While nothing beats a simple tape measure when it comes to sizing up furniture for the home, the ability to visualize furniture placement in a living arrangement in realtime is about to become a whole lot more commonplace as augmented reality becomes more prominent in mainstream culture.
Thanks to recent developments to Google’s augmented reality platform, Tango, more retailers are able to invest in “virtual commerce” as a way to address common shopping annoyances and engage with more consumers. Ultimately, a retailer’s ability to tap into the Tango platform will allow users to overlay virtual objects on their surroundings. When packaged into a tablet or smartphone app, the result is a more immersive experience that regular online shopping cannot replicate without the complexities that come along with virtual reality—including owning a pricey headset.
More recently, online furniture retailer Wayfair introduced its own augmented reality app, WayfairView, which lets users place full-scale 3D virtual models of products from the Wayfair catalog in their actual settings––be it their living room, dining room, bedroom or any other room in which they are considering placing the product.
Although the introduction of WayfairView is sure to help a lot of online furniture shoppers, it will only be available to users of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, which is currently the only Google Tango-enabled smartphone in the world and is set to launch this September.
(Video courtesy of Wayfair.)
“Wayfair Next is laying the groundwork for new innovations that will change the face of retail—all with first-party technology,” said Steve Conine, cochairman and cofounder of Wayfair. “By digitizing our vast catalog through 3D scanning, we will dramatically improve the visualization of products to create the best possible shopping experience for our customers.”
“With smartphone augmented reality, we can take this a step further,” Conine continued. “Built using Google's robust Tango technology, WayfairView will allow shoppers to visualize furniture and décor in their homes by virtually placing real products from Wayfair's extensive catalog in any room at fullscale.”
The expansive family of Wayfair brands covers many different budgets and home styles and includes Wayfair.com, Joss & Main, AllModern, DwellStudio and Birch Lane.
Those interested can get the app over at Google Play.