A recent and new tech innovation is virtual reality and augmented reality. While wearing a special headset users can experience an entire immersive environment. While with augmented reality, the user can use the camera on their smartphone to view additional digital elements in and around whatever object they are pointing their smartphone camera at. One of the interesting applications of this new technology is within the retail and custom packaging industry. But how exactly does augmented reality specifically work in conjunction with retail packaging? Augmented reality is actually very well suited for product marketing at the physical store level. One of the main uses of augmented reality is the ability for users to view additional data and promotional information about a product.
Augmented reality (AR) is not meant to replace your retail packaging design. Whether it’s an on the shelf cardboard box, or a floor display, AR can work to complement and strengthen your branded packaging design. For example, one of the goals of product marketers is to increase engagement and interaction with the consumer. When a consumer sees an eye catching package design they are more likely to stop and inspect the product. With AR, the consumer is offered an additional level of interaction. The consumer might want to view a product in its entirety. For example, if a product is completely inside a box, with AR they would be able to use their phone to view a 3D version of the product. They could see the front, back and sides of the product and get a better idea what the product looks like. And perhaps, the experience could be taken a step further with a coupon. To entice the customer to purchase the product, the customer could be asked to provide their email address in exchange for a discount.
One of the difficult aspects of product packaging design is the limited physical space. For some products it’s not a significant problem. For example, food and beverage products can come down to the taste. These type of products are not very complicated to understand. However, AR can still provide benefits to seemingly easy to understand products. For example, a chocolate bar company may use AR to better demonstrate the ethical sourcing of their cocoa beans. Or, an electronics product can be benefit from AR by helping the customer learn the potential uses of the product. ROAR is a perfect example of an AR solutions company that can help retailers show off their products. They did exactly that with Vital Farms, when they helped them demonstrate what a free range pasture-raised chicken environment looks like. This helped customers learn more about the company’s product.
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