Augmented Reality (AR) has shown a tremendous impact on the furniture retail industry. The versatile approach of augmented reality has enabled it to boost sales, decrease returns and improve customer experience.

The global furniture market is projected to grow to 671.07 billion dollars in 2021 from 564.17 billion in the previous year by using AR technology. This figure depicts a substantial growth of 18.9%. The primary reason for the growth is the resurgence of the global furniture market from the effects of Covid-19. Therefore, we can say that the furniture industry is experiencing a rapid wave of digital transformation.

Similarly, in the presence of Facebook, Google, and Apple, the number of mobile AR users will slide past 2.7 billion by 2025. Furniture and home décor sectors might not dream of a more amicable condition to promote their products than augmented reality for presenting products. According to the latest survey, more than 60%of customers prefer buying furniture from companies offering AR tools. For the service sector, augmented reality integration in marketing and sales is a blessing in disguise. In a nutshell, the article analyses in detail the top 10 applications and use cases in the furniture and home industry 2021.

 1.   IKEA place

When it comes to buying IKEA furniture, IKEA Place is the best option. Via efficient AR furnishing process, it has made furniture discovery flexible and accurate. Besides, AR technology empowers IKEA to boost its online sales by intuitive, effective, and fun furniture visualization. Other than this, its instant and precise furniture positioning features are innovative. Hence, IKEA customers are fond of its AR features that help them seamlessly find their favorite furniture.

Source :https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/12/ikea-place-the-retailers-first-arkit-app-creates-lifelike-pictures-of-furniture-in-your-home/

2.  EQ3

EQ3, a Canadian furniture retailer, has introduced WebAR, enabling customers to benefit from AR without a mobile app. Moreover, EQ3 had increased AR adoption by updating their desktop product page and creating a pop-up with an QR code which showcases innovative style. This resulted in a 112% higher conversion rate. Overall, AR implementation resulted in a 429% increase in customers.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/01/amazon-adds-an-ar-shopping-feature-to-its-ios-app/

3.   Wayfair: Pioneer of AR furniture shopping

Similar to IKEA, Wayfair is also a pioneer of AR furniture shopping apps. There is constant customer demand for seamless AR and multiple products using AR technology. The endless capabilities of AR enable higher senses of realism by following the rules of the real world.  Wayfair considers AR shopping as the future of retail. The co-founder of Wayfair, Steven Conine, predicts that AR will be the future of every home in the United States as try-before buy has gone digital. In short, Wayfair excellently debuts the AR app for elevating the retail experience.

Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180320006056/en/Wayfair-Mobile-Shopping-App-Can-Turn-Virtually-Every-Home-into-a-Furniture-Showroom

4.  Heem

Heem is a US-based furniture shopping app. Heem’s AR adoption digitally transformed the app, thereby offers customers with efficient omni-channel experiences. Consequently, they gained a higher conversion rate, increased consumer confidence, and reduced return rate by implementing AR technology.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/24/target-adds-ar-shopping-to-its-mobile-website/

5.   Lightology

Lightology is focused on using AR to simplify shopping. Through AR, the company can increase user engagement, conversion rate, and average order value. Also, the company reports that its 3D model and visualization resulted in customers staying 3.7 times longer on their website and a 50% rise in orders.

Source: http://virtualrealitytimes.com/2017/03/31/the-home-depot-app-augmented-reality/

6.   Houzz: Providing cool ideas

Houzz is another excellent AR application in the furniture and home industry. According to the Houzz estimation, clients buy 11 times more readily if they visualize products by AR technology. In short, Houzz AR is fueling sales. Moreover, this curated approach helped millennial consumers with furniture shopping.

Source: https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/23/houzz-ios-ar-tile/            

7.   Magnolia Market: Great in-store experience

Popular TV show hosts Joanna and Chip Gaines founded this AR application. In the year2017, they collaborated with Spotify and introduced the AR furniture shopping app. However, the product variety available for visualization is limited. Still, the app provides an excellent "in-store experience" for the customers who cannot visit stores.

Source: https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/augmented-reality-ecommerce-magnolia-market

8.Bob’s discount furniture app

Bob's discount furniture app used innovative 3DCloud-based AR technology for gaining customer engagement. It is the customer's preference due to its different combination of furniture. Augmented reality has improved the retention rates of the customers by superimposing products with their realism. A significant reduction in pre-purchase indecision while reduced rate of product return post-purchase is clearly observed.

Source: https://archive.curbed.com/2017/9/19/16333106/anthropologie-app-augmented-reality

9. Home Depot

Home Depot has been gearing up amidst pandemic to be well-positioned, especially for the spring onslaught via AR technology. They gained 1.5 billion visits on its website and 941,000 webpage views from mobile phones last year. Home Depot was more prepared than other retailers. AR technology helped it battle showrooming. In short, reports suggests that AR product visualization helped Home Depot boost the conversions by 2-3 times. Moreover, 100% growth in Q2 online sales was observed.

Source: https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/best-ar-furniture-apps/

10. Overstock

Over the past 18 months, Overstock has shown absolute volumes of direct traffic rose by using AR technology. In short, AR technology helped Overstock to increase its conversion rate. Adaptation of AR empowers Overstock to focus on convenience and assortment, thereby sustaining a loyal customer base with boosted sales. It decreases the product return rates and cart abandonments.

Using AR technology to bring furniture retail to life

In a nutshell, AR is helping businesses expand by approaching more customers. About 71% of customers tend to shop at a retailer more often if they are offered AR. Moreover, 61% of customers prefer shops with AR technology over conventional shops. Also, 40% of the people are willing to pay more for a product if they are offered AR technology services. These statistics suggest the significant impact of AR on retail.

In essence, AR has been emerged as a game-changer technology, thereby promising the dawn of a new era in the furniture industry.

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