Ah, ‘tis the season to be jolly - particularly if you are an online retailer. According to the National Retail Federation, this holiday season is going to be one for the record books, with sales in November and December expected to reach between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion - a six to eight percent increase over 2021. This year, on Black Friday alone, online sales hit a record-breaking $9.12 billion dollars.
As wonderful as those numbers may be, there is a sad downside to the holiday season - the dreaded returns! These can make even the most amazing results whither on the vine. According to UPS - which knows a thing or two about shipping - returns have increased for eight consecutive years, with 27% to 33% of adult Americans making a holiday return before the end of January, 2021.
Why do people return their holiday goodies?
Sure, sometimes there’s legitimate buyer’s remorse, like that time you bought your cousin that saucy outfit . . . More often than not though, the reasons for returns are more mundane. People may have selected the wrong color or finish, or they just didn’t realize that the product they’d purchased would simply be too darn big. These are the returns that try sellers’ souls because they are completely avoidable.
Thankfully, here at Nextech AR Solutions, we have got some great technology that will help keep those returns down and your revenue up, up, up on the housetop! Let’s take a look at some of the ways our augmented reality ecommerce solutions help retailers blunt the high impact of returns.
ARitize 3D Configurator gives customers the power to explore different colors and textures to find just the perfect combination. Allowing people to customize a product and see it in 3D before putting it in their cart will make them happy, keep them coming back, and reduce the chances that a product will be returned.
ARitize Decorator lets every customer be their own interior designer. With Decorator, true-to-scale 3D models magically appear in any space thanks to augmented reality. Spaces come to life with Room Visualizer, assuring all the elements will work together in harmony. It also prevents nasty design surprises that can lead to returns.
And lest you worry that all of this amazing 3D technology will prove too complicated to use easily, that is most assuredly not the case. The Toggle3D Design Studio makes creating these sophisticated models incredibly simple. Existing design files can be quickly converted, giving you the power to build 3D models for your entire inventory.
Together, Nextech AR Solution’s AR and 3D capabilities can have a huge impact on retail sales. There is up to a 250 percent increase in conversions when AR is used and the impact on returns is substantial: Up to a 49 percent decrease with using configurable 3D models and a 25 decrease when using AR to place those models in a customer’s space.
If there is the unfortunate need for a return, Nextech AR Solutions can help with that as well. ARway provides indoor wayfinding capabilities on a smartphone that can lead your customers straight to the return counter - while at the same time displaying alternative products in AR-activated displays or ad campaigns.
This really is the most wonderful time of the year and Nextech AR Solutions wants you to make the most of it. That means giving your customers exactly what they want. Personalization increases sales, decreases returns, and can help make this a wonderful holiday experience for everyone.