For all its ease and convenience, online shopping can’t fully recreate the in-person shopping experience. While browsing an online store, a customer can’t hold or try on a product to decide whether they want to purchase it. Luckily, augmented reality (AR) is helping bridge this gap.
Augmented reality layers virtual information into a customer’s real environment, giving them a way to interact with a product or brand.
Here’s how brands are already using AR technology to connect and engage with their customers.
Table of contents
What is augmented reality (AR)?
Augmented reality is a technology that blends the digital and physical worlds by layering virtual objects on top of your real-world environment. For example, an online makeup brand lets users virtually try on blush to determine which shade works best with their complexion.
This technology is accessible through AR-enabled mobile devices, tablets, or specialty headsets like XReal Air or the discontinued Google Glass.
11 augmented reality examples
- HORNE’s AR-rendered products
- Amorepacific’s AR mirror
- Rebecca Minkoff’s AR-rendered products
- Gucci’s Virtual 25 shoes
- Nomatic’s 3D models
- Glenlivet’s interactive game
- The Smithsonian’s AR dinosaurs
- QuiverVision’s AR books
- Ikea Place
- Pokémon Go
- 19 Crimes’ AR wine labels
From education to marketing, there are many fascinating augmented reality applications. Here are 11 augmented reality examples to take inspiration from:
1. HORNE’s AR-rendered products
The high-end home décor company HORNE wants customers to use its products for years to come. However, an online shopper might have trouble making a long-term commitment to a product that isn’t physically before them.
To help customers visualize the products in their space, HORNE’s AR tech lets mobile visitors place a lamp or a piece of furniture in their homes with their smartphones to get a better sense of how it will work for them.
2. Amorepacific’s AR mirror
One of augmented reality’s strengths is its ability to work in real time. In Amorepacific’s flagship store in Seoul, the beauty brand installed an AR mirror that lets customers try on makeup without needing to use tester products.
3. Rebecca Minkoff’s AR-rendered products
The fashion brand Rebecca Minkoff was an early adopter of augmented reality. The company incorporated 3D modeling and AR technology into its website. A shopper could use their smartphone to interact with 3D- and AR-rendered products before buying them, helping to visualize these objects in their everyday life.
4. Gucci’s Virtual 25 shoes
Gucci innovatively blurred the line between the human body and its digital representation with Gucci Virtual 25—a pair of digital shoes former creative director Alessandro Michele designed so users could “wear” them online.
5. Nomatic’s 3D models
The travel gear company Nomatic prides itself on making durable and functional products. Through AR, customers can interact with its backpacks and other gear by moving 3D models, inspecting the stitching and hardware up close, or virtually placing them side by side with real-world bags to compare the sizes and styles.
6. Glenlivet’s interactive game
A 200-year-old Scotch whisky company might not be what you associate with cutting-edge digital technology, but Glenlivet used AR to offer its customers a unique experience.
Users could hold their smartphones up to the whisky packaging to see a presentation from its master distiller, then engage in an augmented reality game that tested the customer’s taste buds.
7. The Smithsonian’s AR dinosaurs
The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum, education, and research institution. In a large-scale application of augmented reality, the National Museum of Natural History displayed dinosaurs of several sizes, letting visitors see a massive digital T. rex come to life and roam the building.
Outside of the museum’s AR experience, the Smithsonian has also digitized several objects in its collections. You can interact with everything from a full airplane to late jazz musician Charlie Parker’s saxophone, right from your home.
8. QuiverVision’s AR books
The AR company QuiverVision has built applications that can turn a kid’s coloring book drawings into three-dimensional, moving animations. AR experiences like this can help kids engage with topics and educational material in a way that jumps off the page.
9. Ikea Place
With Ikea’s augmented reality app, Ikea Place, you can place anything from new computer desks to couches and dressers in your room, then use your mobile phone screen to move around and get a feel for how it would fit. The AR app uses digital information on your smartphone to automatically scale furniture and place it in your home.
10. Pokémon Go
Through Pokémon Go, players can live out their Ash Ketchum dreams and catch Pokémon in the real world. This mobile game arrived just as AR apps were becoming accessible with smartphones, making it a pop-culture phenomenon.
The Pokémon Go app places Pokémon characters on a map. When users locate and point their phones at one, they see a digital representation of that Pokémon overlaid on a live video feed of that location. When the user moves closer to the animation, it’s like they’re approaching the animal.
11. 19 Crimes’ AR wine labels
The California wine brand 19 Crimes deployed augmented reality to build storytelling into its packaging. A customer could point their smartphone at a 19 Crimes label and the brand’s AR app used object detection to sense which bottle it was (no QR code necessary).
The person pictured on the label seemingly came to life and gave a short monologue about the crime they committed, injecting true-crime storytelling into your night of enjoying wine with friends. This creative use of technology generated press coverage and social media buzz for 19 Crimes.
Augmented reality examples FAQ
What is the difference between VR and AR?
Virtual reality uses goggles to block out a user’s environment and create a fully immersive experience. Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality blends digital and real life.
Where is augmented reality being used?
Many industries use augmented reality technology. For example, the Smithsonian uses AR to build interactive, educational museum exhibits, and the fashion brand Rebecca Minkoff lets consumers digitally interact with its products.
What are the benefits of using augmented reality in marketing?
Perhaps the biggest benefit of using augmented reality in marketing is interactivity. AR allows potential customers to interact with your products or brand without having to shop in-store. From the comfort of their homes, they can get a feel for how your products fit into their everyday lives.
