Page 43 - June 2021

Another store that
launched in February was one
by Tumi, as they unveiled its first
virtual store. The 360-degree digital
environment lets shoppers navigate the
space, ask questions and interact with products
as if they were in a physical store, enhanced
with an AR function that places life-sized products
renderings in shoppers’ homes. It also integrates social
and gaming elements, with an in-store selfie display and accompanying Instagram and WeChat games. “We wanted to create
an environment that is as close as possible to the actual physical store experience—and make it better,” Adam Hershman,
Vice President of TUMI Asia Pacific and Middle East, told Retail in Asia.
Meanwhile late last year Charlotte Tilbury launched an online store that let shoppers browse through virtual rooms, guided
by an avatar of Tilbury. Alongside products, the store integrated AR-powered makeup try-ons and video tutorials.
Also late last year, American premium clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger reimagined the holiday shopping experience with
virtual stores, complete with a street view to admire the holiday window displays and a whimsical in-store “snow room”.
It is not just in retail where AR & VR is making a mark; it is evolving within the leisure and entertainment sectors and an
example of this is the latest location opening by Sandbox VR at the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas
in early summer 2021. Founded in 2016, Sandbox VR is an immersive experience offering players a combination of full body
motion capture and virtual reality. Players can become anyone and go anywhere, including journeying to a haunted pirate ship,
fighting aliens in space or playing Esports. The pandemic resulted in Sandbox VR closing all of its locations and laying off the
majority of its staff. Now, the company plans to operate 15 locations by the end of 2021.
This ongoing digital transformation is finding its way into alternative aspects of people’s lives, and so digital technology
is also increasingly finding its way into the cultural world and museum industry. The most straightforward examples of this
consist of displays and interactive video walls, but it also includes the use of digital projectors, holography and VR technology.
Now, more than ever digital transformation will play a critical role for retailers. Implementation of AR & VR in retail helps
retailers and consumers alike have a better shopping experience while reducing operating costs of retailers and offering an
immersive, engaging and safe experience to consumers.
Augmented, experience-driven virtual stores are becoming destinations in their own right and now are even offering
customers digital daydreams for a momentary escape, in the future this will only continue as the category evolves and grows.

JUNE 2021 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL