AR/VR retail 2018

Bridging Retail Stores & VR Leandro Agrò and NTT Data | Milano, 15 January 2018

© DESIGN GROUP ITALIA
Index
01 / VR: Introduction
The State of Art
Market players and Consumers trends
VR’s stories
The AR way
SmartPhones are powering VR (and AR)
02 / VR @Work
Use Cases
03 / Opportunity Roadmap
AR/VR needs in Retail store
Focus on Utility players
Roadmap
2

01 / Introduction
3

State of the Art
4
- VR has a 50y long history behind
- In 2014 Oculus Rift defined the headset hardware reference, boosting the competition

What is VR
5
Virtual reality (VR) is a computer technology that uses glasses, headsets or multi-projected
environments, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user's
physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment.
VR: from the technology point of view
VR: from the user point of view
A person using virtual reality equipment is able to "look around" the artificial world, and with
high quality VR move around in it and interact with virtual features or items.
* While in a VR session, the user is totally blind and isolated respect the real world.

Dreaming VR since 1950…
6
EARLY HEADSET: TELEYEGLASSES (1963)
Hugo Gernsback inventor of the term
“science fiction”. Gernsback described his
“teleyeglasses” for a Life magazine article
published in July 1963, when he was 78.
EARLY 3D ENVIRONMENT: Sensorama (1962)
The Sensorama was a machine that is one of
the earliest known examples of immersive,
multi-sensory technology. Morton Heilig
invented and dubbed it "Experience Theater”.
Prototyped in 1962, the Sensorama was a
mechanical device, which still functions today.
TELEYEGLASSES SENSORAMA

30 years later… VR Stories for the masses (since 1992)
7
NEAL STEPHENSON (1992): SNOW CRASH STEPHEN KING (1992): THE LAWNMOVER MAN
30 years after Sensorama the idea of virtual
reality finally emerge in the consumer mind,
mostly because two “cults” stories.
1) SnowCrash is a cyberpunk masterpiece
where the author –Neal Stephenson-
introduced “the Metaverse” a sort of virtual
reality-based massive Internet. Resembling a
massively multiplayer online game (MMO), the
Metaverse is populated by user-controlled
avatars as well as system daemons.
2) The Lawnmover Man got a massive
response as sci-fi movie, where a protagonist –
leveraging the 3D world- become a vindictive
god. In Lawnmover Man, the device that Is
needed to perform actions in the virtual world,
is a sort of giant wheel.

20 years later… 2012 The Oculus Rift
8

2014: From Oculus to Facebook
9
PSVR PLAYSTATION VR HEADSET
Born on kickstarter in 2012, Oculus was
a big success. “Zuck” is a VR’s
enthusiast and Oculus was later
acquired by Facebook for 3Billions USD.
From 2014 to 2017, about 250K Oculus
headsets were sold.
Why?
Facebook may own three of the biggest apps
— WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger —
but it has relatively little influence over the
development of the mobile devices and
operating systems on which they depend.
Instead, it is Apple and Google that have set
the standards and driven the adoption of
what is now the world's dominant computing
platform. Facebook, with its focus on apps,
has largely been a passenger.

Market players and consumer trends
10
- Google cardboard
- Few big players and thousands of different plastic headset
- Q3 2017 about 850K VR headset sold
- VR trends compared to other tech

2014: Google’s answer to Facebook
11

VR run on software and cardboard (plus the phone that the user already has)
12
Through March 2017, over 10 million Cardboard
viewers had shipped and over 160 million Cardboard
App downloads had been made.

If VR is a smartphone + cardboard, it’s a business for Samsung too.
13

SONY Playstation VR: For the players
14

Run VR Like a pro
HTC Vive: the most complete HW/content environment
15

VR Christmas sales worldwide: Q3 2017
16
Source TechCrunch
Sony shipped 490,000 PlayStation
VR headsets (399 USD)
Oculus shipped 210,000
Rift headsets (399 USD)
HTC shipped 160,000
Vive units (599 USD).

VR’s Stories
17

From NASA concepts to THE SIMPSON: VR it’s now a thing for consumers
18

VR as a Silicon Valley affair: Facebook vs Google
19

VR it’s now a thing for (future) business too
20
Mark Zuckerberg has said. 2016 was year zero of Virtual Reality consumer devices launching in the
market. Since 2018 6+ million VR headsets were sold, from 5 companies including Facebook and Google.

