What Happened
London-based augmented reality startup Blippar has transformed the city’s popular shopping destination Covent Garden into the site for an AR-enhanced physical retail experience. Partnered with over 140 stores and restaurants in Covent Garden, Blippar created an interactive map of Covent Garden that shoppers can use to navigate the shopping district to unlock various discounts and rewards from retailers, see the tags on select items in-store, and receive contextual fashion and beauty tips from Hearst Magazine’s fashion editors.
In addition to an interactive shopping experience, Blippar will be also hosting AR-powered special holiday events to draw in shoppers. Planned events include a digital hunt to find eight hidden reindeer for a daily prize, an AR Christmas tree and Santa experience that unlocks exclusive rewards, and Blippable stickers on restaurant and shop windows that reveal special offers.
What Brands Should Do
This initiative is a great showcase of the immense potential that AR technologies can transform brick-and-mortar retail. In a similar manner, French department store chain Galeries Lafayette is using mobile-powered AR to create a unique in-store narrative to lure in holiday shoppers. With more and more consumers now shopping with their smartphones, brick-and-mortar retailers need to start exploring ways to use augmented reality to create a next-level shopping experience. Beyond retail, AR can be a great way for customers to envision your products in their lives and to launch interactive digital experiences from signage or product packaging.
The Lab has extensive experience working with retail, beauty, and CPG clients to create and implement digitally-enhanced experiences for their stores. Our recent work with NYX Cosmetics incorporated the brand’s social assets into its in-store experience and offered an innovative take on sampling with a digital beauty bar. Please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland (samantha@ipglab.com) if you’d like to learn more about how to develop a mobile-driven retail strategy that bridges the gap between physical and digital shopping experience.
Source: PSFK
Lead image courtesy of promotional images from Blippar