What a Footwear Store Should Check Before Buying AR (Augmented Reality)

Picture a shoe store owner in Manchester. She sells leather boots, trainers and suede shoes from one shop and a website. 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 shoes, and what do they start from?

On some routes, you supply the files yourself. The vendor sells a viewer, you commission the files from artists at roughly $100 to $500 per product, and you manage the whole pipeline. For a 40 style 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 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 pair of boots. 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 footwear demo.

3. How is true size proven

For shoes, size is the whole question. A boot that is even a little off teaches the customer the tool cannot be trusted. Ask the vendor how they check every view against the real listed dimensions, and what happens when a pair is off. A serious answer names a process. A vague answer is the answer.

Ask too what the shopper actually sees. The honest promise for footwear is size and look: the shoe at its true size, beside or against the shoppers own feet, so they can compare it with a pair they already own. AR cannot tell a shopper how a shoe will feel on their foot, and any vendor who promises that is overselling. What it can do, and do well, is end the size guessing that stops so many orders.

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 pair 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 for furniture stores, 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 shoe 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 pair, and test your four questions against the actual thing. If it does not convince you, you have spent nothing. Try the live footwear demo first: it opens in your phone browser, no install.