ARQR360 vs Augment: Which Is Better for a Small Decor Store?

Picture a decor shop owner in Austin. She sells wall art, mirrors, and sculptural vases online. Her reviews are good, but her returns keep arriving with the same complaint: the mirror looked smaller in the photos, the vase overwhelmed the side table, the art got swallowed by the wall. Every return costs her shipping both ways and a piece she now has to sell at a discount.

AR is the obvious fix. Her customers point their phone at their wall or shelf and see the piece at true size before they buy. Two names keep coming up in her research: Augment and ARQR360. Here is a fair look at both, written for a decor store owner, not a developer.

What Augment is

Augment is a French AR company founded in 2011. Their model is straightforward: you upload 2D images and product specs, and their community of 3D designers turns them into AR-ready 3D models. They have been around a long time, and the platform is flexible. Public listings show plans starting around 9 euros a month, with a free version and free trial, and the models you get back are built by real designers from your specs.

Augment leans toward business buyers. Their materials talk about field sales reps, trade shows, and point-of-sale materials, and retail viewing runs through mobile apps, including the retailer's own eCommerce apps. If you have an app, a dev team, or a sales force on the road, that is a natural fit.

Where the two differ

Price

Augment's entry monthly price is low, around 9 euros a month. ARQR360 is flat and public: $249 one-time setup and $29 a month. But the monthly number is not the whole bill on either side. With Augment, the 3D modelling is done by their designer community as a separate service, so ask what each model costs and how fast the turnaround is for your full catalogue. With ARQR360, the AR (Augmented Reality) build is included in the flat price, no per-model fees, no per-view fees.

For a decor store with a few hundred SKUs that change seasonally, total cost means the monthly fee plus every model you will ever need, times every season. Compare that number, not the headline price. For a plain look at what each route really costs, see our pricing breakdown for a small rug store. The maths works the same way for decor.

Who does the 3D modelling

This is the part that stops most stores. With Augment, you supply the images and specs, and designers in their network build the models. That is real human work, and it is priced accordingly. With ARQR360, we build the true-to-size models as part of the service. You send photos and real dimensions of your pieces, bestsellers first, and we handle the rest. When your range turns over every season, new pieces get modelled the same way.

Setup effort

Augment is a self-serve platform. You run the pipeline: upload, brief, integrate the viewer into your store or app, test it. ARQR360 is done for you. Send your photos and dimensions, and your AR catalogue goes live in about seven days, with a link and QR code per product that you drop into Shopify or WooCommerce. One is a tool you run, the other is a service that runs for you.

True-to-size accuracy

Both platforms promise real-size AR, and the honest check is the same on both: place the model on your own phone next to the real piece and check the fit. With wall art and mirrors, a few centimetres off is the difference between a confident buyer and a return, so check before you launch your whole range.

What your customers have to do

Augment's retail viewing happens inside mobile apps: the retailer's eCommerce app, or Augment's own viewer apps on iPhone and Android. That is fine if your customers already use your app. ARQR360 opens in the phone browser. The customer taps a link or scans a QR code, points the phone at their wall, and the piece appears at true size. No install. Try the live decor demo on your own phone to feel the difference that makes.

Which one fits your decor store

Augment makes sense if:

• You already have a mobile app and a team to integrate with it
• You have field sales reps or a trade show calendar
• You want to run the platform yourself and manage designers per model
• You plan to use AR beyond your storefront: training, sales kits, catalogues

ARQR360 makes sense if:

• You sell on Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce with no app and no dev team
• You want the modelling done for you, included in one flat price
• Your catalogue changes seasonally and new pieces need models without a new project
• Your customers shop on mobile and will not install anything to buy

The returns angle for decor

Decor returns are a size problem wearing a style complaint. The vase was too big. The art was lost on the wall. A customer who places the true-size piece on their actual shelf before buying has already answered those questions. That is the whole pitch for AR in decor: fewer surprises, fewer boxes coming back. For how this plays out in practice, read how U.S. furniture stores cut expensive returns with true-to-size AR.

The cheapest way to start

You do not have to take any comparison page at its word. Send a photo of your bestselling piece and we will build you one true-to-size AR model free. Place it on your own wall next to the real thing, check the size with your own eyes, and decide with the thing in front of you. If it does not convince you, you have spent nothing.

Before the platform question there is the room question: most decor returns are a piece that did not suit the space, not a piece that was broken. How home decor stores cut returns with AR walks through it.