How Will Augmented Reality Change The Way We Buy Groceries?

The integration of Augmented Reality applications into shopping has truly redefined the whole experience for customers and retailers alike. It has shown unbelievable results, and an escalating total of AR users across industries and verticals only proves the invaluable potential of this immersive tech.

Augmented shopping is the new digital genie that allows customers to engage with their favorite brands and choicest products via digital experience. With the features like ‘try-on’, ‘try-out’, ‘interact’, an augmented reality experience delivers a much more detailed and intuitive shopping experience.

Introduction:

A few years back, the idea of buying groceries online didn’t really resonate well with the consumers. People were worried about how long it would take to browse through the products online, what kind of products will be delivered, will they be of the same quality as mentioned online or not, and all such questions. But today, especially after the whole world has been forced to shift to the online paradigm, online shopping has become the niche for the customers.

Shopping experiences nowadays happen in several different contexts - at home, in-store, or on the go. Whatever the shopping context, AR creates a lasting impact on a shopper’s mind with its interactive abilities. This immersive tech can also provide richer product information to the customer, and its ability to personalize products as per the shopper’s desire makes it highly attractive. The more customizable a product is, the more valuable this shopping experience becomes. It builds a customer’s confidence, creates brand value, and ensures customer loyalty.

Let us look at ‘How Augmented reality is changing the whole “grocery shopping” experience’-

1. Enhanced Customer Engagement:

Augmented Reality has made the whole online grocery shopping experience more realistic and engaging for the customer. With the help of tech advancements and upgrades in mobile phone technology (like iPhone 12’s LiDAR scanner), shoppers can enjoy an in-store experience right from the comfort of their homes. AR allows several interaction points to ensure enhanced customer engagement. AR blends real-world imagery with digital data using a camera lens. This has truly amplified and redefined the shopping experience.

2. Online Grocery Shopping Reimagined With AR:

AR blurs the line between real and virtual, thus allowing a customer to get a much better idea of the product before buying. As a result, a customer can get a complete, data-driven picture of the product, and make a well-informed decision, doing away from all the guesswork involved in traditional online shopping.

With AR in product packaging, you can see the product come to life. Brands are using this technique to develop a more profound connection with their customers, telling them about their brand stories, product developments along with information like the benefits and ingredients of the selected product. This AR in consumer engagement has several benefits:

1. Boosts Customer Retention,
2. Higher Conversion Rate,
3. Reduced Returns/Exchanges, &
4. Improved ROI.

3. In-Store Grocery Shopping

When it comes to in-store grocery shopping, AR has changed that experience too. With its immersive qualities, AR can make a customer’s life easier and makes the whole shopping experience fun.

1. Personal Shopping Assistant: With this immersive tech, a shopper can browse throughout the store; receive product recommendations and tips based on past shopping experiences. A few stores have also gamified the whole process, where a shopper can play and enjoy an immersive gaming experience while shopping to collect redeemable coupons during checkout. Let us look at a use-case of the same:

   Dent Reality, an augmented reality company, has done something similar. They have redefined the grocery shopping experience using an AR app. Here’s how it works:

   To experience AR, a shopper needs to install an AR app on their smartphone and create an account by filling in all the necessary details. They also need to put in their food preferences, favorite cuisines, allergens (if any), and other such details. Based on all this information, this smart AR app will suggest and recommend products that meet the criteria set by the shopper. All a user needs to do is point their smartphone’s camera over product shelves.

2. AR-based Navigation: Often it becomes too overwhelming to shop in a grocery store, and we often find ourselves in sections other than the ones we are looking for. With the help of AR, this can be solved. AR can navigate you throughout the store, and with something like an arrow pointing over the racks and among the floors and the aisles, you can find whatever you are looking for. With augmented navigation, it becomes much easier to find and locate the required items in a hassle-free manner.

   Apart from all the different ways, it makes shoppers’ lives easier, these AR apps also help grocery retailers. It helps them better understand their customers and their preferences and provides first-hand information for ensuring better sales and higher customer satisfaction.

4. Boosts Shopper’s Confidence

Two-thirds of the shoppers think that AR can help them make a better buying decision. Moreover, with over a 90% increase in customer engagement, customers prefer those brands that offer AR, over those that don’t. This immersive experience allows customers to truly know their products and become well-informed before making the purchase decision. This leads to buying what’s actually right and required and thus, boosts a customer’s shopping confidence immensely.

Wrapping Up

With AR, grocery shopping becomes convenient and easier. Not only is this way of shopping more productive but it can be much more entertaining and informative too.

No matter how we shop, the most important thing for a customer is choosing the right product at a fair price. Getting the best deal possible in the most convenient manner is all a customer desires. As a retailer, if you can keep these points in mind and develop a strategy that meets all these criteria, you can ensure a much better response from your customers. This whole process becomes much more realistic and seems far more attainable with the backing of AR.

Augmented Reality is fast-changing the way we buy groceries, as well as the whole shopping experience. A good AR experience is full of brand stories, product information, interactive track-points, and highly engaging. This not only keeps the user entertained but makes them feel like a part of the product-making process.

Used the right way, this lifelike technology can literally change the tides in your favor, be it in-store or online.

Contact Us

Expoodle is a MarTech company that focuses on democratizing the AR space. With our experienced team of professionals, we aim at providing personalized AR-based solutions, specially curated as per your brand’s requirements. So what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us today!