Rocking retail with Augmented Reality

04/03/2010

Augmented Reality is now more real than you think, and we are not talking about that cute Lego box.

We are already living in a heavily information augmented world. Meet a new business contact? Of course you’ll search him online. Plan a romantic break? Thank god I checked Google Maps first. Our dinner recommendation came via Facebook and at last I figured out how to fix the running toilet and save a bundle, thanks to eHow.

Every product, every place and almost every person now has a rich digital cloud of information around them, ready to be tapped by anyone, anywhere.

The anywhere is an especially interesting aspect, since millions of web enabled smart phones are now carried on our high streets and into shops. This means the info cloud becomes real time, location based and ultra relevant to any decision. It becomes a second shop window, and it certainly wasn’t designed by the retailer.

It is bottom-up augmented reality on a massive scale, and it is coming faster than even our geeky friends in their gadget encrusted digital helmets would have wished for.

Consumer behaviour is changing shopping, not just online, but very much in the real world of bricks and mortar. As designers we are therefore wondering how retail design and operations are going to face up to this emerging trend. People are using online sources for validation of their choices. Variety and independence of this info cloud are key drivers in changing customer cultures.

We believe this will prompt new type of cloud-connected retail touchpoints to deliver up-to-date, credible and relevant customer experiences.

Be happy, let the cloud rain.