How New Zealand Rug Stores Cut Size Returns with AR (Augmented Reality)

Picture a rug store owner in Auckland. She sells wool rugs and handwoven runners from one shop and a website. Orders come in from Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and small towns in between. Every month a few rugs come back. The reason is almost always the same. The size was wrong.

A rug return in New Zealand hurts more than most. A rug that goes to Dunedin and comes back has burned two long trips across the country, a packing job, and a delivery slot she could have sold to a real customer. Freight on a rolled rug is not cheap, and a returned rug comes back a little less new each time.

Why rugs come back

A photo cannot show true size. A rug shot in a studio looks the same at 160 by 230 as it does at 200 by 290, and the shopper has no way to tell from the picture. The measurements sit on the page, but almost nobody tapes out the floor before ordering. They look at the photo, imagine the rug under their coffee table, and trust the picture.

The picture is usually wrong. The rug is too big, so it swallows the room and creeps under the sofa. Or it is too small, so it floats in the middle of the floor and looks lost. Nobody is angry. They just guessed, and the guess was off.

What the shopper checks before they order

The true-to-size AR (Augmented Reality) view answers the one question the photo cannot. The customer taps a link on the product page, points the phone at the floor, and the rug appears at its real size, live in their own room. They check it against the coffee table, the sofa, and the doorway. They see whether the pattern sits right in the light they actually live in.

No app to download. It opens in the phone browser, in seconds. That matters, because most of this happens late in the evening, on the sofa, when the shopper is one tap away from either ordering or giving up.

Shopify reports that products with 3D or AR views convert about 94% better than products without. That is Shopify's own data, not ours. For rugs the mechanism is simple. A shopper who has seen the exact rug on their own floor hesitates less and guesses less.

For the same story from another rug market, read how Canadian rug stores cut size returns with AR.

Where the store puts the links

• Next to the price on every product page. That is where size doubt lives. A see-it-in-your-room link beside the buy button answers the question at the moment it matters.
• In Instagram chats and email replies. Shoppers ask about sizing in DMs before they buy. An AR link in the chat lets them check the rug on their own floor without a trip to the shop.
• On the swing tags and in the shop. A QR code on the tag lets browsing customers check another size at home and come back decided. The sale survives the trip home.

What it takes on the store's side

Everything starts with a true-to-size AR (Augmented Reality) view of each rug. The store sends photos of its bestselling pieces and the real listed dimensions. Our talented designing department produces the true-to-size AR (Augmented Reality) views for you, hosts them, and hands you links and QR codes. The links go on the product pages. The QR codes go in the shop. There is nothing to integrate and nothing to maintain.

About seven days from photos to a live catalogue. The price is flat and public: $249 one-time setup and $29 a month, with all AR (Augmented Reality) view production included. Custom packages are available if your store needs something beyond the standard catalogue, and our team follows up after launch to make sure the views are working where shoppers actually see them.

No programming, no changes to your website needed. We send you a QR code for each product. Put it on the product page, on your packaging, in your shop, on social media, anywhere. Your buyer scans it and sees your product in their own room, real size.

The cheapest way to check if it works for your store

You do not have to commit to anything to find out. Send a photo of your bestselling rug and we will build you one true-to-size AR (Augmented Reality) view free. Put it on your own phone, check it against the real rug, and see if your customers would use it. If it does not convince you, you have spent nothing. Try the live rug demo first: it opens in your phone browser, no install.