What European Furniture Stores Should Look for in an AR (Augmented Reality) Provider

Picture a furniture store owner in Lyon. She sells sofas, armchairs and dining tables from one showroom and a website. She is ready to put AR (Augmented Reality) on her product pages, and three providers have sent her quotes. The quotes do not look like they describe the same product. One is cheap per month and silent about who produces the views. One quotes a platform fee and leaves the view production to her. One promises the full job in one flat price. Here is the plain checklist that cuts through them, written for a European furniture store buying AR for the first time.

It comes down to five checks. Who produces the views. Whether the shopper needs an app. How true size is proven. What one year really costs. What happens after launch. Ask all five in writing before you sign anything.

1. Who produces the views, and from what

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

On some routes, you supply the files yourself. The provider sells a viewer, you commission the files from artists at roughly $100 to $500 per product, and you manage the whole pipeline. For a 60 piece catalogue, that bill is the project, not the software.

On the done-for-you route, you send photos and your real listed dimensions, and the provider produces the true-to-size AR (Augmented Reality) views. ARQR360 works this way. Our talented 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 hosting plus links and QR codes, 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 sofa. 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 furniture demo.

3. How is true size proven

For furniture, size is the whole question. A sofa that is even a few centimetres off teaches the customer the tool cannot be trusted. Ask the provider how they check every view against the real listed dimensions, and what happens when a piece is off. A serious answer names a process. A vague answer is the answer.

Ask too about your large pieces. A corner sofa or a dining table for eight is where size doubt is strongest, and where a true-to-size view earns its keep. If the provider cannot explain how they verify a three metre sofa, they have not thought about your catalogue.

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.

5. What happens after launch

A provider that disappears after launch leaves you with views nobody checks. Ask who follows up, how new pieces get added, and what happens when a view stops working on a product page. ARQR360 follows up after launch to make sure the views are working where shoppers actually see them. Custom packages are available if your store needs something beyond the standard catalogue, like a full showroom set or a seasonal range launch. The point of buying a service, not just software, is that someone stays with the job after the first week.

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 piece 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 same checklist written as questions to ask any provider, read what a furniture store should check before buying 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 sofa or armchair 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 piece, and test your five checks against the actual thing. If it does not convince you, you have spent nothing. Try the live furniture demo first: it opens in your phone browser, no install.