Page 32 - NECO News

Industry Trends
Winning At Retail:
Are You On Board with Augmented Reality? BY E. MICHAEL ALLEN- VICE PRESIDENT OF FURNITURE & BEDDING
TALK TO MOST BUSINESS ANALYSTS AND YOU ARE LIKELY TO HEAR THAT, compared to other industries, home furnishings retailing has never really led the pack for innova- tion, technology, consumer engagement or customer experience.
Another roadblock to furniture sales, especially for brick and mortar retailers, often comes just when the salesperson is ready to write the order. The customer hesitates, then stymies the deal saying he or she needs to go back home to make sure the item under consideration will fit and enhance the room.
Online retailers have had their own challenges selling furniture. Since consumers shopping online typically go by a picture found on the retailer’s website, the issue of returns has been a challenge.
But there is a new kid on the block: Augmented Reality—AR for short—andmanyobserverssayitisfast becoming a game changer.
To offer a better understanding of what Augmented Reality is, Andrew Kemendo explained in layman’s terms, what Augmented Reality is by saying, “In the broadest sense, Augmented Reality, using a mobile display such as a phone or tablet, allows the consumer to experience three dimensional computer generated objects as though they are real
The Pair Application uses Augmented Reality to bring you the world’s largest immersive catalog. Walk around name brand products in your home or office using your iPhone or iPad.
objects.” Kemendo founded Pair, an AR solution, in 2015.
He went on to explain that his product in the hands of consumers who are shopping for home furnishings at retail—either online or in the store, allows the shopper to “ bring the show- room in your living room, by letting you see products through your iPhone or iPad camera, in your space as if they are really there.”
All the consumer has to do is to tap on the Pair app, open it and find a style of furniture he or she prefers. “We have many pre-staged rooms that consumers can use for inspiration,” Kemendo explains.
Or, if shoppers prefer, they can shop from a vast array of sofas, rugs, tables, loveseats and more. “Say the consumer is looking for a loveseat,” Kemendo says. “She views it, then hits a button that says ‘view in my space,’ she turns on thephone,opensthecameraanddrags the loveseat, in real time, into her actual
32 NECO News DECEMBER 2016