Brief:

• 1-800-Flowers.com created an augmented reality (AR) experience for customers as part of its collaboration with fashion designer Jason Wu on a line of bouquets. The Jason Wu for Wild Beauty collection of five bouquets is available from the flower and gift delivery service nationwide, per an announcement.
• The AR experience is available on the 1-800-Flowers website, which lets mobile users see a 3D digital overlay of the bouquets on their real surroundings. Shoppers who have Apple Pay-enabled devices can seamlessly check out and pay within the AR experience.
• Each bouquet has a custom tag with a QR code to scan with a smartphone camera and activate the content, which includes behind-the-scenes footage of the photo shoot for the Wild Beauty collection and the designer's runway show at New York Fashion Week. People who scan the QR codes also can instantly send a digital "thank you" note to the sender of the bouquet, per the announcement.

Insight:

Fashion designer Jason Wu is extending his reach into the floral and gift market with a 1-800-Flowers bouquet collection, and the retailer is trying to make the most of the collaboration by permeating the shopping experience with mobile tech ranging from web-based AR experiences to digital checkout and payment. The 3D views of the size, color and design of the bouquets can help to visualize their appearance with a mobile-based experience that's more immersive than a still image on a website. Retail showcasing is considered one of the most effective applications for AR tech, helping to improve customer satisfaction by providing more complete information about a product before a purchase.

After demonstrating the bouquets, 1-800-Flowers can move shoppers toward the point-of-sale within the AR experience on Apple devices or other online checkout pages.

By putting QR codes on tags that arrive with the bouquets, 1-800-Flowers also can engage mobile users with content that tells a more complete brand story. In the case of the Jason Wu collection, customers can learn more about the designer and see items from his fall fashion line in behind-the-scenes videos. During the coronavirus pandemic, 1-800-Flowers has been focusing on leveraging digital content to connect with consumers as sales grow as people look for a way to reach out to friends and family during lockdowns.

QR codes initially had seen a jump in usage with the introduction of better smartphone camera technology, but that interest faded among marketers due to a lack of scanning standardization and some of the creative restrictions that come with the format. QR codes have shown signs of renewed interest in the past year, with brands such as American Eagle Outfitters, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Pepsi using them to engage mobile users and to help measure the reach of campaigns.

1-800-Flowers has embraced innovation in digital marketing for years, most recently with the launch of an online support community through a partnership with Wisdo. The retailer also redesigned its app and mobile website, adding AR experiences and an integration with payment app Venmo. A year earlier, the flower and gift delivery company let customers place orders through Bixby, Samsung's voice assistant, and added Apple Business Chat for customers who wanted to shop with an Apple device and complete their orders with Apple Pay.