November 12, 2024
Back in 2019, I wrote an article posing the question, “When is the time to talk about consumer-facing AR apps in enterprise?” With Apple now reportedly working on smart glasses, the reveal of the highly affordable Meta Quest 3S, and promisingly sleek augmented reality glasses like Meta’s Orion on the horizon, I think the time is now to explore consumer-facing XR applications beyond in-app AR and VR-optional experiments in Roblox.
Mark Zuckerberg thinks AR glasses will replace our smartphones by 2030. Whether you agree or disagree with that prediction - I’m personally jaded by recurring declarations that “no, this is the year of XR” - companies should prepare for the inevitable day in the future when consumers own personal XR devices, likely AR glasses.
But, wait, there are plenty of consumer-facing AR applications today! Yes, there are many examples of consumer AR, including branded Snap AR filters and useful in-app features for visualizing products and making purchasing decisions. I’m interested in untapped applications for AR glasses in particular, and in the immediate future the opportunity to provide pairs of smart glasses to consumers for temporary use during interactions with the brand or business.
AR glasses could reinvent the shopping experience, banking experience, doctor’s office visit, hotel stay…and businesses that regularly interact with consumers don’t have to wait for Meta’s Orion glasses to arrive in their final commercialized form. There are affordable smart glasses already on the market by the likes of XREAL, Ray-Ban (Meta), Viture, and Rokid.
I’m surprised more companies aren’t purchasing devices like the XREAL Air 2, either for employees’ face-to-face interactions with end customers or consumers’ use in brick-and-mortar spaces. After all, one of the very first use cases of the OG Google Glass involved Virgin Atlantic staff processing first-class passengers for their flights. Another early use case saw mixed reality headsets in car dealerships as a shopping tool, where dealers essentially temporarily loaned headsets to customers.
Brands now have a limited-time opportunity to provide many consumers’ first experiences of AR glasses by featuring them in stores or even shipping rental devices to customers as part of a service. Why not take virtual try-on or view-in-your-space beyond smartphones and incorporate smart glasses into the in-store experience?
Imagine entering a grocery store and grabbing both a shopping cart and a pair of smart glasses to help you browse and make informed decisions. Guidance and context, that’s what AR glasses could provide: Nutritional information while shopping for snacks for your children, interactive product demos as you’re contemplating a new appliance, or even directional information. Airports, malls, banks, and other businesses might provide smart glasses to direct customers to their gate, a specific store, the right aisle, the next available teller, etc.--not a marketing gimmick but a way to engage consumers to buy more, stay longer, and return again.
The next time I visit my local wine shop, I want to put on smart glasses to learn about each bottle’s origins. AR glasses would have come in handy earlier this month as I searched for the Air France lounge in the Geneva Airport with a suitcase in each hand. As a consumer, I’m not ready to purchase a pair of my own and even if I were to buy the Meta/Ray-Ban glasses today, the apps I just described don’t exist.
It’s prime time for businesses to provide consumers with the opportunity to use the latest AR glasses risk-free, whether in a store, in the waiting room, or at home. They wouldn’t be the first: Automaker Abarth and security company ADT have shipped VR headsets to customers for virtual test drives and product education (respectively). Macy’s experimented with VR headsets and AR mirrors in stores, airlines and hotels have supplied them to guests for entertainment, and retailer MUJI installed a VR headset in-store to give customers an immersive nature experience as a reminder of what the brand really stands for…so why not augmented reality glasses?
Image source: Meta Blog
