Current Trends in e-commerce solutions

1. Augmented Reality

AR stands for Augmented Reality. It is a wonder to the shopaholics. The technology helps buyers buy the right goods from online stores. It creates a virtual store experience at the customers’ home. They can check all the aspects of the product they are going to buy. How does the AR help users to buy the right product? Let’s take an example. You are going to buying furniture for your home. With the help of AR technology, you can test it by placing it virtually in different areas of your home. If the furniture does not match to your home decor, you do not but it. Hence, the AR reduces the product replacement issue.

Let’s take another example, in which you want to buy clothes. The offline shopping, in this case, is a right way. But it wastes your lots of time. AR drops this problem. While shopping online, AR provides customers with a facility of virtual clothes dressing rooms. In these virtual dressing rooms, customers can try various clothes and buy the one which best matches your style.

AR and Ecommerce Evolution

A lot of brands have installed AR on their platforms. Let’s see some of these:

IKEA

IKEA is a famous furniture brand. The AR app of IKEA lets buyers enter the virtual IKEA store. It saves a lot of time of shoppers. Also, it raizes the users’ experience. The IKEA AR App offers the best way to shop furniture online. In the IKEA app, products are available in the 3D view. So that, the customers can check all the dimensions of the product. They can place it virtually at the desired place in their home to know the exact space requirements.

IKEA AR App

Lacoste

The LCST AR mobile app of Lacoste lets users try a variety of shoes virtually. Customers buy the boots which best match their character.

LCST AR App

American Apparel

American Apparel is among the trusted and most fashionable clothing brand. It lets its buyers try clothing on its AR app. The shoppers can try a variety of clothes on its AR app and buy the clothing best suited to their personality.

Augmented Reality has become a necessary tool to be executed in online stores. That’s why it is on the target of every app development Company.

American Apparel

Read More: How Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are Transforming the Enterprises

2. Automation

Automation is the boon to many industries. Today, we find the application of automation in almost all industries. One such example of automation in the e-commerce firms is the chatbots. Chatbots are an excellent tool for online marketing.

An e-commerce solutions industry offers 24×7 shopping facility to its users. Therefore, it requires the 24×7 availability of the staff. Users can visit the online store anytime to make a purchase. If they face any issue regarding the product description, they want its immediate solution. They can ask their queries by chatting on the e-commerce platform. It is not possible for humans to reply to the questions of a lot of users quickly. The chatbot is a solution to this problem. Chatbots reply to the users’ queries immediately. It increases the users’ experience.

Let’s see examples of some successful e-commerce chatbots:

1-800-Flowers

1-800-Flowers was one of the first chatbots on Facebook Messenger. It lets users send flowers and gifts. Users can select the different items based on the types of event like a birthday, anniversary, etc. It allows users to make the purchase and give them shipping updates.

1-800-Flowers

H&M

H&M is one of the favorite clothing brands. It has a chatbot messaging app, Kik. The app promotes users product based advice on their choices.

H&M Chatbot

Read More: How is Artificial Intelligence Impacting E-Commerce?

3. Voice Search

The Artificial Intelligence has made voice search feature a boon to both users and firms. Today, many e-commerce brands are offering the voice search feature to their customers.

Walmart is among such brands. It lets its users make a purchase using their voice on Google Express. Moreover, they are working on this technology to make it better than before. In the future, they will allow their users to place in-store pickup orders via Google Home.

According to research, about 40% of customers use voice search before making an online purchase.

Walmart Google Home

4. Image Search

Consider a situation of offline shopping in which you see a product, but you are unable to buy it because it is out of your budget. In such a case, you look for the same product in other shops. In the online market, it is called an image search. You can select the image of a product which you want to buy. By using the image search feature, you will be able to find the same product at varying rates.

Pinterest, for example, is using this feature. On Pinterest, users find the related pins by using the image search. For this, you have to zoom in an image on Pinterest.

Today, there are a few brands that have executed the image search feature. It is estimated that the image search will make up about 50% of all the searches by the year 2020.

5. Digital Supply Chain

On-time delivery of a product is one of the crucial factors for e-commerce enterprises. The biggest challenge for the e-commerce brands is to deliver the product on or before the said time. The digital supply chain is helpful for on-time delivery.

Digital Supply Chain

6. IoT

IoT stands for the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things is a technology to connect devices to one another via the internet. The connected devices can send and receive data. IoT has many applications in various industries. For example, the education industry, the medical industry, etc.

An example of IoT in e-commerce is the tracking of a product. Al the e-commerce industries provide product tracking facility to their customers. Using this feature, users can know the location of their product.

IoT E-commerce Tracking Platform

Conclusion

The e-commerce industry is gaining popularity. There are many reasons for this. Many trends affect the e-commerce industry. The AR in e-commerce provides the users with a facility to shop from virtual stores. On the other hand, IoT has made it possible to track the location of a product. Besides, the image and voice search feature provides more flexible search features.

If you are searching for best e-commerce web solutions to boost your e-commerce business, then you can get in touch with us.

The post New Trends Reshaping E-Commerce Solutions 2018 appeared first on PuzzleInnovationz:.

A recent buzz created in the market, with the development in the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Being in the primary stage of development, we yet can’t estimate the real abilities of the AR and VR as we are mostly using the technologies for entertainment purposes.

It is true to say that, AR has the ability to take the consumer experience to the next-level and it is believed that the AR market will grow to USD 80.9 billion by 2022 from USD 2.6 billion in 2016.

In the recent years, enterprises are showing an inclination towards incorporating these technologies into the products, services and even into their work environment. Far away from the consumer entertainment perspective, a momentum is slowly building in the big companies for AR and VR.

They are testing and implementing these immersive technologies into more of work-related applications and enhancing their capabilities and   GAge of the services.

AR and VR applications benefits for the Enterprises:

• Streamline the work process
• Enhances the productivity
• Detection and prevention of errors before they occur
• Cross-geographic collaboration
• Real-time analysis of the data
• Improve the decision-making power and outcomes
• Saves development time and reduces development cost

How AR and VR are infiltrating the enterprises?

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Transforming the Enterprises
Enterprises are benefiting from their use cases like to avoid collision issues by designing machinery in a collaborative VR space. By using these cases, companies are exploring opportunities for the mixed reality to implement within the companies.

Some of the areas where they are working to implement benefit the employees, consumers, and Company’s productivity are B2B Sales, Theft Protection, Real-time Information Overlay, Entertainment, and Marketing, etc.

• Guidance and Collaboration:

  The most promising advantage of AR and VR in the industries are that they are becoming a helping hand or guide on demand to the employees. Especially, when we talk about the workers those who are working in the factories are greatly benefitted by these technologies.

  It may sound like a science fiction movie, but yes smart glasses or head-mounted displays can help workers to perform manual tasks. It may be like repairing heavy types of machinery parts or fine instruments.

  The AR/VR enabled devices can provide instructions, map, parts name and even the real-time feedback to the worker. Thus, helping them to perform with high precision. Furthermore, you can remotely access and guide your colleague who is working on high technicality issues to troubleshoot the problem.

  The most prominent sectors where you can see the use of guidance and collaboration applications are aerospace, discrete manufacturing, nuclear sectors, oil and gas industries, etc.

  Companies are using these technologies in order to reduce the risk factors for injury, error, etc that are associated while working there. Apart from this, it also enhances the productivity and accuracy of the work.

  Example: Boeing engineers use smart glasses rather than a manual guide to install wiring, thus increasing the production time by 25%.

• Implementing AR and VR to Increase the Consumer Experience:

  There is no doubt in the fact that, today’s market is the consumer-dominated market. From designing a product to advertising to selling it, everything revolves around how better you present your products.

  Businesses have been seeing adopting emerging technologies in the market to grab the attention of their customers. For the same reason, they are trying their hands on AR and VR.

  The applications based on these technologies allow a better interaction with the product. Let’s say for an example, you can visualize how the centre table will look like in your dining space.

  Sectors like banking, automotive, retail, travel, consumer products, and hospitality are using AR/VR to increase their customers’ experiences.

  If we talk about the advantages that these technologies are offering to these sectors, then we may see that there is a sudden hike in the revenue, brand positioning, advertisement, affecting marketing, and fewer bad response of the product.

  Example: Real-Estate companies are opting for the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality app development applications for offering a better property view. A customer can explore either the built or planned project from various angles.

  Recently, AR technology was implemented at the Seoul Incheon Airport to guide the traveller smartly. It guides them from the airport to the Pyeongchang with the help of AR application which shows directions and notifications.

• Learning and Training:

  AR/VR applications are making their way in the education and training sector too. Companies are using these technologies to train their employees for the extreme situations by creating a havoc environment for them.

  Furthermore, these applications find a great place in the medical sector as well. Doctors can perform virtual heart surgeries and thus reduces any probable risk in real time. Also, people suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) can comfort by teaching them to manage their stress.

  For, most of these applications, it is required to wear a headset for completely immerge into that environment.

  Example: To help the patients of PTSD, University of Southern California are researching more on these technologies to identify methods to provide relief to the patients.

• Engineering Design and Analysis:
  

  Companies are moving ahead to incorporate AR / VR into their work culture by using the applications to enhance the productivity, development time, and reduce cost.

  Designers are using a headset to plan, model, design and test the products in real-time simulation. Company domains like Automobile manufacturers, Aerospace, Real-Estate, Semiconductor IC manufacturer, etc.

  AR/VR also provides an ability for the companies to analyze the data by visualizing the trends and manipulate the complex data to see the outcomes. Moreover, many banking sectors are using data visualizations to enhance the novel methods that can help customers better.

  Sectors like Education, Banking, finance, and investment, etc are using this application to manage and plan their strategies.

  Example: NASA is using the immersive technologies to design the upcoming Mars Rover.

• Guiding New Employee or Visitors:
  

  Keeping in the mind the awkwardness that a newbie faces on the first day of the office, Augmented Reality app developers came up with an idea to develop an application that guides the new employee through the Company premises.

  It can guide you about the seating arrangements, telling you about the designated person details about name, hobbies, role in the Company, etc.

  The plus point of this application is that it will tell the employee about the Company’s work. Also, what are their methodologies of doing a work, the location of the departments?

  Example: Beam, a design and digital marketing agency have implemented an AR-based headset. This app guides the employee to the whole premises of the Company.

Challenges of AR and VR applications:

Although these immersive technologies are providing great experiences to the users and companies, still they have a long way ahead in becoming the most reliable technology. The following are the key challenges that are the hurdle to a virtual future:

• Cost of Devices and Apps:

  The VR headset is a bit quite expensive to buy. A normal HTC Vive and Oculus Rift cost $799 and $599, respectively. Moreover, the headset is tethered to the computer devices, that means, your computer should be capable of running high-end VR software.

  Thus, to run VR headset, you require VR software which adds to the cost of using the technology.

• Universal Standards:

  AR and VR will need to follow the universal standards to develop the applications. These applications will be capable enough to work or operate on the multiple headsets. If we talk about VR alone, then currently it is lacking in simple plug-and-play capabilities.

• User Experience:

  The manufacturers need to understand the fact that one size (head size) does not fit all. They need to come up with the adjustable headsets. Also, VR headsets make the user stationary at one place while bearing 500 grams of weight.

To recapitulate

It is always good and refreshing to incorporate latest trends and technologies into our work environment. This enhances our productivity and efficiency in improving   GAge of the resources. To offer best services and products to the customers, it requires an immense amount of hard work and knowledge.

AR and VR offer broad benefits to the enterprises from healthcare sectors to aerospace sectors. The ongoing improvements in the performances are broadening the capabilities and opportunities of the applications based on AR and VR.

Seeing the above ways that are creeping into the enterprises, we think it is the right time for the strategists, marketing managers, operation leaders, and mobile app developers to make greater applications that are helpful for humankind.

Moreover, enterprises can hire a mobile app development Company to develop an AR/VR based application for them to enhance their quality of services and products.

The post How Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are Transforming the Enterprises appeared first on PuzzleInnovationz:.

Over the years, the concept of augmented reality has been widely accepted by both users and app development companies. Especially, since the arrival of apps like Snapchat and Pokemon Go, the growth of Augmented Reality has reached the height of the sky.

In terms of growth, Mobile applications in Augmented Reality generated a revenue of 884.1 million in 2017. It is expected to reach 6218.23 million by 2020.

There are 300 million monthly users who generate content using AR apps. By the end of 2018, there will be more than one billion users who would be creating content with Augmented Reality.

By the end of 2018, the users of AR apps would exceed 200 million which was at 60 million users in 2013.

Why Augmented Reality?

Imagine this, you are walking down a road, wearing the AR glasses, that in a while would look like any other normal glasses. While walking, your glasses would automatically project information related to the nearby locations.

For instance, the reviews of the nearest coffee shop, or if you are passing by any important infrastructure, the details about it would pop up in front of you.

This is what Augmented Reality does, it makes the life of the user easier. Even though the spectrum of AR is not as broad as Virtual Reality, and there are major differences between both the concepts, in some ways it is actually better than that.

Augmented Reality gives you a touch of the digital world in your environment. However, it still lets you retain the originality of your actual world.

Industries Benefiting from Augmented Reality:

• Gaming
• Education
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Entertainment

1. Gaming-

The gaming sector is what put Augmented Reality on the scale in a broader way. Apps like Pokemon Go took the market by storm, as their user engagement was relatively high. Since then, top mobile app developers have been focusing on developing more AR based apps. This is done to generate even higher customer retention.
Other than Pokemon Go, another example of an AR-based Gaming app is Temple Treasure Hunt.

2. Education-

The sector of education is most prominently benefiting from the arrival of Augmented Reality. The whole concept of using practical exposure to enlighten the students about the world has been fulfilled by AR.

Some other benefits are-

– As studying has now become more interesting, teaching has become more effective.
– The learning process is a more interactive one, hence the information is retained with the students for a longer time.
– Some of the best examples of AR-based apps in the education sector are ZooBurst, Chromeville Science.

3. Healthcare-

More and more professionals are coming to terms with the concept of Augmented Reality. It is helping them complete their daily tasks with less effort.
AR is also improving the level of treatment that the patients are receiving. Surgeons can wear the AR glasses and perform surgeries. They will have all the necessary information in front of them.
Some of the best examples of AR-based apps in the healthcare sector: AccuVein, Saagara

4. Retail-

Users can use the virtual fitting rooms to see what suits them and what doesn’t. This saves the time and effort of the user altogether. For the stores, AR is benefiting them as they can show more stock virtually than they can physically.
Some of the examples of AR-based apps in the retail sector- Sephora, L’Oreal, Converse Shoe Sampler

5. Entertainment-

The time that a user spends on his phone using apps on an average is a lot. This is why top mobile app developers are creating AR based apps with the sole purpose of entertainment for the users!
People have become addicted to apps like Snapchat, Musical.ly, that necessarily have no value, but provide a high level of entertainment!

Benefits of Using Augmented Reality Apps

It has become evident that Augmented Reality apps have become the first choice for the users as well as mobile app developers now, but why is that? Why should users prefer AR based apps over others?

The advantages of that are,

• It enhances the interactivity of the user between the digital world and the physical world.
• The users don’t even have to do one single thing to go out of the way to generate any information. With the help of AR devices, all location-based information is in front of them instantly.

Challenges faced by Augmented Reality

First of all, even though the interaction between the digital and physical world has enhanced, the interaction between humans has started to suffer. That is, in turn, causing the users to miss what is right in front of them, just to gather what is not.

The location tracking is only accurate for the users until a fixed scale, for instance, it is not very accurate in indoor locations.

A major issue in AR is of privacy leaking. We know half of the information of a person is available on his Facebook or LinkedIn profile. any user can have access to even a stranger’s profile, simply by pointing his screen at them.

How does Augmented Reality work?

3D Viewers: Using trackers, or sometimes even without using trackers, real-life 3D objects can be placed in your surroundings. These are usually done by businesses who want the customers to have an idea about how their object would “look like” in their surrounding.

Browsers: In this, your location gets tracked and according to where you are, the information and data related to that place appear on the screen.

Gaming: An example of this is Pokemon Go, where the whole world was considered as a playground, and artificial elements were placed for the users to find.

Conclusion

To summarise, as we have witnessed, as of now almost every industry and sector has been benefiting from Augmented Reality. And that is the primary reason, why Augmented Reality app development is seeing a rise in today’s market. At the rate at which it is going forward, the time is not far when Augmented Reality constitutes a billion dollar industry.

Infographic: Impact of Augmented Reality on App Development-

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Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) seem to be two related terms, but these are different from each other on several grounds. Both AR and VR have a major thing in common –these technologies have the amazing capability of altering the perception of our world. One of the biggest confusions in the current world of augmented reality is the difference that exists between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Both the technologies are gaining a lot of media attention and are promising potential growth. So what is the difference between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?

What is Virtual Reality (VR)?

VR (Virtual Reality) is a computer-generated, artificial simulation process or recreation of some real-life situation or environment. It aims at immersing the users by giving them the feel of experiencing the simulated reality, majorly through the stimulation of the hearing and vision senses.

Virtual Reality development basically consists of a headset device like the Facebook’s Oculus that is equipped with the necessary technologies.

VR (Virtual Reality) is primarily used in two different approaches:

• For creating and enhancing some kind of imaginary reality for the purpose of entertainment, gaming, and playing (like the computer and video games, hand-held device, a head-mounted display, and others).
• For enhancing the training for particular real-life environments through the creation of a simulation of some reality wherein individuals are able to practice in advance (like the flight simulators meant for the pilots).

VR (Virtual Reality) development is made possible through the coding language known as the VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language). This virtual reality development language is used for creating a series of several images and specifying the particular types of interactions that are possible for the given set of images.

What is Augmented Reality (AR)?

AR (Augmented Reality) is another specialized technology that is used for layering the computer-generated and computer-oriented enhancements over some existing reality. This is done for making the given technology more meaningful & functional through the given ability to interact with the same. Most of the high-end simulation technology developers have this question “How to develop augmented reality?”

Augmented Reality development is brought about by developing the same into respective highly interactive apps. As such, this AR app development can be used on mobile devices for blending the digital components into the given real-world scenarios in a manner such that these are able to enhance one another in an effective manner, at the same time can also be differentiated apart quite easily.

The augmented reality app development in the current era is quickly gaining impetus in the mainstream. There are several applications of effective augmented reality development. For instance, it can be used for displaying score overlays on the telecasted sports or games and even for popping up 3D emails, text messages, or photos on mobile devices. The leaders of the mobile application development industry are making use of the AR development technology for implementing amazing & revolutionary applications with the use of motion-activated commands and holograms.

Read More: How Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are Transforming the Enterprises

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

Though both of these might appear the same, there are some points of difference between the two. AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) are considered to be inverse reflections of one in the other technology with respect to what each of the given technologies aims at achieving as well as delivering to the end users. VR aims at offering a high level of digital recreation of some real-life setting. On the other hand, AR is aimed at delivering virtual elements as some kind of an overlay to the real world.

Read More: Augmented Reality VS Virtual Reality | AR VR Infographic

How do AR & VR Differ from Each Other?

There are several points of differences that exist between the given two leading technologies. Here are some points for you to consider:

• Purpose: AR is aimed at enhancing the overall user experiences through the addition of using virtual components like the digital photos, graphics, or even sensations as some new layer of interaction with the real world. On the other hand, VR is aimed at creating its own reality technology that tends to be generated and driven by the computer system completely.
• Method of Delivery: VR is primarily used for being provided to the end users through some hand-held/head-mounted controller. This device is used for connecting people to the technology of virtual reality. As such, it also allows the end users to bring about an effective control as well as the navigation of their respective actions in the given guided environment for stimulating the real world.

On the other hand, the technology of augmented reality (AR) is being utilized for enhancing the services by several mobile devices including smartphones, laptops, and tablets by changing how the real world, as well as the digital forms of images & graphics, interact and intersect with the end users.

How do VR & AR Work Together?

There is not the scenario of AR vs. VR in most of the cases. Sometimes, these technologies are not able to operate independently or free from one another. In fact, these technologies are mostly blended together towards generating an increasingly immersing user experience. For instance, haptic feedback –referred to as the vibration & the sensation that is added to the interaction with high-end graphics –is regarded as the form of augmented reality technology. Similarly, it is also commonly used within a specialized VR setting for making the overall user experience appear more lifelike in touch & sensation.

AR & VR are great instances of amazing interactions and user experiences fueled by the need for becoming greatly immersed in some simulated land for the purpose of entertainment & playing experiences, or towards adding a completely new dimension of user interaction between different digital devices & the given real world. Whether independent or blended together, these high-end technologies are undoubtedly opening up several high-tech scenarios for both the real as well as virtual worlds alike.

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Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are driving users crazy with their extraordinary experience. The world looks more colorful and interesting when we gear up with new technologies and devices. With the boom in AR and VR technologies let’s find out interesting facts and figures about them and aid our knowledge with their functionalities.

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