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

Picture a furniture store owner in Chicago. She sells sofas, armchairs and dining sets from two shops 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-to-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 products, and what do they start from?

On some routes, you supply the files yourself. The vendor sells a viewer, you commission the 3D files from artists at roughly $100 to $500 per product, and you manage the whole pipeline. For a 50-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 vendor produces the true-to-size AR (Augmented Reality) views. ARQR360 works this way. When you compare quotes, compare the full job: files 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 dining table. 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-to-size proven

A sofa that is even a few inches 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 piece is off. A serious answer names a process. A vague answer is the answer.

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.

Where the links go

• Next to the price on every product page. That is where sizing doubt lives. A see-it-in-your-room 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 how it plays out after launch, read how furniture stores build a virtual showroom 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 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 four questions 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.