Retailers in the region have traditionally seen augmented reality as a fun add-on to their core marketing mix. However, this technology has evolved to the point where it can not only drive business and profitability at scale but can, more important, resolve common customer pain points with both digital and physical retail. Farimah Moeini, Head of Industry – Retail and eCommerce for Snap Inc. in MENA, discussed what retailers should be looking at AI and, more critically, how they can deliver it at comparatively low cost.

The last few years have seen a very rapid evolution in the way people shop, from shopping in store to online, from web to app and now through immersive technologies such as the metaverse and augmented reality.

Mobile shopping creates a growing tension between what customers want and what retailers can deliver. On the one hand, customers get 24-hour access, convenience, competitive pricing, and easy returns. On the other hand, they can’t experience products before they shop, which results in a lot of frustration.

The result is a gap between expectation and reality. Today more than half of Saudi shoppers believe that false or misleading descriptions or inability to see the products is putting them off online shopping. 70% of shoppers in Saudi abandon their cart before completing the transaction, and 40% claim that they actually hold back on buying because of the potential that the return is not going to be as smooth. Globally, this translates into lot sales worth an estimated $550 billion.

Augmented reality is one way to address that gap, by taking people into their own virtual fitting room at their own convenience, showing customers how brands and products can fit into their world. AR allows companies to build deep, immersive, engaging brand experiences at low-cost and short turnaround.

AR platforms like Snap enable brands to create virtual products in their own apps that scale to the real world, trace contours of the customers body and even recreate shadows and reflections from the room.

A Harvard Business Review study shows that interacting with AR products drives 94% higher conversion than buying the products without AR experiences, increases customer confidence by 80% and leads to a 25% decrease in returns.

AR is one milestone in tech that can create a better customer experience, more sustainable industry and help businesses drive purposeful growth.