As brick-and-mortar retailers grapple with what the Amazon-Whole Foods Market $13.7B deal means for the industry, the world’s largest furniture maker is working to strategically merge its physical business model with a digital presence. To do so, IKEA has turned to augmented reality.
The Swedish furniture-maker will create an app for IOS users to purchase furniture online much like the Pokémon Go craze that took millennials by storm last year. The augmented reality feature allows users to hold up their devices to view IKEA furniture inside their homes virtually, Fast Co. Design reports. These objects will appear to scale. This is not the company’s first dabble in the virtual world. In 2014 IKEA experimented with an AR stand-alone app to accompany its catalog.
In February, the retailer opened its largest U.S. store in Burbank. The 465K SF store has space for 600 customers to eat at the restaurant.
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