We are seeing more and more businesses are adopting Augmented Reality, with ASOS being the latest fashion brand to use the technology for their virtual catwalk.

AR is clearly on the rise, which consequentially will improve both access and engagement across all markets.

By 2020, 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality (AR) according to leading research company, Gartner. 

Essentially it is technology that enables you to see additional content in the world around you, so that it looks like it is actually there in the real life. Think  Pokémon Go, the world's most popular AR mobile game that enables you to see and play with Pokémon characters in the world that surrounds you. At it's peak of popularity it had 65 million users, demonstrating the success of the game.

What about IKEA's Place app? The app allows users to see what furniture will look like in their own home. Every product is true to scale, so you can make sure that the sofa, bed or bookcase that you have your eye on, fits into the space that you have. No more measuring, forgetting to measure or measuring incorrectly. 

Or how about cosmetic giant L'Oreal teaming up with Amazon to allow consumers to try on different shades of lipstick before they make a purchase. Think of it like a Snapchat filter (which is also AR). The app identifies your face and then will virtually show you what you would look like with the lipstick colour you choose to try on.

Teaming up with the Amazon app potentially makes it easier and faster to buy lipstick than having to visit a traditional store and try on tester lipsticks. They hope to expand to different cosmetics such as eye shadow and foundation in the near future.

As we can see, the true benefit of augmented reality is the potential to provide an immersive shopping experience that empowers customers to remotely explore every inch, every part, and every angle of a product, without having to purchase it first.  

Bringing our accessories to life

At Broni&Bo we launched augmented reality to do just that, to offer customers a closer look at our knitted ties and bow ties, which is impossible to do from traditional product photography. It also provides the ability to virtually try the products on in the comfort of their own home. 

One of our key goals in implementing AR was to help make planning a wedding that little bit easier. Planning a wedding? Well, we know that choosing a colour scheme for a wedding is one of the first and biggest decisions that is made by a couple. It helps set the tone and vibe for the big day and helps make other style decisions throughout the planning process, such as the colour of the accessories for the groom and his groomsmen.

We worked with AR experts at Sayduck to create high-quality models of our products to deliver them in augmented reality which can be accessed via our online store.

This was a new challenge for the Sayduck team, "Working with Broni&Bo was an exciting new area for us. We have previously worked with furniture and home retailers but this is our first foray into the world of fashion retail. We're extremely happy with the result and hope to continue to deliver AR solutions in other industries as we be believe it drives product engagement and provides customers with more confidence to make a purchase," said Sayduck's Head of Sales, Gintare Vaisvile.