What UK Rug Stores Should Ask Before Buying AR (Augmented Reality)

Picture a rug store owner in Leeds. She sells handmade and machine woven rugs 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 five questions. Who produces the views. Whether the shopper needs an app. How true size is proven. What the real price is for one year. 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 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 from artists and pay per product, and you manage the whole pipeline. For a 40 rug 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 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 few inches off teaches the buyer the tool cannot be trusted. 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 where the size check happens. The view should be checked against the real rug before it goes live, not after your customers find the mistake. A rug store lives on trust, and one wrong size on a bestseller costs more than the view ever did.

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

Launch day is not the end of the job. Ask who follows up when a view stops working, when you add new stock, and when a shopper reports a size problem. A vendor that disappears after setup leaves you with a catalogue that slowly goes stale.

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, such as a branded AR page or extra features for a large range. The standard catalogue covers most rug stores, and the custom route is there when the standard one is not enough.

Where the links go

• Next to the price on every product page. That is where size 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 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 how this plays out in practice, read how UK 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 five 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.