Could AR rejuvenate the high street?
In recent years, we have seen a marked change in consumer preference for shopping online at the expense of the high street retailers. The likes of Amazon and Ocado have taken away the need to visit the local supermarket to order groceries or get the latest gadget. A few months ago, I even ordered my pair of specs and sunglasses online — I was amazed at the options available. But then it also triggered a thought about how technology might have come full circle and redefine what we expect and how we experience the high street. This is where I start with my story:
One weekend, I had gone to a Vision Express store and after almost an hour covering an eye test and then exploring various models requested the same sunglass frame as I had ordered with the retailer a couple of years ago. The salesperson happily took the order and I paid for it too. I also ordered a second frame for daily use. The expected delivery time was 3–4 weeks. After a few weeks, I chanced upon a voicemail from the store that they no longer traded the sunglass frame and so could I come back and order a replacement. I was slightly disappointed but did return after work one evening. The salesperson showed me other options but did not seem to acknowledge the inability to honour the original order or appreciate my extra effort in coming back to the store. The new options weren’t also as valuable as the previous one. So, out of frustration, I decided to cancel the entire order (not an insignificant amount) and explore other options — including what I had vaguely heard about the ability to order glasses online! That turned out to be insightful — both in terms of how the retail stores are increasingly at a disadvantage but also how technology may be a panacea.
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On Customer Experience and the desirability of the high street
High Street shopping offers a social and community experience and so is valuable in its own right. That social and community feeling alongside an expectation of a pleasant experience are factors that in my opinion, motivate us to go to brick and mortar shops. However, larger overheads, increasing cost pressures, and lower profitability margins are putting brick and mortar retailers at risk. Online shopping, especially for goods we know well of, is more convenient and time optimal. I was however pleasantly surprised to find that the experience of ordering my pair of specs online — assessing, selecting the relevant items and subsequently paying for it as well as getting delivery was all reasonably straightforward. I had a clear view of how to find out the right frame size, what items were in stock, where the manufacturing happens and how it is delivered to my home address.
Now if this becomes the norm, then optical retail shops may be another casualty of the online spree …
There is, therefore, an urgent need to reinvent retail optician shops. Currently, the eye test is a valuable service that retail optician shops provide — excellent equipment, professional staff, and personal service. However, in my opinion, the primary revenues in optical shops come from the sale of the optical inventory — frames, lenses, et al. However, as evident through my example, online channels may increasingly overshadow the retail channel in selection and ordering of optical wares. That would then threaten the retail shops — who may have to limit their services to bare essentials like eye testing.
Innovative and developing technology like AR (Augmented Reality) however may provide a new lease to high street shopping experiences — including our optical shops. Consider for example your better half or your friend spending an afternoon in the high street. She notices a pair of sunglasses, which she may want to surprise you with. You had only recently had your eye test and shared the results with your friend. Your friend goes into your Facebook or Instagram profile, sources a picture or a video of you and uploads to the sleek equipment in the shop. The equipment projects a holographic image of your face and allows your friend to select different frames and shades and decide upon the best fit. Then it is about confirming the order and organising a delivery and voila you get a new pair of trendy sunglasses as a gift! Wouldn’t that be great? Considering today, it is not really feasible for anyone else apart from yourself to order a pair of glasses? For someone like me, it would be wonderful — considering I tend to get a new pair only very far between! For the brick and mortar optical shops, this will generate more footfall and sales. It is also beneficial for the high street as both online and offline shopping experiences then complement each other than cost one another.
Applications of AR have already made their mark visible. We are seeing AR or its cousin VR(Virtual Reality) bring new shopping experiences in clothing, gaming as shown below.
Indicative of the trends and examples discussed above, Gartner predicts that Augmented Reality will in the next 5–10 years reach the ‘Plateau of Productivity’ between 2023 and 2028 and in the interim the technology will climb the ‘Slope of Enlightenment’. So, it would exciting times ahead for AR technology and I believe it has strong potential to reshape our high streets for the better.
And Finally … An image of my experience shopping the first pair of specs online :-)
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