Tenth Street Hats sees 74.3% engagement jump with shoppable AR try-ons

Brief:

Tenth Street Hats is testing a new AR commerce platform by Vertebrae, a developer of interactive 3D and augmented reality (AR) solutions, according to an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
The platform, called Axis, aims to help web retailers more easily turn their product catalogs into customizable and reusable 3D models to add to their existing product workflows. Shoppers of Tenth Street Hats can now virtually try on hats through a smartphone camera without downloading an app.
Tenth Street Hats saw a 33% conversion increase and 74.3% jump in engagement on products that used Vertebrae's Axis platform, Women's Wear Daily reported.

Insight:

Powering AR features through the web like Tenth Street Hats removes friction in people's shopping journey, allowing them to virtually try on products or activate other immersive features without the need to download a special app.

Tenth Street Hats' new feature comes as AR technology continues to be hailed for expanding smartphones' capabilities, including tools that help customers visualize how products look in real-world settings. While Apple and Google have developed software tools to help marketers create AR experiences in apps, retailers that don't want — or don't have the resources — to develop and market their own apps need ways to create AR experiences for the mobile web.

Many major brands have experimented with similar mobile AR tech and incorporated it into their marketing campaigns, either through apps, browsers or social platforms like Instagram or Snapchat. 7-Eleven, Adidas, Coty and Domino's have introduced immersive features for mobile users in the past year, pointing to the growth in the space as more on-the-go shoppers turn to smartphones to discover and research products.

More than half (56%) of consumers said AR should be a priority for retailers, according to a survey cited by Vertebrae. A poor user experience and lack of quality 3D content are the two biggest roadblocks to AR development and adoption, researcher eMarketer found. However, the technology is still in the early stages of adoption with only 5% of marketers using AR regularly. Previously, Vertebrae has had success developing AR campaigns for brands. Their AR ads for Saban Brands' "Power Rangers" spurred a 2.5-times higher-than-average click-through rate.