shopping experience through virtual reality offers a thrilling future for the retail industry.
Lately, eye tracking in the virtual reality is being increasingly adopted for behavioral mapping and analyzing the customer journey. Future practices could include authentication (Recognizing which customer is having the headset and then getting their profile from their past shopping experiences) and probably even payment, via Buy buttons the customer can just look at to initiate a sale.
The customer service experience is also set to transform, with virtual assistants coming to provide a personalized response to product related inquiries. The customer has no need to wait for an email revert or even a call from them. The complete conversion journey right from product search to trial and product-related inquiries can be handled within the virtual store.
While the future of the retail industry looks promising with virtual reality solutions, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed. For instance, while purchase timeframes are shortened with virtual reality which means the consumer no longer have to go to the store, the logistics of vcommerce are yet to bring some clarity. So while customer expectations continue to instantaneousness, fulfillment, and shipping options are usually not able to meet this demand for various retailers.
