The power of 3D models and augmented reality (AR) is supercharging the world of ecommerce. It is being used by major commerce platforms, such as Amazon, Wayfair, Shopify, eBay, and more. It is being tapped by sellers of every kind - from large direct-to-consumer brands to mom-and-pop sellers. Regardless of the platform, regardless of the product (assuming, of course, that it is a physical object), and regardless of the merchants, 3D and AR can have a huge impact.
The multi-trillion dollar ecommerce industry is moving to Web 3.0 - and fast! Accelerating the adoption is the growing excitement around 3D models and augmented reality, which increase engagement around the online experience - particularly when it comes to ecommerce.
In a move that further cements Nextech AR Solutions’ position as the leading integrated 3D/AR environment for Shopify merchants, the company’s ARitize Configurator technology is now fully-integrated into the ARitize 3D app in Shopify.
On the June 2022 episode of Wall Street Reporter’s NEXT SUPER STOCK LIVE! podcast, Nextech AR Solutions CEO Evan Gappelberg spoke with Jack Marks, CEO of Wall Street Reporter, about the spinout of the company’s augmented reality spatial mapping platform, ARitize Maps. Evan also used the opportunity to talk about the importance of focus, as well as the need for flexibility in a changing market.
As a successful founder and seasoned tech CEO, Evan wanted to talk about new developments in the industry, as well as the company’s technology. As he explained in the interview:
“When I founded Nextech back in 2018, it was on the premise that we were going to take on the augmented reality market, create 3D models for eCommerce and really become the 3D model supplier for all the eCommerce sites globally.”
That goal led to many opportunities - and much growth - in the ensuing years. One of the opportunities that came up was the purchase of an innovative young technology company, AR Way, now known as ARway and soon to be a stand-alone company.
“ARway is real world spatial mapping. So we could map an arena, a stadium, the insides of a house or a building, museums, college campuses. We have the technology to create the spatial map, which is essentially a 3D point cloud. And then we have a studio which allows you to drag and drop it in and populate the map with 3D assets. That is an unheard of end-to-end solution.”
Exciting developments in the CAD-to-poly market were also top of mind:
“I want to talk about the CAD-to-poly for a minute. It is transformational technology. Today, we essentially use that tech in house, but the goal - and what we're building today - is a SaaS platform where we can turn the tech over to the manufacturer, allowing them to create 3D models themselves. For us, it becomes a monthly licensing fee revenue stream.”
The potential of ARway as a stand-alone company - and CAD-to-poly as a technology - are enormous. The ability to recognize and unlock their potential are examples of Nextech AR Solutions’ ability to understand the needs of the market.
“E-com is a five trillion-dollar megatrend that's going to ten trillion. It's growing rapidly. It's unstoppable. I'm talking about e-commerce in general, even with the current supply chain issues. Brick and mortar stores are closing and what they're doing is investing more in their e-com business. And I'm hearing this in stereo every week when I’m talking with a major brand, a major e-com retailer. These companies are looking for a partner to take them into this world of 3D.”
Despite the tremendous growth in e-commerce during the pandemic, that market has started to soften, which led to new acquisitions designed to move Nextech AR Solutions forward.
“The massive growth from the pandemic was waning. As we rolled into the second half of 2021, really the summer of 2021, we acquired two companies [ARway and Threedy.ai] that were transformative.”
Evan is an example of a CEO who knows where his focus needs to be and is doing everything in his power to identify opportunities to deliver value - to shareholders, to customers, and to partners.
“Every day I spend time in back to back meetings with my leadership team about building the business, closing deals, bringing products to market, our investments, our burn rate, our budget, and our revenue.”
“Increasing shareholder value is always on my mind. My default thinking is how does all this benefit my shareholders, customers, and partners. I don't really have hobbies. I'm a workaholic. I work, work, work to try and increase shareholder value.”
This tremendous commitment by senior leadership is what has placed Nextech AR Solutions at the vanguard of 3D and augmented reality. To learn how this commitment to innovation and customer value can benefit your business, visit us here and read about AR/3D technology solutions.
To listen to previous Wall Street Reporter’s NEXT SUPER STOCK LIVE! podcasts featuring Evan and other members of our leadership team, visit WallStreetReporter.com.
Creating easily-navigable virtual spaces has never been more important. Merging the real and the virtual - magically mapping layers of virtual information onto the physical spaces people use every day - has become a rich and exciting field for technologists, property owners, and marketers.
Moving through large unfamiliar spaces can be time-consuming. One recent study found that 70 percent of workers on large corporate campuses waste up to 15 minutes trying to find a meeting location.
Confusion can be costly. RetailNext, for example, found that 65 percent of shoppers cited difficulty in physically locating a product as a key source of frustration, and 67 percent reported leaving a store empty handed when they were unable to find the product they were seeking. Augmented reality wayfinding can help lead the way.
An AR-fueled experience can lead to improved sales and engagement. According to a Harvard Business Review study, customers who used AR viewed 1.3 more products and were 20 percent more likely to make a purchase as compared with non-AR-using customers. Studies also show that 84 percent of people feel more engaged - and enjoy a more memorable experience - when it has AR elements.
ARway addresses these important issues with high-accuracy AI navigation, an immersive user experience, and rich connections between people, places, and objects. ARway delivers these capabilities in an easy-to-use collaborative work environment, with comprehensive version management and control, and access deep analytics on location and user behavior in space.
