7/21/2019 Retailer Using Ar

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/retailer-using-ar 1/4Engineering & Technology 

May 2013 

www.EandTmagazine.com

46 AUGMENTED REALITY RETAIL

   P   H   I   L   A   D   A   M   S ,   T   E   S   C   O ,   O   X   F   A   M ,   M   C   D   O   N   A   L   D   ’   S ,   V   O   L   K   S   W   A   G   E   N

THE SUCCESS OF e-commerce has caused

retailers to find ways of adopting the

personalised interactivity of online shopping

to make the of fline shopping experience

more compelling. To this end augmented

reality (AR) could prove the most effective

technology for getting potential purchasers

to engage – and spend – more.

The AR trend aims to build consumer

relationships, boost revenue channels,

and add value to the shopper experience.

The omni-channel approach relates tohow retailers can attract their target

consumers across multiple traditional and

non-traditional interactions. These include

e-tail and e-commerce, use of social media,

plus in-store technology such as virtual

mirrors and touchscreen digital signage

Getting apurchase

on ARLeading retailers are turning toaugmented reality to drive sales,brand reinforcement, customerrelationships, and to improve theshopping experience.By Aasha Bodhani

 – all integrated in a physical store, and often

making use of shoppers’ own mobile devices,

ranging from tablet PCs to smartphones.

Retailers have traditionally relied on print

advertising campaigns to promote products,

whether advertised in magazines or

billboards; the industry is now redefining its

business model by implementing newer

marketing strategies, that are made available

to customers in the store itself.

AR technology holds multiple attractions

for retailers. It allows consumers tointeract with products, enabling them to

feel closer to the ‘real world’ equivalent.

It works like standard AR applications by

superimposing animated graphics, audio,

and video over a physical environment

that’s being photographically depicted in

Tesco’s cover-to-cover AR-enabled magazines allowconsumers to download the freeDiscover app and learn moreabout foodstuffs before they buy

7/21/2019 Retailer Using Ar

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/retailer-using-ar 2/4

47

www.EandTmagazine.com May 2013 Engineering & Technology

‘As well as driving new

bricks-and-mortar shopsales opportunities, the AR-savvy retailers are aimingto deliver special – andunusually compelling – in-store customer experiences’

real-time. Typically, a smartphone or tablet

with a camera and AR-enabled software can

trigger the data to view the AR presentation.

AR advertising and marketing campaigns

typically come in the form of a mobile app.

According to market-watcher Juniper

Research, retailers are keen to deploy

AR capabilities within their apps and

marketing materials, which will amount to

$300m in revenues, this year. The analyst’s

‘Augmenting Reality – Enhancing Mobile’

report reveals that polled retailers nowperceive AR as a fully-fledged means of

increasing engagement with consumers,

as a means of providing additional product

information or in the form of branded

virtual games and other activities.

While retailers are showcasing AR

applications, however, the report cautions

that the lack of consumer awareness

of AR remains a potential inhibitor,

and of the technological limitations of

AR-enablers (such as phone camera,

GPS, and digital compasses), which

can result in AR experiences failing to

live-up to consumer expectations.

The Juniper Research report also points

out that even some of the higher-end

smartphone cameras lacked sufficient

sensitivity to trigger the AR experienceunless lighting conditions were optimal. This

aside, the report revealed 2.5 billion AR apps

will be downloaded on smartphones or

tablets per annum by 2017. This demand is

good news for app developers: AR is setting

new challenges for software designers.>

There are two different types of AR. First ismarker-based AR, this is where a cameraon a smart device is able to recognisea marker or an image in the real world,

 which then calculates its position and

orientation to augment the reality. Thisenables developers to overlay the markeror image with content or informationsuch as audio, video and images. Thesoftware tools used to develop theseapplications are ARToolKit, FLARToolKitand FLARManager for Adobe Flash,SLARToolKit, NyARToolKit, LinceVR,HandyAR, Total Immersion – D’Fusionstudio, Unifeye Mobile and AR-Media.

The second is Global PositioningSystem-based AR; these enabledapps to use GPS to track landmarksand other points of interest which inreturn users can receive additionalinformation about the location or receive

directions to reach there. The softwaretools used to develop GPS applicationsinclude Layar, Wikitude and Junaio.

BACKGROUNDER

DEVELOPER PLATFORMS:HOW IT’S DONE IN BRIEF

Download the freeTesco Discover appand use the samplepage reproducedbelow to experience AR. See p4 of thisissue for how toaccess the app.