The rise of gamers army
21

The headset tsunami
22
Carl Zeiss

The headset tsunami
23

STAR WARS VR: A huge delusion
25

© DESIGN GROUP ITALIA 26
Comparing two different tech hype curve (people attention)

Samsung Note 8 vs VR

iPhone X vs VR headsets

From tech to Experiences (content)
29
Text here

Video 360°: Another smartphone powered immersive opportunities.
FITT360 - The First 360° Neckband Wearable Camera
Unobtrusive and effortless way to capture and share your moments in 360° true First-Person-View.

The AR way
31

What is augmented Reality (see trough glasses)
32
Text here

HOLOLENS: Breakthrough hardware from Microsoft
Official release 2016

HOLOLENS: Precisely placing virtual objects in real space

HOLOLENS: Virtual screens everywhere. Experiences mapped in your living room.

HOLOLENS: Collaboration & Sharing in a “mixed” digital/physical environment

HOLOLENS: R.I.P.
Unfortunately, after years, Hololens still far away to become a real product. Microsoft
itself has no clear future plan and also finding the devices it’s not easy at all. Hololens
was a relevant step into AR technology, but still an R&D result that nobody can
actually use to develop a business’ project.
Many of the use cases look very similar to those of Microsoft’s HoloLens, a $3,000 USD
augmented-reality headset that’s still very much under development. HoloLens is still
being pitched to developers—not consumers—nearly three years after its unveiling.

MAGIC LEAP: Watch out to the AR whale

MAGIC Leap: finally AR found a champion?

MAGIC Leap: finally AR found a champion?
Reality is augmented only insofar as you're looking
within a relatively limited space in front of you.

MAGIC Leap: just another huge failure like the Google Glass?
Released in 2012/3, Google Glasses, quickly disappeared from people attention
Battery life and cultural acceptability destroyed any
available use case

SmartPhones are powering VR (and AR)
43

Augmented Reality’s classics are a perfect fit on a smartphone
46
Text here

Smartphones are the actual cornerstone of both AR and VR
47
Text here

02 / VR @work
48

Use cases
49

The next revolution in retail: AR will sell jeans and VR will sell dreams
The current uses of VR in retail is being used to increase in-store engagement by
providing customers a virtual experience that is complementary to the store
experience.
Lowe’s let shoppers customize a kitchen and then visualize it using a VR headset.
eBay created a VR shopping app for an Australian department store.
Macy’s launched a virtual store in China with Alibaba for Singles day.
(Macy’s doesn’t have a physical retail store or an e-commerce site in China – its first entry
into the biggest market in the world was through a virtual store).

Lowe's Holoroom
The Lowe's Holoroom is a virtual reality home
improvement design and visualization tool that
empowers homeowners with an immersive,
intuitive experience in the room of their dreams.
Visualizing a home improvement project is hard -
the Holoroom is here to help.
The Lowe's Holoroom was introduced in 2014 as
the first concept from Lowe's Innovation Labs, and
was available for six months in two Toronto stores.
The next iteration of the Holoroom was available in
19 stores across the U.S. beginning in November
2015. Lowe's Innovation Labs will continue to
refine and evolve the experiences as technology
continues to evolve and we gather real-time
feedback from customers and employees.
http://www.lowesinnovationlabs.com/holoroom/

VR for Marketing and Storytelling
Virtual reality’s ability to transport a person
to a completely different environment
allows companies to transform their
message and connect to potential clients.
McDonald transformed the iconic happy
meal box, to a virtual reality viewer
powered by customers’ smartphones.
“Meet Happy Goggles - a unique VR viewer
made from an ordinary Happy Meal box.
We believe the possibilities are endless.”
http://www.happygoggles.se/en/

NYT VR: How to Experience a New
Form of Storytelling From The Times
Through virtual reality, The New York Times
puts you at the center of the stories that
only we can tell. Experience our award-
winning virtual reality films by New York
Times journalists in an immersive 360-
degree video experience.
For the most immersive NYT VR experience,
watch our VR films with Google Cardboard.
If you don’t have one, you can still watch
our VR stories on your smartphone.
We’ll be posting new virtual reality
films every month or so.

