Shopper Experience
24 June 2022
Augmented reality shopping can inspire confidence, creativity
Check out survey results from Snap and new features from Walmart and IKEA.

(Illustration by The Current)
Check out survey results from Snap and new features from Walmart and IKEA.
(Illustration by The Current)
Welcome to Near Future. In this weekly feature, The Current spotlights innovations powering the next wave of commerce.
For brands and retailers, adding new technology features to a shopping experience has long been a way to generate interest and excitement. Tech makes new capabilities possible, allowing all to envision a future that appears to have already arrived.
Yet it’s also important to ground the rollout of an innovative new tool in its utility for a business. How does it provide shoppers with value, and in turn help to solve problems inside the business? With more technology available, it's increasingly important that these questions are analyzed and answered.
So it was with interest that we read the results of a recent survey on augmented reality from Snap Inc. and Publicis Media. AR, which involves overlaying a digital image onto the display of a real-world setting through a mobile camera, is becoming more widely used in ecommerce. Many brands and retailers are rolling out AR shopping features like virtual try-ons and 360 product demos, or considering doing so. So research on how shoppers use and assess the technology can be key to understanding whether a virtual try-on is the right fit.
The data was gathered by market research consultancy Alter Agents across four markets, with a quantitative survey of 4,028 shoppers aged 13 to 49 who have used AR for shopping, and 37 mobile ethnographic interviews and daily diaries from consumers in these four markets.
Here are a few of the findings:
The research comes as momentum for augmented reality is building, driven in part by Snap. After exploring brand partnerships that helped to prove out the utility, the camera-based social platform is bolstering its capabilities in this area with a home for AR try-on for users, as well as tools for brands to more easily add products for shoppers to browse in this mode. The research found that 37% of shoppers who discover AR experiences do so on Snapchat, second only to store websites.
Ecommerce platforms are also moving to add augmented reality features. In June, Amazon made a fresh addition to its AR shopping tools with a Virtual Try-On for Shoes features. It immediately offered access to well-known brands such as New Balance, adidas, Reebok and Puma.
This week, Walmart announced a pair of new augmented reality features for its shopping app, stating that it believes “the closest store to our customers is in their pocket.”
One feature, rolling out in July for iOS with Android and web to follow, allows customers to view a visualization of what furniture and home décor items will look like in their own spaces. The Walmart app will now include a ‘View in your space” banner. Once in this area, shoppers will be able to hold up their phone to view a likeness of up to 300 items, toggle item dimensions for fit and then snap a picture for later. It also includes haptic feedback, which allows customers to feel vibrations as they move 3D models, and prevents them from moving beyond the walls of a single room.
(Photo via Walmart)
AR won’t only be an ecommerce function at Walmart. The company said it is developing a new in-store augmented reality feature to view product information. Shoppers and associates will be able to point a phone camera at store shelves with the Walmart app, and it will in turn filter the product assortment based on personal preference. This can be used to denote whether an item has a particular specification, such as gluten free. It could also help to provide info on whether a coupon is available for a product.
Walmart’s extension of the technology to the in-store experience underscores how the 3D technology will continue to develop. New use cases will emerge.
That’s also on view in a new release from IKEA this week. The Swedish furniture company launched a new mixed reality experience that combines AI, computer vision and design tools with the visualization that is familiar in AR. The technology was developed by AI specialists in Silicon Valley, and Geomagical Labs, which IKEA acquired in 2020.
IKEA Kreativ. (Courtesy photo)
IKEA Kreativ offers tools that allow shoppers to create a 3D replica of their own space by taking a series of photographs, which are automatically processed into one 360 image. In turn, this image can be edited by erasing their own furniture from the image, and replacing it with images of IKEA products. So, effectively, it allows users to design their own space. Then they can save for later or share with friends. Users can also add the products to their cart, creating a path from visualizing to buying.
It’s a reminder that augmented reality is a step to help visualize and inspire. The most widespread sign of adoption may be when it becomes such a blended part of the ecommerce experience that users don’t even think about the words augmented reality when they are using these features.
The record-breaking year saw 21% growth over 2021, according to Comscore.
Digital commerce crossed a key milestone in 2022, according to a new report.
The news: U.S. spend on digital commerce exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in 2022, according to a new report from media measurement firm Comscore. The record-breaking year saw 21% year-over-year growth, according to the 2023 State of Digital Commerce Report. The report measured spending across desktop and mobile devices.
Forecasts come true: This appears to confirm projections from a variety of analysts that ecommerce would reach $1 trillion in 2022.
Pull-forward sticks? The new data also adds evidence that ecommerce continues to have an upward growth trajectory, even as 2022 saw a pullback from the runaway growth of the two peak-pandemic years.
It shows there remains a chance that some of the pandemic gains may also prove to be sticky. Digital commerce was at $705.4 billion during the pandemic’s first year of 2020. A year later, it reached $904.3 billion. Now, it crossed the trillion-dollar mark.
“That level of growth previously took four years to achieve. Consumers are clearly doubling down on what works best for them--seamless, convenient, online purchasing across many different verticals and product types,” said Comscore’s Ian Essling, senior director of survey insights at Comscore, in a statement.
Mobile rising: Mobile phones are continuing to drive growth of digital commerce. During the key holiday period of Q4, dollars spent on mobile devices grew 26%, while desktop grew 14%. Now, mobile’s share of commerce is mobile’s share of total digital commerce is approaching 40%.
More key stats: