AR is the real deal but it is important to move beyond the techno toys and techie babble and look how best to implement this tool in the real world. It enriches the shopping experience by augmenting a shopper's view of store goods through additional sensory and informational material.
For example, access to product reviews on social network sites is now possible simply by pointing AR-enabled webcams or smart-phones at an AR enriched product or display.
An important recent development is called 'marker-less tracking'. This is a method used to digitally tracking a consumer's physical location in time and space, whilst also capturing information on your particular physiology. Another important technique is called '3D modelling'. This is the capacity to create a digital representation of your size and shape, or the creation of your 'avatar'.
'Compositing' enables us to present your avatar in relation to the brand. 'Presentation' techniques may vary, but this refers to the user interface between the customer and the AR environment. A customer's avatar could even be made to appear in a store display or embedded in a brand's advertising. Hugo Boss already uses interactive AR screens in London shop windows to engage shoppers.
Technology company Fujitsu has created a digital mirror for cosmetics brand Shiseido that gives personalised recommendations to customers after a digital facial scan. The 'mirror' then reflects how the make-up would look on the customer's face. This shopping aid currently operates in Tokyo shopping malls. The digital cosmetics mirror gives us a clue as to how AR implementation could take off in South Africa.
Techie enthusiasm is not enough to drive the development in a marketplace in which consumers are tightening their belts, margins are under pressure and every retail investment has to earn its keep.
Collaboration will be key. In the Shiseido example you have three collaborators at work - the retail space or mall, the technology company and the brand. In South Africa, we may see a fourth element - the media company. Collaboration like this must be explored to share costs and ensure investment returns.
AR could also be harnessed to the franchising of store space. Instead of simply leasing floor area, AR screens linked to the franchisee's digital brand catalogue could also be leased. On screen, a customer's image or avatar could participate with the franchisee's digital range and transactions could follow within the AR environment.
The reality is that this new display and informational tool will roll out best when economic viability is assured.
Retailers looking to wow and woo customers will move fast to adopt the new technology. But they will also develop a business model that ensures productive use of space that adds value to their relationships with brands and perhaps also media owners and advertisers of affinity products.
AR can't only be a technology proposition; it has to be a business proposition as well.
