Immersive retail and ecommerce (online shopping) experiences have grown increasingly popular in recent years. As the digital world continues to alter how consumers research and buy products and services, extended reality is emerging as a valuable resource.
With virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, companies can empower products to digitally try products before they buy them, compare available solutions, and even experiment with digital twins. The right technologies not only improve the customer experience but also increase revenue and fewer returns for many retail brands.
Some studies show customers who can experiment with a product in augmented reality are 25% more likely to complete a purchase. Today, we’re looking at some of the top XR vendors delivering immersive retail experiences to companies.
The article provides a snapshot of the vendors featured in our Retail & E-Commerce Marketplace.
- Plattar
- Next/Now
- GrooveJones
- Snap
- VRdirect
- Magnopus
- EnvisionVR
- Reactive Reality
- AR-TY
- Psychic VR Lab
- EZ360
Specializing in the development of 3D and AR visualisation solutions that drive sales and engagement, Plattar gives companies a comprehensive platform for immersive retail. The no-code solution gives organizations all the resources they need to design unique “try at home” augmented reality apps, product demonstrations, and post-sales experiences.
With Plattar, companies can design engaging product visualizations for their online stores or immersive walk-throughs for modern retail customers. Plus, they can empower field service teams with immersive sales tools and even provide customers with interactive servicing guides. Anyone can build, manage, and publish 3D and augmented reality scenes for websites, ecommerce, sales applications, and in-store displays.
Experiential agency Next/Now works with companies to design multimedia and digital exhibition solutions for sales and marketing. Working with the latest augmented and virtual reality content development tools, Next/Now produces highly bespoke experiences for online and in-person retailers. The company even recently created an immersive experience for the NBA store and designed a comprehensive metaverse store for United Airlines.
Next/Now blurs the lines between physical and digital experiences with augmented and virtual reality showrooms, events, and pop-up activations. Companies can even develop their own metaverse environments to help drive community engagement.
Groove Jones produces award-winning AI, AR, MR, and VR applications for marketing, advertising, sales enablement, and training. The organization works hand-in-hand with companies from various industries to develop bespoke branded experiences that transcend physical borders. Over the years, the company has produced everything from AI-powered experiences to XR apps and 3D billboards.
Groove Jones has also developed a unique AI-powered 360-degree avatar scanner for events and conferences, which allow consumers and employees alike to create virtual versions of themselves. Companies can even use this technology to enable their customers to “star” in their own immersive videos and share the experience with friends on social media.
Best-known for their popular multimedia messaging application, Snapchat, Snap focuses on empowering users to explore the digital world with XR-enhanced applications. The company works with various organizations around the world on the development of immersive retail experiences, encompassing marketing, sales, and customer success.
Companies can work with Snap to produce branded filters and tools accessible through the Snapchat application. Additionally, Snap has teams of professionals available to assist organizations in developing campaigns intended for brand awareness, conversions, lead acquisition, and more.
VRdirect is an enterprise-level virtual reality platform that enables companies to create and customize use-case-driven virtual experiences. With the VRdirect studio, companies can create immersive retail experiences using a visual editor that requires no coding knowledge. The VRdirect platform also ensures companies can view and share their virtual reality projects on any device.
Supporting companies like Siemens, SAP, and Nestle, VRdirect specializes in streamlining sales and marketing experiences with extended reality interactions. Business leaders can use the drag-and-drop tools to design any number of experiences, implementing integrated features for live-streaming video, audio, and text.
Content-focused technology company Magnopus combines spatial computing and innovative XR tools to create new experiences for brands. The company’s studio designs and builds comprehensive cross-reality projects for global companies, allowing them to interact with customers through the web, mobile, and wearable devices.
Over the years, Magnopus has created immersive retail environments for companies like Sony and Disney and has even produced its own “Connected Spaces” platform. The Connected Space Platform offers access to an open-source SDK that accelerates the development of interoperable spatial services and applications.
Targeting home sellers, builders, and agents in the real estate landscape, EnvisionVR empowers companies to transform architectural plans into full-scale virtual reality walkthroughs. The CGI-agnostic company works with 3D designers to bring their renders to life, designing powerful marketing, sales, and customer service experiences.
Immersive experiences built with the EnvisionVR platform are available to access on mobile, tablets, VR headsets, and web applications. They also come with a powerful sales platform built-in, with tools which allow companies to create and manage transactions in immersive environments. Companies can utilize EnvisionVR’s toolkits to render unique experiences and showcase products in exciting ways.
Delivering immersive retail solutions to ecommerce companies in the fashion landscape, Reactive Reality offers an all-in-one platform for experience creation. The core solution offered by the company is the PICTOFIT platform, a scalable and versatile tool that allows organizations to develop immersive virtual “try-on” experiences.
Companies can use the technologies offered by the brand to help customers try on outfits before they buy them or see what they’ll look like on an avatar. The platform also supports AI-generated size recommendations for consumers. Plus, companies can create custom background scenes for try-on experiences that match their brand’s look and feel.
AR-TY, or Arty, is a company that offers ecommerce vendors and retailers a turnkey 3D content management solution that integrates with any ecommerce platform. Companies can use the technology to transform 2D product images and animations into 3D experiences for online shoppers and help customers understand the core features of any item.
Arty’s 3D Configurator can even help organizations demonstrate the functionality of complex and multi-party products with ease. Moreover, Arty also offers access to pre-built tools, like a 3D product customizer solution and a virtual fitting room for fashion retailers. These solutions can be implemented into online stores with minimal coding requirements.
Psychic VR Lab is a startup company that gives businesses access to fashion-focused VR and MR shopping experiences through the STYLY platform. The spatial computing solution allows organizations to develop virtual reality and augmented reality experiences in the metaverse for everything from trying on clothing to interacting with customer service teams.
Within the platform, businesses can design and build their own unique tools within their web browser then publish and share a scene on any device with a single click. There’s also a range of free 3D assets available to assist teams in launching their own experiences. Plus, the Psychic VR Lab company also offers training and resources to assist beginners.
EZ360 is a comprehensive VR video player and content management system intended for retail and ecommerce companies. The platform aims to make managing immersive content simple, with built-in features to organize VR content, cinema experiences, and more. Companies can add, change, manage, and delete content on multiple VR headsets at once, from a simple browser-based portal.
Additionally, EZ360 gives businesses the freedom to customize how their virtual reality video player looks and feels, so it can match their brand perfectly. The company’s platform is brimming with features like offline playback options, account management, built-in analytics, spatial audio, and kiosk options.
