Nearly two-thirds (60%) of furniture firms are expanding their use of visualisation technologies, such as 360 product views and try-before-you-buy features using Augmented Reality.
Seventy percent of firms also identified ‘revenue growth’ as a critical priority enabled by 3D visualisation. Firms are confident in the potential of 3D visualisation for achieving cost savings which can preserve profit margins, with 39% of firms considering ‘reducing product returns’ as a critical business priority to which 3D tools can contribute.
The results are part of a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Chaos titled ‘Tech Trends Impacting the Furniture Industry: From AI to 3D Product Visualization’.
Although only 17% of firms have already fully adopted 3D visualisation technologies, an additional 59% of firms are expanding their current adoption. A majority of firms (68%) are allocating 10 to 25% of their budget towards adopting AI and 3D visualisation technologies.
Furniture firms identified some of the top benefits of the technology as:
Improved customer experience, online or in-store (66%)
Increased sales, online or in-store (62%)
Increase customer engagement, online or in-store (52%)
Early adopter EQ3 drives ROI by embracing 3D visualisation
Furniture firms already blazing a trail with successful execution of these technologies include furniture and goods designer, EQ3. Implementing the Chaos Cylindo 360 HD Viewer for over 450 products, EQ3 also introduced additional experiential features such as a 3D room planner and a website-native AR item placement tool.
“One of the challenges in an e-commerce environment is having customers grasp a true-to-life understanding of the product. Uncertainty is a friction point in the path to purchase, particularly for high-dollar items such as furniture,” said Dan Gange, Director of E-commerce at EQ3.
“We are now able to provide potential customers beautifully composed imagery with true-to-life textures and shadows in 4K. This comfort has resulted in an increase in customer decisiveness and confidence shown by a faster time to purchase and users travelling deeper in the funnel at a higher rate.”
After implementing Chaos Cylindo, EQ3 achieved a 36% increase in conversions, an 88% increase in AOV (average order value), a 116% increase in page views, and a decrease in returns.
The technology behind the experience
Nearly a third (32%) of furniture firms in the study said 3D visualisation is becoming more important and widespread, playing a role in brand differentiation. A further 23% say that as 3D visualisation evolves alongside advancements in AR/VR/AI, this will lead to more immersive and interactive experiences.
Jostein Pedersen, VP product – e-commerce for product, production and services at Chaos, said: “3D visualisation tools are rapidly becoming industry standard. Retailers are seeking to grow their brands in an increasingly competitive market, characterised by reduced consumer spending and growing expectations for unique retail experiences. In a world of shrinking retail margins, increasing conversions and reducing returns is therefore a top priority. But personalising product imagery for an entire catalogue across a growing number of shopping channels is a huge challenge.
“By embracing the power and scalability of cloud platforms, retailers can turn around massive volumes of assets quickly without the need for lots of additional resources. This explains why a majority of furniture firms think that 3D visualisation will be critical to helping them extend their influence and brand reach over the next 12 months.”
