Amazon has launched a new augmented reality shopping tool – Room Decorator. It lets you view the furniture and other home decor items in your home before you buy them.
The e-commerce giant has already experimented with AR tools in the past, but what sets the Room Decorator apart from others is its ability to virtually add multiple products to the room at the same time. In addition, you can store photos of your home to use the feature remotely, as well as save room layouts if you are not ready to make a decision.
The company first launched a simpler version of the AR shopping tool back in 2017 with something called “AR View” in its Amazon iOS app built using ARKit. Like many other AR shopping tools to date, AR View allowed buyers to view 3D images of furniture in their homes to check how the product matched their existing decor. But buyers could only view one product at a time.
With room Decorator, you can not only view multiple products together but also use this feature when you are away from home, saving AR images of your room for later work.
Built by Amazon’s visual search team, the Room Decorator shopping app need an iOS device or desktop browser to access it. It works with thousands of decor products available on Amazon, including some third-party items. In the Amazon shopping app, a “View in your room” button will appear below the eligible products. Saved layouts will appear in a “Your Rooms” section in your Amazon account, and the company will email you a link to the saved room for easy access.
These features are part of a growing suite of AR capabilities offered by technology companies, including video games, design tools, and shopping. Retailers such as Wayfair and Ikea also offer AR tools that help to better visualize the size and shape of products before the customer purchases them, which has reduced the number of returns. Buying furniture online using these tools can be especially helpful for people who want to avoid stores during the coronavirus pandemic.
Room Decorator is currently being rolled out to selected Amazon customers in the U.S. Over the next few weeks, the feature will be available to all U.S. buyers on iOS, the company said.
