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Imagine being fully immersed in a digital environment where you can explore, play, and experience content in a new dimension. Virtual reality technology enables you to be fully present in new ways and IKEA has leveraged this technology to optimize customer engagement. Started in Sweden in 1943 as a mail order sales service, IKEA has grown to become the world’s largest furniture retailer. The multinational company leveraged both offline and online resources including localized IKEA websites for different countries, the IKEA Place App and the IKEA catalogue.
In 2022, IKEA launched IKEA Kreativ, a new feature on its existing IKEA Place mobile app for the United States markets. IKEA Kreativ enables users to transform any real physical space into a virtual 3D version in a few steps. You can upload photos of your interior space or room to the app, then using artificially intelligent engines and cloud technology these images are transformed into a virtual 3D room to furnish with IKEA products. If you are not able to upload images of your space, IKEA Kreativ provides 50 templates of virtual spaces to choose from.
How 3D technology boosts sales for IKEA for a better shopping experience:
1. Reducing customer decision fatigue
IKEA is known for its large warehouse stores packed with staged rooms and aisles of products to choose from. The sheer vastness of the product range can be distracting and overwhelming. Furthermore, the wide array of options could quickly contribute to sensory overload and decision fatigue.
With the IKEA Place app and Kreativ, you interact with only the products you're looking for. Save on the long hours spent browsing the store to find the product you are interested in with search functionalities. Using Kreativ, you can instantly interact with your selected products and place them in a 3D space to visualize how well they will match your existing home or office. With the ease and swiftness the application’s product search functionality and instant visualization, reaching a purchasing decision is easier and quicker.
2. Providing better context
With 84% of consumers highlighting the importance of having control over their living space, it has become important to provide consumers with detailed information to ensure their purchases satisfy their expectations. Unfortunately, conventional in store shopping methods do not provide consumers enough context. Although you get to see and feel a product, you might miss out on how well the product matches your existing space. IKEA Kreativ makes this a thing of the past by allowing you to interact with products in a virtualized model of your space.
If you need more convincing on how a product fits within a given space, for instance in a kitchen or bedroom, you can select a template from one of their 50 pre - provided inspirational templates to better visualize the product. Thus you gain a first hand view of how the product will look and fit within multiple spaces. This information takes the guesswork out of trying to understand if a piece will match your desired environment, making it much easier for you to reach a purchasing decision. For businesses, this means that, the time a consumer spends contemplating a purchasing decision is vastly reduced, contributing to a further reduction in the total amount of time it might take to make a sale.
3. Increasing convenience with digital shopping
Regular brick and mortar IKEA outlets have set closing times, but with the IKEA Place application, you have the option to shop at your convenience. As the application is available on both the IOS and Android app stores, there's no hassle with a computer, and you can access products at any time and from any place, as long as you have internet connectivity. The hassle of transporting yourself to a physical location is completely eradicated.
With IKEA Kreative, IKEA has recorded over 40,000 active designs and 10,000 room scans with over 20% of users saving designs which they later revisit. The use of Artificial intelligence and Virtual reality have contributed to a 25% increase in their omnichannel commerce, from an initial 2%. Further in 2022, even with the effects of the COVID -19 pandemic, and Russia, Ukraine conflict affecting their supply chain, IKEA was able to realize net income gains of € 710 million.
How to add 3D home décor showrooms to your online store with Oarbt:
As an independent home décor or furniture business, you can implement the same virtual 3D solution for your business at a fraction of the cost. Oarbt enables you to create virtual representations of your space, preview products and checkout directly from the scene. You can import images, videos, audio and 3D models of products to create virtual 3D spaces for customers to explore. If you've got a Shopify store, you can use the add-on to seamlessly add products from your store.
Oarbt provides a 360 degree product viewing experience with the ability to view products from all angles can help your customers make informed purchasing decisions, leading to increased sales. Once published, you can view audience behavior with the analytics dashboard t to track key metrics on your customers to better understand your market to provide relevant offerings.
Step 1: Choose from the range of 3D templates or upload your own.
Step 2: Import your images, videos, 3D objects, and products into space using the left sidebar. To place the item in the 3D space, click on the thumbnail and drag it into the 3D room then release in the position where you want it to be located.
Step 3: When you drag an item into the 3D space for the first time, you'll be prompted to enter details about the item. Add these details for your audience and click Save to confirm the item's placement in the 3D space.
Step 4: You can enable the action button for items that have a unique URL that you would like your customers to visit if they are interested in purchasing or learning more about the item. If you prefer to not have an action button on any item, you can select Disable in the item details.
Step 5: For an extra multisensory touch, you can add audio with music or a narrated tour to guide shoppers. With the use of the audio elements, you can create an immersive experience for your customer. For example, you can add audio describing the product and how it was made to further educate your client on the value of your product.
Step 6: After importing and arranging your media in the 3D space, you might want to get a preview of the viewing experience before publishing. To preview the 3D showcase, you can click the 'Preview' button on the top right of the page or select the eye icon from the left sidebar. To exit the preview mode, click Exit preview mode on the top left of the page and this will return you to the editing mode.
Step 7: Once you’ve designed the space to your expectations, you can publish it. Open it in edit mode and navigate to the Publish button in the top right corner of the window. You will see a modal with options to share the 3D project with a unique URL, embed code or on social media.
Step 8: You can monitor the performance of your store with the inbuilt analytics dashboard that gives you an all round idea of how your customers are interacting with your virtual space.
With Oarbt, just like IKEA, you can provide your customers an easy, interactive, convenient and immersive shopping experience.
