You might not be obsessed with virtual reality yet, but your favorite retailers are…
Walmart is the most recent shopping giant to cash in on virtual reality patents, following popular competitors like Amazon and Target, who have recently implemented augmented reality features to aid the customer shopping experience. But what’s the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality?
Walmart’s two new patents for virtual reality differ from Target’s recent acquisition. While virtual reality is designed to place you in an entirely immersive experience, including sounds, augmented reality focuses on modifying your current landscape.
For example, Target allows users to view home products and “place” them in their living space via the camera on their phone. Meanwhile, Walmart has not revealed how their VR technology is going to work, but one patent shows a VR goggle and glove combination to give the user an immersive experience. Additionally, the second patent features a pod-like shopping station in-store or at public locations like shopping malls. Though it is unknown if Walmart will actually build these features, Forbes claims their creation may help their Grocery Pickup service.
An estimated 36% of consumers across America will utilize online grocery shopping in 2018, an increase from 22% in 2017. If VR is used in conjunction with Walmart’s plan to implement inventory control robots for this service, almost no human interaction will be experienced through the shopping process.
It’s been estimated by marketing research through International Data Corp that AR and VR technology could reach a $27 billion value in 2018 alone.
Are VR and AR the wave of the future? Maybe.
These new types of shopping experiences are certainly some of the most high-tech options we’ve seen thus far. They’re a great option for busy parents and hardworking professionals, but the cost of VR may be the deciding factor.
The ever-recognizable virtual reality goggles are outside of many users’ budgets. To get the best shopping experience, these goggles need to run on high-end graphics cards and computer processing capabilities. There’s also the very real fear that users won’t utilize their pods to enter a virtual reality experience. These are just two factors that may stop Walmart from acting on these patents.
For years, store competitors have managed to utilize different shopping experiences and marketing tools to appeal to the masses. This ranges anywhere from search engine optimization, or SEO, to the use of coupons. Augmented reality and virtual reality are just two new ways to make a more streamlined buying experience.
Regardless, 72% of marketing professionals claim that creative relevant content on your website is the best SEO tactic today. For small business owners, gaining foot traffic doesn’t necessarily rely on the implementation of high-end technologies.
While augmented reality may be the wave of the future, you’re still not going to be found by customers without tried-and-true SEO tactics.
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