What Canadian Rug Stores Should Look for in an AR (Augmented Reality) Provider

Picture a rug store owner in Calgary. She sells wool rugs, flatweaves and runners from one shop and a website. Her customers live across Alberta and beyond, and most of them will never stand on the rug before they buy it. She is ready to put AR (Augmented Reality) on her product pages, and three vendors have sent her quotes. The quotes do not look like they describe the same product. Here is the checklist that cuts through them.

It comes down to four questions. Who produces the views. Whether the shopper needs an app. How true size is proven. What the real price is for one year. Ask all four in writing before you sign anything.

1. Who produces the views, and from what

Start here, because everything else follows. Ask the vendor a plain question: who makes the AR views of my rugs, and what do they start from?

On some routes, you supply the files yourself. The vendor sells a viewer, you commission the files, and you manage the whole pipeline. For a rug catalogue with many sizes and colours, that bill is the project, not the software.

On the done for you route, you send photos and your real listed dimensions, and the vendor produces the true to size AR (Augmented Reality) views. ARQR360 works this way. Our designing department produces the views for you, from your photos, with new season stock handled the same way. When you compare quotes, compare the full job: views plus viewer plus hosting, not the monthly fee alone.

2. Does the shopper need an app

Ask before you sign: does the customer need to download an app to open the view? If the answer is yes, most of them will not use it. People do not install apps to check a rug. 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.

3. How is true size proven

For rugs, size is the whole question. A rug that is even a little off teaches the customer the tool cannot be trusted. A rug that looks right in a photo but crowds the room on delivery day comes straight back, and the store pays the return shipping.

Ask the vendor how they check every view against the real listed dimensions, and what happens when a rug is off. A serious answer names a process. A vague answer is the answer. Ask too whether the shopper can check the rug against their own room, not a staged room on the vendors website. The room that matters is theirs.

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.

Where the links go

• Next to the price on every product page. That is where size doubt lives. A see it at true size link beside the buy button answers the question at the moment it matters.
• On the price tags 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 Canadian 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 four 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.