Tag: augmented reality shopping

The massive online marketplace has brought in AR tech for even faster buying abilities.

The iOS version of the Amazon app is now giving customers the opportunity to take advantage of Flow and augmented reality to help shoppers to be able to shop even faster and easier by scanning items in real life so that they will be able to instantly buy them from their own mobile commerce shelves.

This is making mcommerce headlines around the world as it changes the entire nature of shopping.

The idea is that a consumer at home would be able to spot an item that needs to be replaced or replenished and could simply pick up their mobile devices to scan it so that it could be automatically ordered. Undoubtedly, Amazon must also be hoping that consumers will also use this opportunity to order products from them while they are standing in another company’s brick and mortar retail stores.

The company expressed that using this augmented reality experience could make shopping as short as two seconds.

In fact, through the use of this technology, the shopping experience could be even shorter than that, once the consumer is truly familiar with this new version of mobile commerce. The Flow app was first launched in 2011 as a form of augmented reality software, and now its integration with the iOS version of the Amazon mobile app makes it possible for an item to be identified by aiming the smartphone camera at it so that Amazon can then find its replacement in its massive product inventory.

This image recognition function has been upgraded from previous techniques that involved barcode scanning, or searching by entering a product name and conducting a query using a manual search function on the website. If the image recognizer is not capable of identifying the item, the users are still able to fall back on the old fashioned searches or barcode scans. Reportedly, some of the most Flow compatible products are DVDs, CDs, video games, and books.

Once products have been scanned through this augmented reality mobile commerce experience, they are saved into a search history, which will make them even easier to reorder.

Augmented reality set to mesh with mobile commerce

Augmented reality is often considered to be a technology that primarily inhabits the realms of marketing and entertainment. In these two fields, the technology has become exceedingly popular. As augmented reality becomes more popular amongst consumers, retailers are beginning to see the potential of the technology beyond marketing and entertainment. A new survey from the Cardinal Group, a leading provider of shopping technology and security solutions for the retail industry, suggests that mobile commerce may soon merge with augmented reality.

Interactive technology growing beyond marketing and entertainment

Augmented reality often garners acclaim because of its dynamic nature. The technology can be used to bring a wide range of digital content to life with high definition, 3D displays. Consumers have come to enjoy the technology for this reason, showing favor for mobile applications that employ augmented reality in an entertaining and practical way. As consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices, augmented reality may begin playing a larger role in the field of mobile commerce, which itself has already become rampantly popular with consumers.

New survey shows consumers are interested in mobile commerce and augmented reality

According to the survey from the Cardinal Group, 55% of shoppers have downloaded a mobile application onto their device, with 51% of these consumers having made a purchase through such applications at some point in their life. The Cardinal Group also employed an augmented reality mirror, called the Virtual Fashion Mirror, at a recent London event, which was used by 87% of those attending. The survey also shows that consumers are growing increasingly interested in the capabilities of augmented reality in mobile commerce.

Future of mobile commerce may become more dynamic

Augmented reality could potential bring a new dynamic to the world of mobile commerce. The retail industry uses augmented reality to sell products in a limited capacity through virtual fashion mirrors similar to the one used by the Cardinal Group. These applications of augmented reality have proven effective in the past, but how the technology will be incorporated into the future of mobile commerce has yet to be seen.