Long gone are the days when the price was the only factor consumers considered when making a purchasing decision. Today, when your customers are just one Google search away from finding ten other eCommerce stores offering the same exact product, competing on price simply isn't a sustainable growth strategy - there will always be someone willing to undercut their prices further. 

It's no secret advertising is about to get even more challenging as data and privacy concerns continue to escalate in 2021, and our targeting options become slimmer and slimmer each month. A major change in the advertising space is required; instead of investing in more, organizations must step up their advertising efforts and focus on quality rather than quantity if they want to see a return on their investment.

Could Augmented Reality (AR) advertising be the answer advertisers have been looking for? It certainly seems that way. The global AR market is forecast to reach a value of $70.01 billion by 2023, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we can only expect this number to soar.

There are no two ways about it - COVID-19 sealed the deal on the growing influence of Augmented Reality in e-commerce. What was once considered a gimmick, tactic that brings joy to the customer but makes no impact on revenue, is fast becoming the next big thing in online shopping. 

Everywhere we look today, we see adverts. Hundreds of them. It's estimated we are exposed to anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 commercials daily, but only a handful of them makes a lasting impression on the customer, forcing brands to explore new, more eye-catching ad formats such as Augmented Reality (AR).

Five years of ecommerce growth have been squeezed into just a few months as a result of Covid restrictions and social distancing rules. Consequently, the adaptation of Augmented Reality (AR) applications for online stores are also on the rise as brands seek ways to substitute that in-store shopping experience and add value to the buyer's journey. 

Previously, we talked a great deal about how Augmented Reality improves customer experience (CX) in e-commerce, but there's another aspect of the buyer's journey where online retailers can utilize AR: user experience (UX). 

Augmented Reality is already revolutionizing the way we learn, spend our free time or even give a presentation at work; there's virtually no aspect of life that won't eventually be impacted by AR and shopping is no exception. 

2020 might not be over yet, but it's already pretty clear that it has been the year of ecommerce. In all fairness though, it's been the year of online everything due to the global health crisis. And while the pandemic continues to spread, online shopping is expected to soar this holiday season. 

There are many ways to enhance the shopping experience, and Augmented Reality is definitely one of them. We're looking at how to use AR to drive more sales to your ecommerce store this holiday season. 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner. Many people have already begun ticking items off of their Christmas shopping lists. And let's not forget we're in the middle of the global pandemic with social distancing rules and public space restrictions still in place. 

We use many emerging technologies as part of marketing processes, but did you know that augmented reality was actually developed for advertising?