What Australian Rug Stores Should Ask Before Buying AR (Augmented Reality)

Picture a rug store owner in Melbourne. She sells wool rugs, jute rugs and hand knotted pieces online and from one showroom. Most of her website visitors live nowhere near the shop. They browse the photos, wonder if the rug will fit under their dining table, and leave. She starts looking into AR (Augmented Reality) for her store, and every provider sounds the same. Here are five plain questions that separate a view your shoppers will trust from one they will ignore.

1. Is it true to size, and how is that proven

Start here, because size is the whole question for rugs. A rug that is even a few centimetres off teaches the shopper the tool cannot be trusted. Ask the provider a plain question: how do you check every view against the real listed dimensions of my rugs, and what happens when a rug is off. A serious answer names a process. A vague answer is the answer.

Ask about pattern scale too. A rug is not just a rectangle. The shopper needs to see the pattern at its real scale, not stretched or shrunk to fill a space. If the pattern looks wrong on screen, the rug will look wrong in the room, and the order comes back.

2. Does the shopper need an app

Ask this before you sign anything. If the customer must download an app to see your rug, most of them will not. People do not install apps to look at rugs. A view that opens in the phone browser, from a link or a QR code, gets used. Test that on your own phone with our live rug demo. It opens in the browser with no install.

3. Who does the work, and from what

Ask who produces the views of your rugs, and what they start from. On some routes, you supply the files yourself and manage the whole pipeline. That is a project, not a purchase, and it suits a store with a digital team. On the done for you route, you send photos and your real listed dimensions, and the provider produces the views.

That second route is how ARQR360 works. You send photos of your bestselling rugs and their real listed dimensions. Our talented designing department produces true to size AR (Augmented Reality) views from them, hosts them, and hands you links and QR codes that open the view in your customer's phone browser. No app. No files to manage on your side.

4. What does one year actually cost

Get the quote in writing for your full catalogue, for one year, with everything included. The monthly fee is usually the smallest line. The rest is per product production fees, per view charges that grow with your traffic, setup fees, and the cost of new season stock. A quote that will not put that number in writing is a quote you cannot compare.

For reference, ARQR360 is flat and public: $249 one time setup and $29 a month, with all AR (Augmented Reality) view production included. About seven days from photos to a live catalogue. No product cap, no per view fees. 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.

5. What happens after launch

Ask what happens after the views go live. Who checks that the links still work when you add new rugs. Who fixes a view when a listing changes. Who answers when a shopper says the rug looked different on their phone. A provider that disappears after launch leaves you holding a catalogue you cannot maintain.

ARQR360 follows up after launch. We check the views are working where shoppers actually see them, on the product pages, in the shop, and on social media. If your store needs something custom, a branded AR page or extra features built your way, our team builds it as a custom package.

Where the links go

• Next to the size on every product page. That is where size doubt lives. A see it at true size link beside the dimensions answers the question at the moment it matters.
• On the swing tag in the shop. A QR code on the tag opens the same rug in AR. Customers check it at home and come back decided.
• In Instagram posts and stories. The link opens on a phone, which is exactly where your shoppers browse.

One number worth knowing, and it is Shopify's own data, not ours: products with 3D or AR views convert about 94% better than products without. Shoppers who can check the true size hesitate less.

For the returns side of the same story, read how Australian rug stores cut size returns with AR.

The cheapest way to check before you buy

You do not have to sign anything to run the checklist. 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 test your five questions against the actual thing. If it does not convince you, you have spent nothing. Try the live rug demo first: it opens in your phone browser, no install.