AR and Retail, and the friction of the user experience.

I am still waiting to see the first real AR implementations with retail.

It surprises me that many of the «cutting edge» technical implementations still revolve around scanning QR codes or bar codes.

Ultimately, if we are to use our phones as an layer to the retail experience it has to add value, and add to the experience. At the moment, there are simply too many hoops to jump through for the customer, adding friction and raising barriers to adoption. Think download app, find offer, scan code, show code to cashier for offer etc.

Object recognition has promise, but the layout of the average store does not lend itself to successfully sorting products, let alone intelligent / dynamic feedback and / or gamification of the experience. Dynamic pricing or using AI to optimise the store such as developed by Kvass.ai work efficiently from the store perspective, but are not adding excitement or engagement for the customer.

I am excited by what I see from Idtag.no and the ability to automate all of the above. Also, moving away from QR Codes and such enhances the experience, and makes discovery much easier. As a customer, If I am going to download an app then the benefits must be compelling. Not only that, what is going to keep me coming back? Retention is one of the 3 pillars of business!

I am interested in other real world examples of AR in retail… ping me if you have any!

/M