AR Technology in furniture is a boon for the e-commerce industry. But, even with aggressive marketing in mainstream media, the furniture shopping industry still has a long way to go. Consumers generally hesitate to make big purchases. They are worried about the many possible issues. This include the item not fitting in their home and frequent returns. The furniture industry needs to breakthrough this, and Augmented Reality technology is the answer.

In the last few years, AR technology has been helping the furniture shopping sector solve a lot of problems. For example, AR technology enables customers to view the furniture in their own home or room before they buy it.

Four Ways Augmented Reality in Furniture Boosts ROI and Sales

The furniture shopping industry is coming up with new ways to increase sales and ROI. Using AR, furniture companies are able to replicate a 3D model of their products. They then superimpose the products over the real world. The customers can play around with the different styles, colors, shapes and sizes of their products before they make a purchase decision.

Enhance Your Space with Gucci Décor AR Experience

Augmented reality has been the backbone of many digital marketing campaigns of the leading brands, who want to build a connection with the young audience. In the past few years, Gucci has used AR try-on features such as AR shoes, AR hats, AR jewelry, AR watches, etc. to ensure that the Gen Z and millennials feel a stronger connection to the brand.

Gucci Décor AR Experience

Gucci’s new Décor SLAM AR experience is now available on their official app. Users may set new items like as house furnishings, wall paper, and even stationery products in a real environment and then see details in an immersive manner. Users may intuitively feel whether the furniture complements their house and then finish the joyful purchase with a single click.

Luxury brands usually have their home products advertised with the same strategy as their shoes and handbags. However, as consumers of these brands pay more attention to their products, they tend to be put off by high prices. Through SLAM AR technology visualizing the unique design of products, brands can help consumers make quick purchase decisions and shorten their purchase cycle.

Kivicube SLAM AR Furniture Placement

Kivisense announced the new version of Kivicube SLAM AR, which is a more advanced version of the previous one. Imagine a virtual model of the same quality as what you see in a physical store. It allows you to browse through a variety of products on an online database and make selections. Then point your device’s camera at a desired location, and virtually place the selected product onto that space to view the effect in real time. It also supports AR placement for IKEA products.

Kivisense focuses on the development of Virtual try-on shoes, jewelry, watches, handbag, eyewear, and other online-retail products. They have a long list of partners, which include Gucci, Dior, Valentino, Canada Goose, Pomellato, TTDEYE, etc. Kivisense has accomplished a lot with these companies.

IKEA PLACE Augmented Reality Furniture App

Ikea has been a beloved furniture brand by many, ever since they launched their online platform in 2016. Their app, IKEA PLACE, is a platform that allows consumers to view and purchase their furniture online- making it easier and more convenient for the consumer to get what they need. Behind their success is their ability to focus on what the Gen Z consumer wants and needs, creating wonderful experiences for them and making it easier for them to purchase.

AR Furniture Arrangement

With SLAM AR technology, IKEA Place allows customers to see if the product they want to buy will fit into their home. Customers can turn on their mobile camera and view the true-to-scale 3D model put in their own space. This gives customers a better idea of how the product will look in their home and improves the satisfaction of customers.

Augmented Reality for IKEA Assembly

IKEA PALACE, the world’s first augmented reality furniture assembly kit, has been released by IKEA. Now, no more lengthy instructions found in paper guides. IKEA PALACE has transformed these guides into an augmented reality instruction handbook. This visually teaches people how to set up their furniture. Using the app, users are able to get started by finding a virtual model of their furniture. This then leads them through each step in the process. Once the user has found all of the corresponding pieces for their furniture, they are able to create the real-world part assembly by following the animated instructions on the app.

AR Toybox 

When you buy furniture from IKEA, you’ll often get a giant box. To encourage more people to recycle the boxes, IKEA has released an augmented reality app that allows users to make toys out of their boxes, to help keep them out of the landfill. AR Box can scan the box and then tell you how to make toys out of it. It even teaches you how to make it.

AR Toybox

Primer AR Home Design

Primer’s AR Home Design app is unlike any other furniture app on the market today. Through the use of augmented reality, users can visualize the effects of different wallpapers, wall paint, and tiles on their walls in real time. Primer’s AR Home Design app provides consumers with a realistic visualization of their design goals for every room. Through ultra-accurate textures, sheen and finish, consumers can see what a new wall paint will look like on their living room walls or how a new counter-top will look on their bathroom vanity. This allows consumers to make more informed decisions on which design details will complement their living space and home.

Technology Selection in AR Furniture

The AR furniture industry has been showing off its capabilities in a recent trend. We are going to look at what kind of technologies are being used and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping)

The most common feature of these showcases that we can see is the use of SLAM technology. It is the most commonly used technology in AR because of its wide application possibilities. This technology is expected to develop rapidly in the near future. With SLAM technology, the camera is able to recognize humans, floors, walls, and desktops, then display 3D digital products on them.

SLAM AR

Physically Based Rendering (PBR)

The furniture industry is moving forward with its digital products to make it more realistic and give the consumers a more immersive experience. However, the existing method of rendering products is not as effective as it could be. Physically Based Rendering (PBR) uses more realistic shading/lighting models as well as measured surface values. This represent real-world materials unlike the traditional Lambert, Phong, and Blinn-Phong lighting models.

Augmented Reality in the Furniture Industry – A Reality?

In 2021 the AR/VR industry is booming again. Big players are betting that AR will become mainstream in the future. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, said that developing the underlying AR technology is a top priority in building the next-generation computing platforms.

Recently, the hot topic of Metaverse has also exploded. In the Metaverse, AR/VR is the key to this world. WebAR companies like Kivicube and 8th Wall are pushing the boundaries of SLAM technology. By making the AR experience available right in the browser, consumers can directly experience and then purchase their desired furniture by scanning them on their phones.

AR is Booming in the Furniture Industry

AR technology is taking the furniture industry to the next level! With AR, brands can significantly shorten sales cycles, reduce returns, and increase sales conversions to help you stay ahead of the competition.

The world’s most successful brands have already started integrating augmented and virtual reality into their digital strategy. Now, it’s time for your business to join them and get ahead of the competition. As one of the best augmented reality companies, Tulfa is here to make sure it happens.

Talk to us to know more.