At Google I/O 2017 Google showed the use of AR and VR as part of the whole shopping experience. A few days after this event, Ikea announced that they are launching a VR store in Australia.
When shopping for furniture and house furnishings it is often hard to visualise how they will look once unpacked and built. The technology introduced by Ikea allows customers to “walk” through an Ikea store and browse the products. Certain customers throughout the country will be able to also make purchases through the virtual store on their desktop, tablets or smartphones.
Malcolm Haylett, Ikea Australia multichannel specialist, said
“The Ikea virtual reality store has been developed to support our online shopping service. We know that it’s important for customers to see and experience our home furnishings range. Ikea has recently made a move towards online retailing, but we want to offer the full Ikea store experience to our online shoppers.”
The VR experience offers a different and “more immersive” tool for customers to look at products and experience them before pulling the trigger on any purchases. It allows customers to walk around freely, open drawers and put your vegetable peelings in the waste sorting station. People can even enjoy the visual impact of different material finishes and experience things from a child’s point of view. Think about exploring and interact with an IKEA Kitchen in Virtual Reality!
The VR experience will support the online store that operates from the Canberra (Australia) store with dozens of collection points throughout the country. The VR shopping is accessed either from Ikea’s website or through the Matterport VR Cardboard app.
Are you ready to put on your VR headset and prepare to explore kitchens in full 3D. Enjoy walking around and interacting with some parts of it just like you were there. Instantly change the look and feel of the kitchen by selecting a different material finish.
GoVR is excited about it!
GoVR Team
