Furniture retailers need to stay up-to-date with the latest technology to be a leader in the industry. They need to understand how to be part of the metaverse, providing their customers with a unique and immersive shopping experience that is unlike anything they have ever experienced before.
Brands are starting to use Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Extended Reality (XR), and 3D technology to create realistic simulations of furniture and home decor. Through high-quality visual content and advanced interactivity, these technologies help customers see how a piece of furniture will look in their home before purchasing it. Not only that, implementing an immersive marketing strategy can also help brands enhance the in-store experience, bridging the gap between physical stores and online retail.
The Best Way to Display Furniture Products
The possibility to “try before you buy” in furniture shopping is crucial. Customers are looking for ways to avoid making costly mistakes when purchasing oversized items like furniture. This is where AR comes into play.
AR technology can overlay a 3D model of the furniture onto a real-world setting. The photo-realistic renderings and accurate representations of the product are created to enable customers to see the product right in front of them from all angles. Customers can also check if the furniture measurements fit their space, or if the colors match the environment.
Thanks to technological advancements, customers can experience a product in full 3D on mobile without having to download additional apps. Through Web-AR, brands can provide a remarkable AR experience directly within the mobile browser and let it blend seamlessly into the user journey. Ultimately, these AR tools are key to creating a personalized shopping experience and converting leads into buyers.
Bringing Immersive Experiences to The Next Level
In a unique category like furniture, the bar for immersive and authentic visualizations is only rising. Immersion is an essential element of the interior design and furniture industry. It not only transports the user into a new reality but also offers an opportunity for brands to develop their storytelling. A virtual showroom delivers this kind of immersive experience for sellers to give to their clients.
Virtual showrooms are created from a 360 ° video capture of the physical place or from an entire 3D model. For businesses, it’s an opportunity to go beyond the limits of time and space. Due to the unlimited virtual environment, you can infinitely extend the number of displayed products. You can also save on logistics and management expenses while closing sales anytime and anywhere.
With the showroom itself, the possibilities are endless. Brands can make their virtual showrooms visually engaging, realistic, and with innovative features. They can include avatars of a sales representative who greet the customers as they enter the virtual space. Using VR technology, brands can also offer a 4D virtual tour that allows viewers to explore every part of the showroom seamlessly.
It doesn’t stop there. There are clickable hotspots in the virtual showroom with downloadable brochures, links to e-shops, and even connections to chat, call or video with representatives of the brand. Viewers can conveniently explore products digitally using a secure payment gateway and make purchases directly on the same platform. Analytic tools such as heat maps will also give brands insight into buyer behavior like never before.
Showcasing in the Metaverse
Virtual exhibitions offer a new way of showcasing the latest trends in the furniture industry without the need for trade halls. Powered by cutting-edge 3D and VR immersive technology, a virtual exhibition presents a much closer experience as visitors walk through in real time. The 3D virtual lobby, virtual exhibition hall, and 3D exhibition booths are presented with a light-weighted WebGL-based web application. The interactive hotspots, chat with exhibitors or organizers, a plethora of downloadable resources, easy social connection, live webinars, and other functionalities make the virtual exhibition experience exceed the quality of a physical event.
As immersive technologies and the metaverse continue to evolve, it is clear that they will profoundly impact the furniture and interior design industry. Retailers who embrace these technologies will be able to help their customers speed up their buying decision process and provide their customers with a unique and engaging shopping experience. This can lead to higher conversion rates and greater customer satisfaction.
Are you interested in all things immersive?
At Silversea Media, we are helping organizations attract consumers with the vivid realism and total interactivity of 3D/VR/AR/XR virtual experiences. Our MetaTwin 3D Platform provides a gateway to the Enterprise Metaverse that empowers a company’s, even an industry’s, seamless digital transformation. Our MetaTwin 3D Platform handles object and spatial 3D digitization, 3D asset and space management, and immersive online and offline hybrid experiences. The platform digitally creates powerful interactive versions of clients’ products, spaces, and customer/user experiences.
