At this year's mobile world congress, IKEA showcased its new store, which highlights the future of brick-and-mortar retail, while offering guests an entertaining and immersive shopping experience.
The furniture brand partnered with Accenture to make this event possible. While smaller than most IKEA locations, this space relied on augmented reality to demonstrate the brand's full offerings to consumers. The walls of this demo store were covered in screens that provided a streamlined space for individuals to search products, read through product descriptions and add items to their virtual cart.
At the end of the experience, shoppers could decide between picking up the purchased items prior to leaving the store, or, having the goods conveniently delivered to their front door.
AR-Infused Furniture Retail Spaces
IKEA's Demo Store Highlights the Future of Brick-and-Mortar
Trend Themes
1. Ar-infused Retail Spaces - Furniture and other retail industries can explore implementing AR and VR technology to enhance in-store experiences and appeal to consumers who are interested in immersive shopping experiences.
2. Interactive Retail Spaces - Businesses can create engaging and interactive spaces that allow customers to fully experience the products they are interested in purchasing, while also collecting data on customer behaviors and preferences.
3. Seamless Online-offline Integration - Brick-and-mortar stores can provide a seamless integration with online shopping experiences by offering options for in-store pickup or home delivery, to give customers greater shopping flexibility.
Industry Implications
1. Furniture Retail - Furniture retailers can adopt AR technology to showcase their products, provide immersive customer experiences, and differentiate themselves from competitors.
2. Home Goods Retail - Home goods retailers can create demo stores that integrate AR technology to improve the shopping experiences of customers that prefer to test the products before purchasing.
3. Retail Technology - Tech companies can develop AR and VR technology solutions that can be integrated into retail spaces to provide an interactive, immersive, and entertaining shopping experience.