Essay On Marketing Augmented Reality

The individual assignment is prepared to discuss the importance of applying new disruptive technology in marketing within the fashion industry. Disruptive technology is an advanced technology that has the potential to transform an industry like the fashion industry, bringing disruptive innovation and sustainability to business operations. The disruptive technology is here Augmented Reality or AR which has been used in the fashion industry and aims to improve the overall experience of customers (Boardman, Henninger & Zhu, 2020). The assignment will lay the foundation for researching the disruptive technologies available for the industry at present and then research the significance of Augmented Reality in the customer experience in the fashion industry. The way the AR will evolve in the future, and how it can improve the experience of customers in the upcoming times will also be included here. It will help to understand how customers can be attracted and also provided with a better experience during the purchase of products and services from a fashion company (Lee & Xu, 2020). The application of AR in the fashion industry will also be elaborated and how it can be used for marketing, considering the approaches adopted by competitors. Lastly, a few recommendations will be made for future development and how AR is a game changer for the fashion industry in the future to fulfill the marketing needs and criteria.

 

According to Cuomo et al., (2020), disruptive technologies have been the advanced or revived forms of technologies that have brought innovation and significantly, change the way businesses, consumers, and industries operate. Not only does this disruptive technology offers improvement in systems and processes managed by a business, but also has the potential to transform the industry on a positive note. And even introducing new fashion products that could create an entirely new industry with new customers attracted as well. There are different kinds of disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence AI, Augmented Reality AR, the Internet of things, Blockchain technology, and eCommerce technology. All these disruptive technologies have shaped the opportunities for businesses within the fashion industry in UAE and all over the world, to gain a greater foothold and establish themselves as a market leader (Plotkina, Dinsmore & Racat, 2021). The main aim has been to simplify the purchasing process of customers, making it more convenient for them to make purchases, based on their preferences and allowing them to customize their options, thus, ensuring better customer satisfaction and improved buying experience too.

 

While this disruptive technology might be a game changer for new businesses, it could also help existing fashion companies radically change the way the business is managed and the needs of customers are met. Disruptive technologies are advanced and replacing traditional technology with this technology, could bring revolutionary benefits and also facilitate entry into different markets, thus, making the process faster and much better to enhance customers' shopping experience. Chylinski et al., (2020) stated the benefits of using disruptive technology in the fashion industry such as the ability to offer customers innumerable and new benefits, entering different market segments quite easily, and gathering information, which revolutionizes the way, businesses could succeed and grow over time. With the changing behaviors of consumers, most fashion companies have strived to go online, and this has created a great opportunity to draw in more customers, and also raised their satisfaction level through exemplary customer experience. Augmented Reality, is a major disruptive technology that has been applied within the UAE fashion industry to engage customers properly. This technology has enabled customers to experience the products easily from their homes virtually (De Silva, Rupasinghe & Apeagyei, 2019). It has allowed the customers to understand what they are purchasing, thus, making it easier for them to make decisions. And allowing the companies to fulfill the demands and expectations of customers easily. Also, AR in fashion has increased the engagement of customers, leading to higher post-purchase satisfaction and increased loyalty towards the brand as well.

 

Based on research and study, it has been found that consumers could retain up to 8 percent of what they can see. Thus, companies within the fashion industry need to leverage new technologies such as Augmented Reality to create a more visually appealing experience and influence the purchasing behaviors of consumers. The main way by which, AR has influenced the customer experience in the fashion industry is through management of differentiation (Hoyer et al., 2020). The clothing and fashion companies within the UAE fashion industry have managed to create an impression in the minds of customers that there is no perceived product substitute, thus, eliminating the pricing aspects as a competitive strategy adopted by the company. When they believed that there is no substitute, the customers would more likely to remain loyal to the brand and keep it at the top of their minds while making purchasing decisions. As the customers can experience the products before purchasing them, the use of AR strengthens their sense of ownership, which means that they feel like owning the product, even before making a purchase. The AR experience has also kept the customers educated and informed about the context beyond the labeling and packaging of the product, thus, allowing companies to upsell the associated products and accessories too (Huang, Mathews & Chou, 2019). Also, many customers believe in physically touching the product before making a purchase and thus, they prefer brick-and-mortar stores. Fashion companies have used this disruptive technology of AR in their stores to improve the shopping experience. One such example could be Walmart, which has introduced an AR app that could enable customers to scan codes with the help of their smartphones to activate the AR content sponsored by the respective consumer brands. The AR activities also included mini-games, face filters applicable, and virtual rides, which could be shared on the company websites and social networks, thus, driving the engagement of more customers to the physical stores. More importantly, AR has created an immersive experience that produces emotions, which is a major factor that causes influences decision-making by the customers. It is often true that a picture speaks a thousand words, and it is also crucial for the marketing and advertising activities managed by a company (Rhee & Lee, 2021). The creation of an immersive experience has allowed customers to feel more connected with the brand and its products online, thus, ensuring that they could even experience the product in a digital environment, without actually buying the product. This creates a huge influence and also this major trend of disruptive technology raises the potential for businesses to grow. Not only does it help in gaining a larger audience group for the products offered by the fashion companies, but also reduced the costs of marketing. One of the retail clothing giants named Macy has introduced the "try before you buy" concept, where AR product visualization has allowed them to try it virtually and check whether their needs are met or not (Stancescu, Clark & Redolfi, 2022). Based on their fulfillment of needs, they could make a purchase, thus, helping the company to reduce returns by a few percentages, which creates a positive image and brand reputation too.

