Page 41 - June 2021

SPECIAL FEATURE: AR & VR

2020 was the year of Covid-19 and the year that AR, AI, VR

and XR propelled the e-commerce shopping experience to
the next frontier. While people stayed home on Zoom and
on the coach with Netflix, the world took a step forward
in terms of e-commerce and retail tech to empower
and encourage digital commerce. In this article, Daniel
Japiassu, CEO of YDX Innovation Corp. and
VP Creative Director, REIT Innovations discusses the
recent rise in AR and VR technology.

AR in cosmetics has been a game changer for the purchase of skin care, cosmetics, hair products and wellness products.
Various companies are involved in this “virtual try on” AR and AI arena where you can see yourself wearing the lipstick, eye
make-up; match skin colour to foundation and have skin analysed so you know what kind of products to buy. One of the
leading beauty tech solution companies in this area of artificial intelligence and augmented reality is Perfect Corp based in
China. They work with many of the cosmetic brands both for in store touchless solution “try ons” and mobile e-commerce.
They recently announced they are working with Snap Inc. to combine their technology with AR/VR virtual Try On with Snap’s
e-commerce and shoppable lens experience for ‘Snapchatters’. The Estee Lauder Companies and their brands are leading with
MAC Cosmetics and are the first users of the dynamic Snap shopping lenses. According to Perfect Corp: “This partnership
plays to the rise of ‘phygital’ strategies, which combine the personal touch of try-before-you-buy, with the convenience of social
shopping, to create an enhanced consumer experience that drives sales.”
L’Oreal has also been AR trailblazing with the AR shopping tools for their “virtual cosmetic try on” and virtual hair colour
try on. L’Oreal and their brands are also reinventing the cosmetic shopping experience with try before you buy with their AR
and AI tools.
“Brands and retailers need to start looking at AR as a full-funnel medium that can impact every step of the customer journey.
AR is already being used for brand awareness and pre-purchase. AR is also accelerating conversions and becoming a point of
purchase or a way to lead customers to the retail location for the sale. I think the post-purchase use of AR is not as mature,
but there a great opportunity for malls, brands and retail to use AR across all parts of the journey,” said Cathy Hackl, tech and
metaverse futurist and best-selling author of The Augmented Workforce: How AI, AR, & 5G Will Impact Every Dollar You
Make.
In the area of computer animations of Digital Humans and Scalable Avatars, Didimo, with visionary Founder and CEO
Veronica Orvalho, is leading the way with creating their life-like Digital Twin for fashion, retail, and gaming. You take a picture
of yourself and upload it to their site and in less than 90 seconds, you have a digital human image of yourself. This technology
will transform shopping, gaming, digital fashion and the Metaverse.
For VR, there are many brands that have used versions in their stores from Dior, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Balmain and others
to see their recent collections. John Lewis used virtual reality to help users visualise furniture in their homes before they buy
them. According to a Goldman Sachs’ study, IDC predicted that the VR and AR market will reach $182bn in revenue by 2025,
bypassing television.
Although VR has been used in malls in location-based experiences such as The Void, Dreamscape, Nomadic, Arkave and
others, AR for retail has really caught on like wildfire in terms of popularity and ease of use as it doesn’t require headsets.
With all the AR and AI shopping solutions, this brave new digital world will be set for further expansion in e-commerce offers
and revenue.
Hopefully this will enhance live immersive retail and entertainment experiential activations and bring consumers back to
stores and malls to shop, socialise, eat and feel human contact and connection.