Virtual reality lets Chinese customers
shop Macy’s New York store on the
world’s biggest shopping day.
Macy’s took part in its first Singles Day by
working with Alibaba on a virtual
experience. In late October, Alibaba started
selling 150,000 cardboard VR headsets,
similar to Google Cardboard, for $0.15.
Customers could use them to virtually visit
NYC and shop Macy’s famed New York
flagship store.
Other international brands, including
Target, CostCo, and Tokyo Otaku Mode, are
also doing VR shopping with Alibaba
https://youtu.be/wP2SXkcMhX0

eBay virtual reality based MYER store
eBay, Australia’s largest marketplace and
iconic Australian retailer, Myer have joined
forces to provide a glimpse into the future
of shopping by creating the world’s first
Virtual Reality (VR) Department Store.
The shopper selects their areas of interest
at the beginning of the experience and the
store is custom built around these needs,
making the most relevant products visible
first. Within the experience more than
12,500 products from Myer can be
browsed, selected and added to cart.
https://youtu.be/yAuiXhJPnr8
https://vr.ebay.com.au/

IKEA
IKEA Place lets you virtually ‘place’
furnishings in your space. From sofas and
lamps, to rugs and tables, all of the
products in IKEA Place are 3D and true to
scale so you can make sure it’s just the
right size, design and functionality for
your room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xxOvsyNseY
“IKEA Place makes it easier to make buying decisions in
your own place, to get inspired and try many different
products, styles and colors in real-life settings with a
swipe of your finger. Augmented reality and virtual
reality will be a total game changer for retail in the
same way as the internet. Only this time, much faster,”

Mastercard and Swarovski team up
on new virtual-reality shopping app
“The cutting-edge VR technology allows consumers to fully realize
scale and engage more deeply with design details before making a
purchase – anywhere.” | https://youtu.be/uFNFU4wgyNI
Mastercard and Swarovski launched a virtual
reality (VR) shopping app for the Atelier
Swarovski home décor line, a collection of
functional and decorative crystal home
accessories designed in collaboration with
world-renowned architects and designers.
The app immerses consumers in a tastefully
decorated home where they can browse and
purchase the pieces with Mastercard.

Nestlé Gives VR Factory Tours
VR also can showcase events and reveal the
inside of a brand’s operations. Nestlé did the
latter, using 360º videos to tell a story of
how its chocolate is made in its factory in
Switzerland. “The videos showcase
their factory, the farmer and dairy cows that
produce the milk and chocolatiers preparing
delicious treats”. The videos are being shown
at pop-up stores in malls in the U.S., where
customers can watch the video in
headsets before receiving a sample of the
chocolate.

LEGO Uses Augmented Reality To Make
Models Come To Life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N85srjA-GQ
Lego stores solved the challenge of
customers wondering what the Lego model
within the box would actually look like.
The in store technology which was first
piloted back in 2009 allows customers to
hold Lego boxes in front of a screen, and,
once the camera detects, a 3D animated
model that is in the box appears on the
screen which, as a customer rotates the box,
the model rotates with it. The whole
experience is very natural, because
customers doesn’t needs to wear any
device or use any smartphone.

Apple Park in reality augmented at the
Visitor Center
Using the iPad, visitors to the center are able
to see a virtual version of the campus
overlaid onto the metal model in front of
them. You can change the time of day to see
how the massive glass structures look as
they’re first kissed by the morning sun, etc.
You can also tap on any building to see a
little overview of what’s inside, and get
visualizations of how solar power is collected
by the cells on the buildings’ roofs.
“…considering you can only use the app while you’re
already on the campus, you could, alternatively, just look
out the window.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y93mKGv3Wd0

Lowe's Introduces In-Store Navigation
Using Augmented Reality
Customers visiting stores in Sunnyvale,
California and Lynwood, Washington can
use Google Tango-enabled smartphones to
easily search for products, add them to a
shopping list and locate the product within
the store using augmented reality.
http://www.lowesinnovationlabs.com/instorenavigation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4US6BO59YU

Toys ‘R’ Us woos back shoppers with
augmented reality in-store game
Play Chaser is a free augmented reality app, from
Toys ‘R’ Us that turns stores into virtual
playgrounds. It works by getting users to point
their smartphone’s camera at star icons in the
store letting them play virtual games such as
basketball or win digital prizes such as virtual
dolls.
Play Chaser is currently in testing across 23
American stores, most of them in California, New
York and North Carolina. However, it should be
available across all stores in the country as of
October 21st.