 

With the widespread use of disruptive technologies by many organizations in different industries, it is evident that Augmented Reality would also evolve in the future with more and more companies using this technology to attain growth and success. Though AR has been of little use in the fashion industries till now and is mostly limited to the entertainment and gaming industry, the future prediction shows that in the upcoming years, more companies will use it across different sectors. The advancement could already be seen in a few fashion and clothing companies and more is yet to happen in the next few years (Wedel, Bigné & Zhang, 2020). Over time, the AR would gradually evolve with all of the senses of human beings, such as hearing, smelling, watching, and touching, which would be incorporated into the next generation of Augmented reality devices. It could provide a wider view of the products and services for the customers, displaying more information anywhere within the vision of the customer, thus, allowing them to experience the product virtually before making a purchase. The use of AR in the future would also help in engaging more customers towards the fashion brands, and facilitation of marketing activities would be possible in the form of packaging, signs, and displays everywhere, through gaming apps, social networks, and interaction with other products as well (Caboni & Hagberg, 2019).

 

The AR would evolve in the future s it could leap into the meta-verse, which means not just marketing. But the meta-verse technologies could reduce the barriers between the physical and digital worlds, thus, allowing Augmented reality to display virtual objects embedded in the real world. It could be in the form of displaying products virtually in the real world, thus, creating an immersive experience at the physical fashion and clothing stores, enriching customers' experience and allowing them to visit the physical stores more often. More importantly, the AR would also evolve with the introduction of more Avatars, thus, bringing digital experiences into the real world effectively (Hilken et al., 2018). With the use of body and face tracking, fashion stores could work on camera filters and even make the virtual experience a reality, which attempts to draw the attention of customers through marketing. Another major environment could be Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence working together, to digitize an object, such as clothing items turned into a 3D object for use in programs like Photoshop, Google Docs, etc. It could create a great opportunity for companies within the fashion industry to enable 3D scanning, which could help in importing real-world objects into the meta-verse environment. This further allows the customers to even try those clothes displayed in 3D, which is a unique and innovative approach to marketing (Silvestri, 2022).

 

With the help of these new introductions, marketing would be improved, which boosts customer engagement with AR and could be a trendsetter across the fashion industry in UAE too. The innovations could create some uniqueness in marketing, which might attar new customers to try the 3D scanning and check for the clothing item, and judge whether it would be able to meet their requirements or not. Previously they were limited to just accessing the products, viewing them online, and then making a purchase, but with the evolvement of this disruptive technology, i.e., augmented reality, they would be able to experience the product even before purchasing, virtually, thus, gaining interest to make purchases as well (Watson, Alexander & Salavati, 2018). Customers would also feel more secure making purchases online, after trying out the product virtually, which could clarify any doubts regarding the quality and get influenced to make purchases. Moreover, the filters further add to the innovation in marketing, as the customers could appealingly present themselves by using the filters, added by the fashion companies. Also, with the use of Virtual Reality Fashion or VRF technology, which is an integral component of AR, the customers should be able to try the garments, shoes, and any other clothing products, while sitting in their homes, without even actually wearing the fashion item. This way AR has created a personalized and engaging experience for the customers, thus, allowing them to gain benefits and also benefiting the brand as a whole (Goel, Mahadevan & Punjani, 2022). This is how Augmented reality would evolve in the future, allowing customers to have a much better experience in the fashion industry.

 

Few case studies show the application of Augmented reality in the fashion industry and how it has facilitated the marketing activities to achieve its purpose and objectives perfectly. One such case study is the application of SR by ASOS, which is a major online retailer in the fashion industry. The company has launched its experimental AR feature named Virtual Catwalk, as part of the shopping app to market its products and services. The feature has been designed to enhance the online customer experience while shopping, thus, helping them to visualize the clothes on human models, before making purchases.  During the Covid 19, when most of the clothing companies were closed, the company scaled up the application of AR in fashion retail for marketing purposes. The “See my fit” feature also helped in encouraging the customers to check whether the clothes preferred by them fit on the different models available for different sizes, in a realistic outlook, which helped in gaining a virtual outlook of the products before making a final purchase (Asosplc.com, 2022). The AR-driven models were displayed showing various movements wearing the cloth selected by the customer, thus, making it easier for the customers to judge whether it would fit their body type or not. The main goal of the company has been to help the customers to find the right fit and at the same time, resolve the problems associated with returning products due to inaccurate sizes or fitting problems.