   T   E   S   C   O

    D   I   S   C   O   V   E   R

7/21/2019 Retailer Using Ar

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/retailer-using-ar 3/4Engineering & Technology May 2013 www.EandTmagazine.com

48 AUGMENTED REALITY RETAIL

< As well as driving sales, retailers are

also pushing for special customer

experiences. In the run-up to Christmas 2012

UK high-street fashion chain New Lookpartnered with Blippar – one of the leading

providers of mobile AR development and

delivery platforms – to develop AR-enabled

window displays to launch model and actress

Kelly Brook’s new cosmetics range in

December 2012. For the duration of the

campaign consumers could download the

Blippar app, and ‘blipp’ Brook’s signature

which features on the window display, and

virtually ‘try on’ her nail varnish range, as

well as have their picture taken with her

image.

Another high-profile AR campaign

involves supermarket chain Tesco launching

cover-to-cover AR-enabled magazines,

including Real Food , Tesco Magazine,Wine

 Magazine  and Better Value. Consumers can

download the free Tesco Discover app,

developed by AR app design specialist

Aurasma, onto any smartphone device to

access how-to videos, learn more about the

product, and buy groceries.

The April/May 2013 edition includes an

array of AR-enabled features, such as the

front cover uploads a video of BBC-Tv’s

‘Great British Bake-Off’-winner John

Whaite’s specially-shot interview in which

he enlarges on his passion for baking. Other

pages enable users to view other videos, buy

ingredients or find out more about them,

visit Tesco’s Facebook and Twitter platformsand learn how to make different cocktails,

and to find out more about Tesco’s wine

selection. Tesco’s virtual Wine Magazine

AR-features includes ‘buy now’

functionalities and videos of wine

specialists explaining different types of

wines, but in particular the original source

of the ingredients, its vintage, and what

foods match well.

Although the current examples of AR in

retail depend on customers’ own smart

devices, this is not the only model for

delivering the AR to the shopfloor. Lego, for

instance, led the way in 2011 (albeit with a

slightly different delivery model) by

introducing a AR feature into its brandedstores worldwide. This was based on

customers taking boxed Lego products to a

static AR device – DigitalBox – that displayed

a real-time reflective video image that

superimposed AR features based on the

specific product being presented. For

example, some of the actual fully-assembled

models in 3D that could be created from any

given size of Lego set appeared on screen on

the lid of the box, and could be viewed from

multiple dimensions as the customer

presented the box from different angles.

Additional piloted projects include

charity Oxfam’s Shelflife app, which lets

consumers learn about a donated item’s

‘history’ (see box-out right), and fast-foodrestaurant McDonald’s TrackMyMacca app,

which gives an insight to where ingredients

in a McDonald’s meal originate from

(opposite box-out). Automobile

manufacturer Volkswagen AR Golf

Cabriolet app lets users explore the vehicle

Oxfam has introduced an innovative wayof bringing AR to selected vintage andsecond-hand donations. By combining

 AR and Quick Response (QR) codes, theOxfam Shelflife app enables consumersto discover the stories behind Oxfam’sdonated items, and donators to share theirown stories for items they have given.

The concept is based on an ideadeveloped by the Tales of Things andElectronic Memory (TOTEM) initiative.TOTEM explores the relationship ofpersonal memories and real-life objectsand provides a context for sharing ofpersonal and social memories throughdigital media. This is a collaborationbetween five UK universities; UniversityCollege London, University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh College of Art, BrunelUniversity, University of Dundee, andUniversity of Salford.

“From the retailers’ perspective, as longas the customer can access a 3G networkfrom their smartphone they can use theapp,” says Oxfam project manager StuartHarrison, “but, user experience would beenhanced by the retailer providing Wi-Fihotspots in their shops.”

“Things are increasingly becoming acombination of physical and virtual things;embracing technology that allows

consumers to see the immaterial data thatis connected to the material thing isbecoming as important as simply sellingthe physical thing,” says Dr Chris Speedfrom TOTEM and Edinburgh College of

 Art. “Helping shoppers get access to thisinformation informs their purchase andcan foster good relations between theconsumer and your brand; it builds trust.”

Speed adds: “Current interpretationsof AR often involve the augmentation of

 visual media. We like to think of Shelflifeas AR for physical media. By scanningan Oxfam product that is tagged with

a Shelflife barcode, the app linksimmaterial stories with the materialartefact, forming a sort of AR connectionbetween the past and the present.”

The project aims to promotesustainability by encouraging shoppers tolook beyond consumerism and instead thepersonal attachment to objects.

The technical architecture of TOTEMconsists of a Web application calledDjango that provides backend servicesand different clients that access thisservice via different applicationprogramming interfaces.

Users who register for a free account onthe project website can add new objects toPostgreSQL, a user-generated objectdatabase, via a Web browser interface oran iPhone or Android mobile phone.During this process people are asked toprovide meta-information, such as nameand location, and a story about the object.

