Virtual Shopping: What Augmented Reality Means for Retailers

Marketing Thought Leaders

Virtual Shopping: What Augmented Reality Means for Retailers

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Published 2/14/2013

Author: Marguerite McNeal

Marguerite McNeal is a staff writer for the AMA’s magazines and e-newsletters

Summary

When Google launched Project Glass last year, the company teased audiences with those futuristic glasses that overlay the user’s field of vision with digital images. Known as augmented reality, this technology might look straight out of a sci-fi movie, but its retail applications are becoming evident online.

“I think augmented reality is slowly starting to reach critical mass, where it’s climbing over ‘use once because it’s cool’ to something that people see the value in actually using more regularly,” says Mikko Martikainen, CEO of Sayduck, a London- and Helsinki-based startup that provides a mobile augmented reality-based platform for showcasing furniture products. “The technology is moving away from the gimmicky world,” such as an app that lets users unlock Justin Bieberthemed virtual content when they scan his latest album, to more practical and valuable informational tool, he says.