 

Just as this application was aimed at improving the customer experience, another major fashion retail company named Burberry, giving stiff competition to companies within the fashion industry, also introduced its AR-driven technology. Burberry aimed at applying AR to ensure customer retention and promote the brand and its actions (Burberryplc.com, 2021). An augmented reality fashion app was designed by Burberry, combining with an eCommerce store to add interactive features and even allowing customers to add images to their pictures while trying out the products of the brand, and later shared across social networks. It is a great marketing approach to reach out to new customers and also retain the existing ones. Burberry’s collaboration with Google also helped in transforming the AR in retail fashion, as the in-store shopping experience was brought straight to the customers. Digital devices such as smartphones allowed 3D images displayed on smartphones and easing down the process of searching for products online (Burberryplc.com, 2020). It has helped in the creation of a more connected experience, while enhancing personalized luxury commerce, ensuring that the customers gain a realistic view of the products, even before buying. Thus, with the growing number of customers embracing the digital lifestyle, the application of Augmented reality in the fashion industry has benefited marketing practices and allowed businesses to grow consistently.

 

Along with this, it can also be said that with Augmented Reality, brands like ASOS and Burberry have convinced customers about the quality of apparel. But the story was not like this earlier, as the customers preferred to touch the clothes, feel the quality, and then take a decision of purchasing. This action hindered the process of implementing disruptive technologies in fashion industry marketing, that as Augmented Reality (Javornik et al., 2021). The implementation of Augmented Reality was made to enhance the customer's online shopping experience. But it hindered the customer's purchasing decision, as they could not touch and feel the product quality, as most of the shopping was done online.  For these customers, the latest technological features in the smartphones were added for making them believe that technology has added a refined touch to the marketing, for enhancing their ease in deciding to purchase. A lot has been done for enhancing the online shopping experience of the customers. To fulfill the needs of the customers preferring touching the clothes physically and then taking the purchasing decision, a transformation has been done in the in-store shopping experience (Bug & Bernd, 2020). These customers, can even zoom out the pictures of the apparel and see the texture, and quality just as if they are physically touching and feeling these apparel. This action evokes the originality or value in customer behavior, which is enhanced in the form of technology to enhance the shopping experience.

 

In the future, brands like ASOS and Burberry could make the customers wear AR goggles which could help the customers visualize the texture and quality of the clothes better. This action could reflect effective initiatives toward influencing the purchasing decision of the customers (Berman & Pollack, 2021).

 

 

1. It is recommended for the companies within the fashion industry to extend social media monitoring to AR platforms, by leveraging and extending social media policies and monitoring the augmented reality platforms properly

 

 

2. Security is a crucial aspect of every process, and thus, components of AR initiatives must be secure and checked properly to ensure confidence in the data and information

 

 

3. Use of social networks while integrating AR into the marketing procedures is recommended as well for reaching out to the masses, and creating awareness, thus, encouraging people to experience the digital immersive experience

 

 

4. Lastly, it is also recommended to use Artificial Intelligence alongside the integration of Augmented reality applications in the fashion industry, which should bolster innovation prospects and enrich the customer experience and satisfaction furthermore. (Xue, Parker & Hart, 2021)

 

 

Augmented Reality has found its applicability in a widespread manner in business, including the fashion industry. The implementation of Augmented Reality or AR has enhanced efficiency in the business. Typical evidence of this AR is Artificial Intelligence or AI, Augmented Reality or AR, Internet of things, Blockchain technology, and eCommerce technology. This technology has emerged as a game changer, as there have been radical improvements in the fashion industry UAE operations. The process has become faster, enhancing the shopping experience of the customers. Examples Walmart's AR app is an exemplar in this context. The evolution of AR has resulted from the need to revolutionize the businesses like ASOS and Burberry. It has been estimated that body and face trackers, and clothing items turned into 3D objects for use in programs like Photoshop, and Google Docs, could be something great for luring customers. Reviews for the success of AR could be beneficial for convincing the customers to shift to this technology, which could be efficient in adding value to their purchasing decisions.

 

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Burberryplc.com (2020). BURBERRY BRINGS PRODUCTS TO GOOGLE SEARCH THROUGH AUGMENTED REALITY. Retrieved 2ns Aug 2022 from https://www.burberryplc.com/en/news/corporate/2020/burberry-brings-products-to-google-search-through-augmented-real.html

 

 

Burberryplc.com (2021). BURBERRY CREATES AUGMENTED REALITY POCKET BAG EXPERIENCE. Retrieved 2nd Aug 2022 from https://www.burberryplc.com/en/news/brand/2021/burberry-creates-augmented-reality-pocket-bag-experience.html

 

 

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