When a new object is created theservice creates a QR Code that can beprinted and attached to the object. Whenconsumers scan these tags, they can learnabout its history – where it was made, whohas owned it previously, and so on.

Tales can be told using text and anyadditional media that can be referenced

 via a URL. The system is capable of

analysing provided URLs and renderingmedia from social services such as YouTube, Flickr and Audioboo in anintegrated media player interface. TheWeb interface provides additionalfunctions such as a commenting system,display of the location of things and taleson a map, search, creation of groups, userprofiles, email and Twitter notifications.

Oxfam Shelflife is being piloted in 10 UKstores: Cheadle, Chorlton, Didsbury, Sale,Withington, Whitworth Park, OxfamEmporium, Oxfam Originals; plus the

 Alderley Edge and Altrincham Bookshops.

CHARITY: OXFAM

 AUGMENTED REALITY REVEALS DONATIONS’ PAST

Oxfam’s Shelflife app enablesits customers to discover the

stories behind items on sale

7/21/2019 Retailer Using Ar

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/retailer-using-ar 4/4

49

www.EandTmagazine.com May 2013 Engineering & Technology

There’s more online...Retailers ‘must embrace omni-retailing to compete’http://bit.ly/X9rpjMGoogle unveils augmented reality glasseshttp://bit.ly/Ie0NTAFashion on the digital risehttp://bit.ly/eandt-digital-fashion

Earlier this year, fast-food chainMcDonald’s launched the TrackMyMaccaapp with the promise of taking consumers‘behind the scenes’ of their meal.McDonald’s Australia partnered withadvertising agency DDB Sydney and

 ACNE Production who created the digitalexperience. Using an Apple iPhone, theapp utilises image recognition software toscan the packaging and GPS to determine

 which restaurant he consumer is in.Together this presents the origins of the

ingredients based on the user’s location.The European food industry’s reputation

took a knock with the recent revelationsregarding beef-based meal productsbeing contaminated with horse meat.Consumers are increasingly curious – and

concerned – about the sources of theirfood, and about its environmental context.

Though not implicated in this scandal,McDonald’s is a veteran of wrestling withperceptions of consumer trust; this

 Australian app may provide valuablereassurance over the chain’s processes andethics. Once the app is downloaded, userscan point the device at the packaging

 where they will see a message appear which reads ‘Okey Dokey. Currentlytracking your...’ the message soon

disappears and floating bubbles willappear with ingredients in them, such asbeef, cheese, pickle, lettuce and bun. Theuser can tap on each bubble to discover

 where the ingredients came from and hearfrom farmers, fishermen and bakers.

TrackMyMacca only works with food thatcomes in specially marked boxes, such asMcChicken burger, Big Mac, Filet-O-fish,Chicken Nugget and French Fries boxes.

Using an iPhone’s GPS the appdetermines which restaurant the customeris in, it then utilises image recognitionsoftware to work out which product thecustomer has scanned. This data is thencombined with the date and time andMcDonald’s supply-chain data to detail the

 journey of the ingredients.

To creatively bring the story to life,the app applies graphics softwareUnity4 to create the animated 3Duniverse that has been built aroundthe five McDonald’s products featuredin the TrackMyMacca’s app.

FAST FOOD: MCDONALD’S

 JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE BUN

In 2011, German car manufacturer Volkswagen implemented AR marketingstrategies to mark the comeback ofthe Golf Cabriolet. After nine yearsof absence, the manufacturer andcreative agency Agence .V. used thetechnology to promote new featuresspecifically in the showrooms in France.

Consumers can visit showrooms, wherethe sales teams are equipped with iPadscontaining the Volkswagen Virtual GolfCabriolet app. By aiming the iPad towardsa marker point on the installed podium, the

 vehicle appears on screen in 3D and toscale. The users can rotate the vehicle,change the colour of the bodywork and thestyle of the wheel rims and virtually openand close the soft-top roof.

To create the app, Total Immersion firstdesigned a 3D model of the car and theanimation of the roof opening and closingusing 3D animation software Maya. Thenusing Total Immersion’s authoring toolD’Fusion Studio, it configured therecognition of the vehicle image andadded the 3D model of the car on top of it.Once completed, the AR scenario wasexported, compiled and published intoXCode, a language that creates mobileapps compatible with iPhones and iPads.

AUTOMOTIVE: VOLKSWAGEN

SALES TOOL HELPS SHAPE CAR CUSTOMERS’ EXPECTATIONS

 Volkswagenaugmentedreality app

brings its GolfCabriolet to ‘life-

like’ focus

...The app alsohelps allayconcerns aboutsustainablesourcing withother menu items,such as Filet-O-Fish

TrackMyMacca letscurious burger buffslearn more about the

ingedients of theireats...