How Amazon is Using AR and 3D to Disrupt Online Shopping
Amazon has introduced new augmented reality (AR) shopping features in its mobile app, presenting a challenge to Google, Meta, and others dominating ecommerce search.
The new “View in Your Room” tool uses AR to let shoppers visualize furniture, appliances, and decor items in their actual living spaces. This helps inform purchase decisions by seeing products in context.
Amazon also upgraded its visual search allowing users to take a photo of an item and find the exact or similar products available to buy on Amazon. This combines image and text search for more accurate results.
The company is leveraging these immersive technologies to take on Google and Meta’s dominance in online advertising and shopping journeys. Meta already offers AR ads in its apps, and Snap, TikTok and others enable branded AR experiences.
To expand its 3D assets and real-time rendering, Amazon partnered with 3D visualization firm Hexa. Together they are converting 2D product images into 3D models at scale to power virtual try-ons, interactive catalogs, and other experiences.
Retailers can quickly digitize products using Hexa’s platform and smartphone scans, bypassing physical studios. The digital twins enable customizable AR previews for ads, demos, and prototypes. This helps brands capitalize on the ecommerce boom amid the pandemic.
Immersive shopping is accelerating, with firms like NexTech AR, Bizzar, and Bizzlogic creating metaverse stores, virtual events, and collaborative spaces for customers.
Amazon’s latest AR initiatives demonstrate how major platforms are doubling down on spatial computing and simulated experiences to attract and engage online shoppers. The company aims to challenge Google and Meta’s dominance by offering more advanced 3D, visual, and mixed reality search features.
But the battle for the future of ecommerce is still unfolding. As virtual try-ons, interactive visualized search, and augmented digital product catalogs become widespread, they could transform online retail. Amazon is positioning itself at the forefront of this spatial shopping transformation.
Original
Amazon Targets Google, Meta Ad Spending with AR Shopping Update
