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

Picture a furniture store owner in Christchurch. She sells sofas, beds and dining tables online and from one showroom. Most of her website visitors live nowhere near the shop. They browse the photos, wonder if the sofa will fit their living room, and leave. She starts looking into AR (Augmented Reality) for her store, and every provider sounds the same. Here are five plain checks 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 furniture. A sofa 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 pieces, and what happens when a piece is off. A serious answer names a process. A vague answer is the answer.

Ask too what the shopper actually sees. The honest promise is simple. The shopper points their phone at their own floor and the piece appears in their own room, at its true size. They walk around it. They check it against the wall. They see whether the door still opens before they buy.

2. Does the shopper need an app

Ask this before you sign anything. If the customer must download an app to see your sofa, most of them will not. People do not install apps to look at furniture. 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. It opens in the browser with no install.

3. Who does the work, and from what

Ask who produces the views of your pieces, 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.

ARQR360 works this way. Our designing department produces the true to size AR (Augmented Reality) views for you, from your photos, and handles new season stock the same way. You do not hire anyone. You do not learn a platform. About seven days from photos to a live 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 piece 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. No product cap, no per view fees. Custom packages are available if your store needs something beyond the standard catalogue, such as a branded AR page or extra features built your way.

5. What happens after launch

Launch day is not the end of the job. Ask who checks that the views still work where shoppers actually see them, and who you call when a link breaks or a new piece goes live. A provider who disappears after launch leaves you holding a catalogue you cannot fix.

Our team follows up after launch to make sure the views are working on your product pages, in your shop on QR codes, and in the places your shoppers browse. If a view needs fixing, we fix it. If your range changes, the new pieces are produced the same way as the first ones.

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 (Augmented Reality). Customers check it at home and come back decided.
• In evening browsing hours. Browsing peaks in the evening, when your shop is closed and your website is open. A shopper who can check the size at 10pm is a shopper who can buy at 10pm.

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 US furniture stores cut returns with AR.

The cheapest way to check before you buy

You do not have to sign anything to run the five checks. 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 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.