Client Background
Our client is a Canadian luxury fireplace manufacturer. The company has been committed to producing high quality, energy efficient and environmentally friendly luxury fireplaces.
Our client is a Canadian luxury fireplace manufacturer. The company has been committed to producing high quality, energy efficient and environmentally friendly luxury fireplaces.
Our client has to participate in various international trade shows to increase sales. As a small and medium-sized family business, the company has a limited marketing budget. It is very costly and time consuming to ship the sample fireplaces, clear customs. The company also needs to purchase a big booth to showcase its product. Our client required a more economical yet effective solution.
We found an augmented reality technology company incubated by the University of Waterloo.
According to Wikipedia, augmented reality is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real-world are “augmented” by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory.
Based on our client’s request, a solution was designed that can display the products in real time, real size and in the actual environment. The client staff can turn, zoom, move and manipulate the product to demonstrate all of its details. They can also simulate an animated 3D models. Beyond the static model, the solution gives the potential customers at a show a more intuitive and authentic experience.
Competition in the traditional industries is fierce, especially in the retail, cosmetics and automotive industries. Consumers need to experience products in advance and choose personalized products that match their taste, environment and affordability.
The traditional industries have faced more low-cost competitors, unable to take price as a competitive advantage, especially for hotels (competing with Airbnb), restaurants (competing with take-out O2O companies), retail (competing with online stores). Companies have to promote their products in other ways to showcase their uniqueness. Consumers spend much more time online for shopping and entertaining.