At this year’s F8 conference, social media giant Facebook announced that brands can use its Camera Effects Platform to employ augmented reality with Messenger bots. Among the first brands using the feature were two lifestyle brands, Nike and Sephora. That’s no coincidence, because augmented reality is perfectly suited for the lifestyle industry!

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Sephora

Everyone knows the filters on Snapchat, which uses facial recognition and AR to let users wear a flower crown or change them into a dog. Sephora used the same technology to let customers try new lipsticks that they could buy directly in Facebook Messenger.

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Nike

Another company using AR to sell products is clothing giant Nike. It sold exclusive sneakers that people could buy by placing a combination of four different emoji in Facebook Messenger. Afterwards their camera opened where they could see the shoes in AR and buy them directly in the app. The project was a huge success: all sneakers were sold out after one hour.

Van de Velde

Luxury lingerie manufacturer Van de Velde has been shaping the bodies and minds of women for nearly 100 years. In-store service and superior experiences are some of the companies’ main tenets, so it was important to translate those core values to a digital environment. To improve both the in-store experience and the online shopping journey, Van de Velde came up with a two-pronged solution.

First, they enhanced select fitting room mirrors with scanners and smart technology to create a personalised experience using a unique body avatar. Then, In The Pocket created an AR app that allowed women to get an up close and personal 3D view of lingerie sets from the comfort of their living room.

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Zara

In April, 120 Zara stores were equipped with special sensors. Users who have the app can move their smartphone over the sensors while shopping to receive more information about the clothes that appear on their screen. The app can be used at home as well, where users can directly buy the clothes.

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IKEA

Buying a new piece of furniture is not always easy when you can’t test it. To make it easy for customers to see if a new seat or table would fit aesthetically and dimensionally in a room, the Swedish furniture giant IKEA came up with an innovative solution. It’s using AR to let customers preview how furniture looks on their smartphones before they buy, thanks to 3D-renderings from different angles of over 2.000 products.

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