AR/VR customers’ experiences could look
differently, according the chosen design approach

AR/VR related customers’ experiences could be dramatically
different according the chosen design approach.
64
• Trough a shared headset in a public space
• With a personal VR cardboard at home
• Trough their own smartphones (everywhere)
The main situations in which users are using AR/VR, in a retail related context, are:

03 / Opportunity roadmap
DD Company / Brand / Project
65

“Retailers should be realistic and understand that it’s still a work
in progress; it’s not a finished beast.”
66
Todd Richmond,
Director of the Mixed Reality Lab
University of Southern California

Technology might be already there, but people
will accept it starting from their humans’ needs
Tim Alessi, LG's director of new product development, told tech
website Cnet: "3D capability was never really universally
embraced in the industry for home use, and it's just not a key
buying factor when selecting a new TV,"

Both AR and VR have a bright future. Retail sector has shown just
a small glimpse of the potential. Many other experimentations
might be done in directions not yet adequately explored:
68
• Try before you buy / Remote guidance and tutoring / Product pack recognition
• AR/VR magazines, experienced in store (as innovation corner) as well as at home
• Pathfinding combined with a proactive AI (custom advices, real time offers, etc)
• Ad-hoc 3D/VR video production and series
• Educational contents (sponsored) / Situated professional training
• Immersive video theater for cinema and sports
• Art and exhibitions / Conferences
• Real time located gaming and social events

Additional VR/AR business cases are not related to the end
consumers
69
• Store design: VR can be used to create fixture designs and produce a floor plan
from a bird’s-eye perspective;
• Testing point-of-sale materials: P.O.S. and end-cap designs can be tested in VR and
eye-tracking data can be overlaid;
• Virtual presentations. Different designs and P.O.S. materials can be presented to
committees or other decision-making parties in different regions to get their input.

The opportunity landscape is huge, but it is fundamental to not
follow the technology hype and focus the attention on customers
(and employees) digital habits.
Design Group Italia team started using VR since 2012, focusing
the attention to remote design and architecture validation
process for high-end hospitality locations (BlueLagoon, Iceland)
and other design advice/support for PepsiCo retail sector.
70

According our experience, we are proposing a design thinking
based approach, that might start with the following steps:
71
Phase 0: Envision
This presentation is part of the envision. To extend the study is needed a technology benchmark and a strategic classification of
the VR/AR retail experiences included in this presentation, plus any other findable. Last but not least, internal and external
interviews. The main output is a list of the emerged (and meaningful) potential AR/VR projects.
Phase 1: Framing
A workshop is the best way to share and check all those initial scenarios, defining the priorities.
TIME FRAME AND PRICE FORK FOR PHASE 0 and 1: 8/12 weeks | 80/160K€
Phase 2: Exploring
This phase is about prototypes and MVPs.
Phase 3: Making
This is where the identified prototype/MVPs comes to life.

The forecast of an eventual opportunity roadmap to AR/VR for
Vodafone, might be the following.
72
AR Innovation
hub available in
store and at home
Branded immersive experiences with
VR (like a Netflix production, those
experience brings customers into a
Vodafone future / Vodafone TV)
AR/VR events related to
specific campaigns
(flagship stores only)
In-store VR room
(like hi-fi listening room)
AR/VR devices on
sales plus dedicated
content library
AI-based Try
before you buy
Advanced deploymentFirst Wave deploymentsPhases 0-3
Point of sales design and
training support

DESIGN GROUP ITALIA
Via Aleardo Aleardi, 12
20154 Milano ITALIA
tel. +39 02 58325272
www.designgroupitalia.it
THANK YOU.
234 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10018 USA
tel. +1 (718) 5771385

AR/VR retail 2018

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to AR/VR retail 2018

Similar to AR/VR retail 2018 (20)

More from Leandro Agro'

More from Leandro Agro' (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

AR/VR retail 2018