Remember how everyone went crazy about Pokémon GO? Despite pokemon hunting being a temporary craze, it’s a perfect example of an AR impact on particular demographics. Even in 2023, the game is still profitable, hitting $645.59 million globally. Can you imagine your business gaining that much attention or profit?
Now that we got your attention, it seems clearer how the AR and VR market is going to reach an astounding $31.12bn in 2023. To potentially make your business grow at a CAGR of 13.72%, too, check out this list of ideas on creating immersive AR or VR experiences.
5 ultimate AR/VR business ideas
If you wish to get your clients’ full attention and a piece of that AR/VR cake, here are some interesting business endeavors to think about.
Ecommerce apps
Augmented reality apps have incredible potential when it comes to ecommerce. They make the whole shopping experience more enjoyable, thus enticing the customer to seal the deal by clicking the “Add to cart” button. Nevertheless, it’s not just the fun factor that’s driving sales, but the fact that AR does help the buyer make more informed decisions.
For instance, let’s say you wish to buy a rocking chair for your reading corner, but you can’t really picture whether it’s going to fit or if the color would match the surrounding, or if it will stand out too much. With an AR app, you can simply point your camera to the spots where you’d like the chair to be, and see what your living room would look like then. IKEA already has an app like that, and it reduced the product return rate by 30%.
Sports streaming service
Isn’t it everybody’s dream to sit front-row on the NBA basketball court and watch Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant perform their insane game? What if you could do that all the time without paying $1,500 for the ticket? Maybe you won’t be able to feel the audience’s and player’s tension in the air, but you’ll certainly be on the edge of your seat with a VR headset and sports streaming service.
This technology would allow the user to enjoy even more sports content from the comfort of their homes, yet feel as if they were right at the court/stadium. Best seats guaranteed.
Real estate business
You may have been hearing how real estate prices have hit the roof, making this period extremely unfavorable for house-buying. Inflation is also deterring potential homebuyers from taking out mortgages and settling down. However, the real truth is that the homeownership rate rose to 66% in September 2022. As 47% of homebuyers do an online search before calling an agent, it’s your job to make the most of AR/VR tech to steal their attention and point it to your direction, i.e., your real estate agency.
There are several ways to utilize AR/VR in the real estate industry:
- Using VR for showing the finished version of architectural projects — sometimes, it’s hard to imagine what a building/house/apartment is going to look like. Not everyone is skilled at looking at blueprints and picturing the environment properly. VR headset definitely helps when imagination fails us.
- Taking virtual tours of the property — With busy schedules and long commutes, this option is perfect for those who don’t feel like waiting for the weekend to spend all of it house hunting.
- Tenant training — Supposedly, you’re renting the property to individuals or businesses quite often. Instead of meeting them in person to explain how all utilities work, you can leave the tenants to check out the VR instructions.
Some of the above options have become absolute deal-breakers since people tend to save time by using AR and VR instead of traveling to the other part of the city/state to check out every single property that seems interesting. They can get just as much information via a virtual tour, and then visit just the best of the best.
Beauty industry
A simple AR hack enabled Estée Lauder to have a 2.5 times higher conversion rate in lipstick sales. Thanks to the Lip Virtual Try-on tool, a consumer could find the best lipstick shade for them. In a similar fashion, No7 introduced AI Foundation Shade Finder which helps consumers find the perfect foundation shade, taking into consideration 90,000 diverse skin tones before making the final recommendation.
These turned out particularly helpful during the coronavirus pandemic and gained enormous popularity. Its success is also one of the best indicators of just how much Gen Z, the future major shopping force, adores having AR and VR experiences. Like it or not, AR and VR are the future of shopping.
Education and training
One of the most engrossing experiences that AR and VR technologies can produce is definitely business training.
The advantages of utilizing AR/VR tech in education are amazing. First of all, such an experience doesn’t require physical presence. That way, employees don’t need to waste hours to get to the training facility. Through these technologies, you can easily train a remote worker located in another country. Also, if it’s an AR/VR emergency training, it gives a better taste of what really awaits one in times of crisis, eventually making the trainees better prepared for the real-life event.
All things considered, augmented and virtual reality industries offer your business incredible opportunities for growth. Just this year, we should see AR software with a market volume of $11.58bn. The number of AR and VR users is reaching unprecedented heights too, as estimations predict there will be 2,593.1m users by 2027. Therefore, you should definitely focus on including AR/VR in your business and create relevant experiences for your clients or employees if you’re to match the latest tech trends and remain competitive.