ARway does for indoor spaces what Google Maps has done for outdoor navigation. Right out of the box, ARway provides a cloud-based solution for navigation and wayfinding with AR support for the growing Position, Localization, and Navigation (PLAN) industry. Critical tools for an important and dynamic sector.
The power to lead people through physical spaces is easier than ever with ARway’s “no code/low code” approach. It enables creators of all types to deliver immersive experiences that connect people, places and objects. For property owners, ARway offers a unique way to increase the value of virtual assets in physical spaces and enrich the human experience. For people, an immersive new world - one of information, navigation, and well-targeted, locationally relevant messages - can suddenly be discovered all around them.
But ARway isn’t just for navigation nerds. The ARway Creator Portal offers a wide range of code-free capabilities for building powerful location-based AI experiences. Metaverse creators can communicate and collaborate in a way that is simple and familiar to anyone who has used a service like Discord.
Despite its power and potential, ARway can be accessed with just a few clicks and taps. This is due to ARway’s advanced artificial intelligence. AI-generated “blueprints” of physical spaces enable the placement of persistent metaverse experiences to be created. Any camera-enabled phone or device can easily access AI to recognize surroundings for hyper-accurate location-driven applications.
Its rich feature set, accessible tools, and active Creator Community allows ARway users to do some amazing things. The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, for example, used ARway to produce music and visuals for Harmony at London Wall Place, a series of location-anchored augmented reality artworks that bring London to life.
Hospitals, sports stadiums, retail centers, realtors and real estate developers, and art/cultural institutions are all starting to recognize what the metaverse can mean to them. ARway can make their spaces, interactions, and offerings richer and more rewarding. Here are just a few of the ways ARway can support these types of organizations:
Hospitals and medical centers - professional staff spending too much time providing directions. ARway helps hospital administrators remove this burden and improve staff efficiency through personalized digital wayfinding.
Museums and Galleries - these organizations are constantly seeking new ways to engage visitors - and convert visitors to members. ARway museum directors and curators expand exhibits beyond the physical bounds of a space to create more exciting and memorable experiences.
Retail - customers are avoiding physical stores. Finding products, navigating sprawling spaces, and frustration are all to blame. ARway gives merchandising managers - and others - the tools they need to make shopping deeply engrossing (and unlock amazing new revenue opportunities).
Sports Venues - sprawling spaces that are way-finding deficient. Information and technology leaders can use ARway to improve navigation, highlight specific vendors, and make stadiums and arenas feel as familiar as the back of your hand.
Tradeshows and Events - same old same old sponsorship packages just aren’t cutting it any more. ARway lets event managers offer new, engaging, and unexpected sponsorship opportunities in their existing space - by moving them into the unrestricted AR-enabled metaverse.
The ARway Platform consists of the ARway App, ARway Creator Portal, and the ARway Kit SDK. Together they provide a powerful - yet accessible - suite of capabilities that needs to be seen to be believed. You can do that by signing up for a demo. You can also contact us for SDK pricing that will allow you to experience the full capabilities of ARway. Join the ARWay Creator Community and become a metaverse master. Gain instant access to tips, best practices, and educational resources to hone your navigational skills. Create a new world and an engaging way for people to discover and navigate it!
For several years, Nextech AR Solutions has worked with Google’s 3D/AR Search team to give customers access to one of the most effective search trends out there: 3D and augmented reality (AR). What makes these approaches so powerful? For starters, Google ranks 3D models higher in organic search than 2D ones. Google also reports that conversion rates for 3D-enhanced commerce are 250 percent higher than for non-3D content, and click-through rates are 94 percent higher. Shopify, for its part, has declared that the “future of eCommerce is 3D,” and who could argue with them? Consumers prefer it, and retailers report a 40 percent drop in returns when shoppers are able to see a product in 3D or “placed” in their space via augmented reality.
Our ARitize 3D BigCommerce App stakes new ground as the AR industry’s first true self-service AR SaaS platform. BigCommerce’s mission is to help merchants sell more at every stage of growth, from small startups to mid-market businesses, to large enterprises. ARitize 3D gives BigCommerce merchants access to scalable, affordable, easy to use, and - ultimately - high-quality 3D/AR models. With just a few simple steps, merchants can use our AI-powered technology, fully integrated into BigCommerce, to create models that can help drive customer engagement and sales.
Nextech AR Solutions’s 3D model-creation app for Shopify has given merchants around the world a smooth and simple way to create stunning 3D/AR models for their ecommerce sites. The use and impact of the app has soared since it was updated in January. Shoppers love the experience of rotating or zooming into a product to see it in all its glory. This “try before you buy” capability is transforming ecommerce!
Augmented reality transforms the customer purchasing journey from start to finish. It’s more likely to grab the attention of prospective customers and drive larger amounts of traffic, as the ability to place and play with a product in any environment is bound to grab attention. In 2021, it was used by over 100 million shoppers. Brands and businesses can now use their usual digital display advertising channels with game-changing banners that can display fully interactive, 3D versions of the products advertised. This has proved to increase click-through rates by 32% and conversionrates by 300% in our test remarketing campaign.
Once a sci-fi trope, then used exclusively by gamers, augmented reality (AR) is no longer just a form of entertainment. The technology is becoming a critical tool for many businesses with their sights set on scaling, modernizing, and evolving with the changing demands of consumers—particularly within the manufacturing industry.
