Ecommerce stores continue to rapidly evolve and provide more information, further bridging the gap between online shopping and physical stores. Customers expect high quality visuals to guide their purchasing journey online and prove they’re not missing out on much in comparison to a brick-and-mortar store. 

Let’s get into how small to medium size businesses can improve and optimize their Shopify website through 3D and AR content to surpass those customer expectations. 

The pandemic has proven that Shopify merchants need to be innovative and rethink how they can improve their customers’ online journey in order to boost sales. You must create scroll-stopping, powerful visual content to capture customer attention and lead them to checkout. 

Nothing gets more visually appealing than 3D and Augmented Reality (AR) models, and with our recently launched Shopify app, any Shopify merchant can create an immersive visual customer experience. Here’s some benefits you can expect: 

1. Bridging the gap between online and in-store experiences: Brick-and-mortar used to reign supreme for convenience. Customers can easily browse, hold, touch, and inspect any product. With 3D and AR, customers enjoy an online sensory-focused shopping experience that is just as impactful as in-person. 
2. Increased confidence: Customers have a hard time feeling 100% secure in the purchase they’re considering. Gartner research notes that B2B buyers in particular don’t feel empowered to make good online purchasing decisions due to a large amount of “conflicting information.” 3D and AR provide clear visuals and get buyers on track to find the right product and make a confident purchase. 
3. Decreased returns: Standard 2D images simply don’t do the trick. That light brown chair on your computer screen may likely appear much darker once it reaches your doorstep – it's impossible to feel 100% sure. 3D and AR eliminate any uncertainty and allow them to feel secure in that what they’re seeing on their screen is exactly what they’ll receive, resulting in a 40% decrease in returns from 3D visualization and 25% decrease with AR. 

Let’s dive deep into how our Shopify app and add-ons filled with 3D and AR content can supercharge the performance of your Shopify site. 

There have been rumblings of the metaverse for some time, but it’s finally broken into the public space as one of the hottest and most popular topics. This is in part thanks to the recent rebranding of Facebook to Meta as the company strives to deliver the space the metaverse needs for entertainment, socializing, and work productivity. 

But what exactly is the metaverse? A survey conducted by Insider Intelligence to dissect the attitudes toward the metaverse among U.S. internet users found that while 23% expressed the desire to explore the metaverse, nearly a third of survey respondents still don’t understand what the metaverse is, showcasing the need for a simple way to enter and participate in this new space.