AR and VR in Retail is Projected to Reach US$17.86 Billion by 2028

Rising smartphone penetration and growing adoption of connected devices are the major factors driving the growth of AR and VR in retail

The global AR and VR in retail are expected to grow at 24.8% CAGR to reach US$17.86 billion by 2028. The increasing use of AR VR by retail companies such as IKEA, Houzz, Walmart, and others, has been driving the growth of the AR VR retail market in recent years. IKEA uses AR for home goods and furniture retailing, allowing customers to manipulate and place catalogue items at scale in consumer homes.

Changing lifestyles and increasing working-class populations are increasing the demand for virtual reality shopping. To meet this changing demand, companies such as Amazon and Walmart are introducing augmented reality-based applications for enhancing customer experience. Moreover, companies are also focusing on using virtual reality for conveying information about products while shopping. For example, the partnership between Kraft, a pre-packaged food retailer, Walmart and Blippar, an application provider, for providing digital receipts to customers through AR.

Increasing online shopping encourages retailers to adopt AR, rising smartphone penetration, and growing adoption of connected devices are the major factors driving the growth of augmented reality in the retail market. Conventional strategies of advertising and marketing, as well as transactional sales, have been greatly revolutionized with the addition of innovative technological advancements; together these progressions have uplifted the retail industry. The fierce competition in the retail industry has encouraged retailers to adopt advanced technologies in their space. Consumer engagement through online and offline modes is the most effective strategy adopted to sustain and grow in the retail industry.

The retail industry saw a huge change when e-commerce gained mass adoption. Retailers could now offer products to new markets at the additional costs of packaging and shipping. However, with AR, the retailers can make more stores available without additional staffing or spacing costs. People who couldn't travel to the physical store had access to a virtual version of the store, where they could view all the products they had previously purchased or looked at.