Category: Point and Place

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Point & Place AR Shopping Platform Adds Face Tracking

Augmented reality (AR) is becoming increasingly popular as a tool for retailers to aid in sales. AR technology allows customers to virtually try out a product before purchase, so see if it fits in their room, or on their body. Digital commerce company EyeKandy has announced that it hopes to make AR retail technology more accurate with the addition of ‘AR Wearables’ to the Point & Place AR platform.

The AR Wearables function utilises facial tracking technology in order to adjust a selected product, such as glasses or headphones to fit the specific head size of the person viewing the product, letting customers try on wearable products.

Point & Place

“This is not a one size fits all feature roll-out. This is state of the art, cutting edge technology, deployed for the first time in mainstream retail. The Wearables technology allows the forward facing camera on the shopper’s phone to see the specific dimensions of their face and then place, for example, a pair of headphones onto their head. It will dynamically adjust based on each person’s specific head size; it’s not just a static, one size model,” commented Joe Golden Creative Director of EyeKandy.

The company is planning on rolling out the upgrade to all retailers connected to the Point & Place platform for no extra cost.

“We are seeing shoppers want to share the AR experiences with friends and family to get feedback as part of the purchasing process,” Golden continued, “so we made it easy for them to place products on their head, take a picture and send it to friends to get feedback. It’s engaging, its fast, it’s impactful, and it reduces the ‘Imagination Gap’ for the shopper.”

Dave Seedorf, Digital Marketing Manager EMEA at Harmon International added; “We were delighted to be invited to support this initiative as the launch partner, as we love to innovate our Digital Marketing activities continuously. We are convinced that the technology, deployed in this way, will be a fun, educational and personal experience for the shopper. That can only be a good thing.”

EyeKandy

For future coverage of AR use in retail and industry, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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Visualise Products at Home With Currys PC World’s Point and Place AR App

With the rise of augmented reality (AR) one of the earliest use cases for the technology on an enterprise level for consumers was through retail, with companies like IKEA creating apps that would allow customers to place items digitally in their own home. Now British technology retailer Currys PC World is trying the very same thing with its new Point and Place AR app for Apple devices.

Currys Point and Place

The app is in fact the creation of EyeKandy, a 360 solutions partner for emerging technologies, which initially announced the app last month, with Currys PC World being one of the early adopters.

Using the AR app shoppers are able to select and position fridges, freezers, televisions, printers and more than 800 other products in their own living space, enabling customers to accurately visualise how products will look in their home as part of the pathway to purchase.

“This launch is such an exciting step for the Currys PC World business, placing us ahead of our competitors and at the forefront of technological developments. We ran extensive tests on the impact Augmented Reality shopping has on our customers and found that they are actively interested in the technology and the way it aids their decision making,” said Mark Adkin, Head of UX, Design and Digital Strategy, in a statement. “Our desire, as the UK’s largest electrical retailer, is to ensure that our customers get it right when it comes to buying any product from our extensive range, and Point and Place will assist decision further reduce purchasing risk be it from the comfort of your home or instore.”

Point & Place

“When your shopping for televisions, printers, furniture and a host of other products, shoppers have to imagine how a TV is going to look on their wall, or a printer on their desk, or a coffee machine in the kitchen,” adds Andy Shackleton, CEO of Eyekandy. “Point and Place closes that imagination gap, reducing decision making timelines on purchases, as well as reducing product returns.”

While the Currys Point and Place app is currently only available for Apple devices, EyeKandy’s core Point and Place app does support Android, for those that want to test it out. For further AR app updates, keep reading VRFocus.