In ecommerce today, it is essential to continuously evolve to respond to new consumer expectations. One groundbreaking development is spatial commerce, which uses advanced 3D and augmented reality (AR) technologies to create immersive shopping experiences. Shopware and rooom have teamed up to drive and highlight this evolution by offering online merchants new ways to delight customers. In this article, we’ll show how to enhance customer engagement and drive sales through emotional shopping.
In a digital world where physical interactions are limited, evoking emotions online becomes crucial. Emotional shopping involves consumers making purchase decisions based on emotional responses and experiences. By allowing customers to interact with products through 3D and AR, they invest time and effort into exploring the product in their own context. This interaction fosters a sense of connection, making the product feel more personal and desirable.
Placing furniture in your own surroundings using AR
The impact of the Shopware and rooom partnership
The collaboration between Shopware and rooom allows merchants to integrate these technologies into their Shopware shop. Combining Shopware's expertise in user experience and storytelling with rooom's user-friendly metaverse platform. Our work democratizes access to advanced spatial commerce technologies and brings 3D product displays, virtual showrooms, and interactive shopping experiences to merchants.
rooom is a pioneer in creating web-based 3D, AR, and virtual reality (VR) experiences. Their applications are used by businesses to create immersive virtual environments, enabling customers to interact with products in innovative ways. rooom's technology makes it possible to build detailed 3D models and virtual showrooms without requiring specialized VR hardware or extensive technical knowledge. The process of creating 3D models is easy. Just take a series of pictures of your product from all angles. By analyzing these images from different perspectives, spatial information about an object or scene is obtained. A software then uses the differences and overlaps between these images to reconstruct the objects' spatial position and form in 3D. When you already have 3D data, you can easily upload it to the platform. This accessibility ensures that even small and medium-sized merchants can leverage cutting-edge spatial commerce solutions with rooom to enhance their customer experience.
Creating and managing 3D objects and virtual spaces in the rooom platform
Benefits for merchants and customers
Spatial commerce technologies enhance immersion and interaction. Customers can virtually place furniture in their living rooms, allowing them to see how items fit and look in their space. This capability increases the likelihood of purchase up to 30% as it fosters a deeper emotional connection and engagement with the product.
Detailed 3D visualizations help customers make informed decisions by providing a clear and accurate representation of products. This reduces the chances of dissatisfaction upon delivery and lowers return rates by up to 70%. Reduced returns not only boost customer satisfaction but also have a positive environmental impact. In view of the upcoming regulations, this is a decisive factor, especially for large companies, in dealing with environmental, social, and governance guidelines (ESG).
3D visualizations and renderings are significantly cheaper than product photos. Once the 3D model has been created, it can be used to create photorealistic Computer-Generated Images (CGI). If the product is to be launched on the market in an additional color, for example, this can be added to the 3D model with just a few clicks and product photos can then be taken directly in the platform.
High-quality product illustration using CGI renderings
Interactive shopping experiences encourage customers to return to the store and recommend it to others. By tailoring the shopping journey to individual preferences and needs, merchants can create a more satisfying and memorable shopping experience.
Using 3D content can also significantly improve an online store's SEO performance due to an increased dwell time by up to 360%. Websites featuring 3D objects can achieve up to five times better search engine rankings, increasing their visibility and attracting more customers.
Best practices for implementing spatial commerce
Implementing spatial commerce should be intuitive and easy to use. Merchants must ensure that 3D and AR functionalities work seamlessly across all devices, to encourage adoption and provide a smooth shopping experience. The immersive solutions should work on any device, whether smartphone, tablet or desktop, without the need for special hardware or downloading apps. This is the basis for making 3D accessible to all consumers.
Open architecture and easy extension capabilities are crucial to incorporating spatial commerce, ensuring that new functionalities enhance rather than disrupt the current system. Our collaboration focuses on making these technical requirements accessible and the implementation easy for customers. As part of our cooperation, we have developed a plugin for integrating 3D models into your own Shopware store with just a few clicks.
3D models from rooom implemented in nubert's online shop, which is based on Shopware
The Apple Vision Pro could also play a significant role in enhancing immersive shopping experiences. Leveraging the familiar Apple interface and intuitive controls, the mixed-reality headset allows users to interact with 3D product models naturally. This helps make advanced spatial commerce experiences more accessible to a broader audience. To achieve this, the price of the product still needs to be adapted so that the masses are willing to make this purchase. Apple's reputation and widespread adoption of its devices then mean that the Vision Pro is likely to be embraced by many consumers, accelerating the integration of mixed reality into everyday shopping.
Placing Objects via the XR function with the Apple Vision Pro
The future of shopping with Shopware and rooom
3D technology and projecting products through AR will become increasingly prevalent in online stores. Customers will expect immersive experiences as a standard feature. Virtual showrooms that map the entire purchasing process will offer another way to shop. This starts with marketing, continues through the ordering process to payment, and finally to retention. Additionally, customers will have constant access to virtual and immersive stores and will be assisted by AI avatar systems to support their purchases.
This partnership represents a significant leap toward the future of ecommerce. By integrating spatial commerce technologies, merchants can create emotionally engaging and interactive shopping experiences that enhance customer satisfaction, drive sales, and reduce return rates. As online shopping becomes increasingly dominant, these innovations offer a unique opportunity to stand out in a competitive market and provide customers with a truly next-generation shopping experience.
