Online shopping has always been quite problematic for the jewelry industry. To this day, most people prefer buying jewelry in brick-and-mortar stores. This reluctance is reflected in statistics. According to Statista, the retail sales of jewelry in the US amounted to 62.7 billion USD in 2020. Data we found on Oberlo suggests that only about 12% of this were online sales.
The biggest issue that prevents customers from buying online en masse is the inability to physically test the products. Consumers may have a hard time imagining how a piece of jewelry will once they put it on. When it comes to items like rings or necklaces, they might also be worried about the size. Sometimes things turn out to be too small or too large even after checking with the size chart.
Key benefits of an augmented reality jewelry try-on:
- personalization of the products
- easy data gathering and analysis
- recommendations from a virtual assistant
- sharing interesting products with friends
- the option to update the app in the future
Other problems of online jewelry shopping
What’s more, there is a problem of choice overload on the internet. Even if you’re searching for a very specific item, you’ll literally encounter thousands of offers. Try it. Google a phrase like “14k gold ring with rubies and diamonds”. You’ll get more than 13 million results. Very persistent consumers may look through the first 15 or 20 offers, but after that, they’ll feel overwhelmed, confused, or simply bored.
So it’s hard to stand out from the competition and keep the customers’ attention for long enough to have them make a purchase. There is also a concern that product images may differ from reality. 3D visualizations are a good way to partially solve this problem. But even with them, you can’t be absolutely sure how an item will look once you put it on.
An augmented reality jewelry try-on can genuinely help with all these issues. What’s also worth noting, there were more than 600 million AR users in 2020 and around 3 billion devices that supported AR (according to AR Insider). So the technology is pretty much mainstream and most of your customers will be able to use it.
How augmented reality jewelry solves these problems
Let’s say you’re looking for that golden ring with rubies and diamonds. You find two similar models. Both look great in the photos. But how will they look in real life? Will they fit my skin color? Isn’t the diamond too big? You might also be unsure about the size. All this can effectively make you abandon the purchase and go to a brick-and-mortar store.
But let’s say one of the sellers has a virtual ring try-on app. You grab your smartphone and pick the item you liked. Wow, it really matches my other engagement ring! – you think. What’s more, you can try it in different sizes! And they’re guaranteed to reflect the real proportions. A virtual assistant proposes a discount on matching earrings. Why not? Order placed.
An augmented reality jewelry app is innovative, informative and fun. It eliminates the issue of overchoice – a virtual try-on app makes your offer stand out from the competition. It can also have valuable additional features like the mentioned assistant or the possibility of customizing a product. And the latter is almost a must-have for jewelry made to order.
Who needs a virtual jewelry try-on app?
Any retailer can use augmented reality jewelry for attracting new customers, lowering return rates and boosting conversions. Jewelry brands may want to develop such an app to increase their brand awareness, create a positive brand image and build a community of loyal fans.
Piercing studios can make great use of such solutions too. AR helps customers visualize how they’d look after getting pierced. It’s a solution especially useful for less popular or quirky ideas and it could help customers to make a decision with confidence. What’s more, piercing studios are often integrated with tattoo parlors and, although tattoos aren’t jewelry, it’s easy to imagine AR could be useful in the case of such body art too.
Virtual try-ons work great in many other fields too. For example, fashion brands and retailers have been using virtual fitting rooms for some time now. The beauty industry has also taken advantage of augmented reality. Especially during the pandemic, when people were concerned about the hygiene of using samples and testers.
How does a virtual jewelry try-on work?
To put it simply, it overlays a photo or live image from the device’s camera with a 3D model of jewelry. In the second case, the software uses trackers to align the virtual jewelry with the user’s finger, wrist, neck, or other body parts. The tracker can be either a piece of paper with a specific symbol or simply an anatomical point of reference. It depends on the model type and how the software is programmed.
Is an augmented reality app reality worth developing?
People may argue that 3D models of products may be inaccurate. And we understand that concern. That’s why we, at 4Experience, hire a full department of professional designers and artists. We’re capable of making life-like, photorealistic models of any item, including all type of jewelry.
More and more people are looking for an augmented reality jewelry try-on. For example, the phrase “virtual ring try on” is googled 1600 times a month in the US. In comparison, a popular phrase like “gold ring with diamond” is searched only 1300 times a month.
Why choose a dedicated augmented reality jewelry app over filters?
First of all, filters still need an environment to run in. So you either need to use a suitable app (like Snapchat) or buy access to a dedicated platform for virtual try-ons. But that’s not always the best solution. Why?
AR filters are just that – filters. A fun feature, but not necessarily useful for driving sales. And try-on platforms offer generic solutions. They aren’t as effective as custom-built applications. A dedicated augmented jewelry app is tailored to your specific needs. Finally, dedicated platforms may require a regular subscription fee. You only pay once for an app development which can save money in the long run.
Useful features of an augmented reality jewelry app that other solutions don’t have
- Personalization of the products. Customization makes customers 40% more likely to buy a more expensive product. A great idea if you’re offering made-to-order jewelry.
- Easy data gathering and analysis. You can implement an AI module that gathers data and provides useful insights.
- Virtual assistant module. It can help choose the right size, design, or suggest matching items making customers buy more than one product.
- Sharing with friends (on social media). Many people ask their friends for opinions before making a purchase. Make it easier for them!
- The option to update the app in the future. You can expand the capabilities of the app as you wish. This means you can start with a low budget and create an MVP version. Based on the results it brings, you can invest in it further.
Develop a virtual jewelry try-on today!
To sum up, augmented reality jewelry apps are more than just a fun novelty or short-lived trend. They are useful and can bring measurable profits. Judging by the increasing popularity of AR and its high business value, solutions like virtual try-ons are here to stay. Companies that are already developing such applications can gain a competitive advantage and benefit from these new technologies earlier.
Over the years 4Experience has successfully completed dozens of AR projects. Our team can not only develop software from scratch, but we’re also great at augmenting developer teams. Would you like to find out more? Be sure to check our portfolio or read more about our AR development skills.
