Introduction
The watch industry shows that new technologies have affected many sectors, irrespective of the kind or field of operation. Another recent trend that has affected customers is the Virtual watch try-ons, which makes a difference in how customers shop. This high-tech application sits perfectly in the middle of the web and physical store, allowing users to see how a particular watch fits them without putting the accessory on.
What Are Virtual Watch Try-Ons, and How Do They Enhance Fashion Experiences?
Augmented reality (AR) builds an image of the watch on top of the image of the wrist of the person who wants to wear the watch. Consumers can use their smartphones, tablets, or AR mirrors to check simultaneously and interact with the design, size, and many other parameters of a watch.
- Decision making for purchase decisions uncertainty.
- Crossdressing, wearing clothes the opposite of one’s gender, or different styles, colors, brands, etc.
- Shortening customers’ time they may use while moving from one store to another.
- Virtual fittings remain the next shopping frontier for fashionable people since they ensure that individuals get the right fit while shopping from the comfort of their homes. Dressing, experimenting with different styles, colors, and brands.
- Reducing customers’ time they might spend going from store to store.
- Virtual fittings are the next big thing in shopping for fashion lovers because they combine comfort with customization.
Importance and Impact of Virtual Try-Ons in the Watch Industry
The watch market is somewhat saturated, and brands and companies never cease working on providing consumers with unique, exciting experiences. Virtual try-ons have become an innovative solution to tackle frequent customer issues, mainly the absence of a fitting tool when purchasing online. Besides revolutionizing how customers interact with watches, this technology is revolutionizing the industry’s way of thinking about customer relations and customer satisfaction.
Source: Chrono24
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
Customers can even use the watch and see for themselves how it looks and feels when put on and worn around the wrist. This technology helps in minimizing dissatisfaction and, therefore, fewer returns because it provides a true-to-life visual of the product to be created. The consumers will be able to exercise their rights with confidence hence they will trust the brand.Broader Reach
It differs from fashion shows or trial runs of garments in the shop, where it is only possible to some extent to introduce collections of the brand at a global level. To reiterate what has been said earlier, the customer from a small town will also have the same level of interaction with a brand as a shopper in the big city, making the market significantly bigger.Cost-Effectiveness
Virtual try-ons have minimal requirements of placing clothes into use and stowage in the sales outlets, which reduces the cost of operation. Retailers can also find ways of avoiding trial usage setup costs, for instance, extra people or even product manipulation. These savings can be ploughed back into enhancing the digital interface and enabling customers to have a more efficient way of shopping.Applications and Use Cases of Virtual Watch Try-Ons
Online: E-commerce implementation and real-time product trials
Augmented and virtual reality in e-commerce are revolutionizing how consumers interact with products online. AR and VR today have become indispensable means of decreasing risks for purchasing in the Internet space, enhancing customers’ confidence, and elevating satisfaction levels. Below are examples of how these technologies are being used effectively:Chanel AR Watch Try-On
One example of online implementation of this technology can be the Chanel AR watch try-on experience that lets users try watches virtually using the camera of their smartphone or computer. Basically, this AR application allows customers to decide on the size and appearance of a watch and how it will fit on their wrist without having to visit a physical store. This innovative solution helps increase trust in buying expensive products on the Internet.Ulysse Nardin Hyper Realistic AR Try-On
Hyper-realistic AR applications enable users to wear watches virtually, which provides them with a new, realistic, and detailed experience of the watches. For instance, the Ulysse Nardin AR try-on of the watch shows how augmented reality gives a realistic image of their watches when worn by the user. This makes convenience and shopping easy to boost by offering customers a chance to shop online and make their own decisions without visiting a physical store. Watch this Ulysse Nardin AR tryon to see this feature in operation.
Glashütte’s 3D & AR Watch Experience
The watch experience of Glashütte in 3D and AR ensures that classic luxury is made tangible by innovative technologies. This feature enables customers to exercise scrutiny over an elaborate watch design and set it on the table for view, as if on the wrist. The realistic features displayed increase the trust in choosing a suitable wristwatch and, therefore, apply as a necessary resource for wealthy watch lovers. This is well illustrated in the Glashütte 3D & AR VTO.
Watches and Wonders 2024 AI Live Stream
At Watches and Wonders 2024, a new artificial intelligence-based live shopping feature reshaped the way luxury watches are presented and bought online. It combines the human element of live demonstrations with AI-driven livestreaming ; customers can watch the watches and easily make a choice with AR and 3D with the Live. Discover this innovation in shopping for watches and jewelry in this Watch and Wonders 2024 live stream.
Offline: In-Store Try-On Mirrors
Augmented reality technology makes it impossible for physical stores to be left behind in the digital age. AR-powered mirrors are now regarded as the new innovation in retail revolutionary devices that are changing how customers engage with products displayed in the stores. These installations let the consumer experience an environment where the watch can be worn on a wrist without having contact with an actual product, which is convenient, sanitary, and technologically advanced.
Another core benefit of using AR mirrors is that the technology helps to implement a wholly germ-free and contactless shopping experience, which has gained much attention in the recent past. Customers can get familiar with a wide range of watch designs without touching or putting on actual watches and feel that their skin is dirty when touching other products.
Benefits of Virtual Watch Try-Ons
Freepik
Interactive buying experience
Virtual try-ons are a complete break from the traditional approach to shopping as it is a fully immersive and fun experience. Customers can put on a watch with an actual visual of it being on their wrist through the power of augmented reality. They can turn it around to look at it from different angles, zoom in on special features, and see how the watch fits their wrist size and their kind of wrist.
Besides, they enable users to take photographs of wearing the watch in different outfits or occasions to decide whether the selected watch fits their needs. The Omni channel integration offering such smooth and hassle-free shopping doesn’t just eliminate any uncertainty with how purchasing looks and works online; it also supports the customer’s ability to confidently.
Customization options
In a virtual try-on, customers can undergo a unique degree of customization and exploration that empowers them to make a watch their own. They can interchange watch straps to observe differences in color and material, such as traditional leather and shiny metal, classy silicone, or bright fabric that can be changed to suit personal preference and the working environment.
Dial shapes and diameters can also be adjusted to allow users to pick designs that are as simple as they want or as complex as they prefer. Depending on the occasion and personal taste, they can get any dial.
Increased sales and conversion rates
This means virtual try-ons are critical in helping customers reduce uncertainty regarding fit, style, and overall appropriateness during the decision-making process. This innovative technology enables the client to picture what a given watch will look like on the wrist, including its size and proportion. This reduces many of the risks associated with online buying since the buyer may hesitate to purchase due to many reasons ranging from size and color to the product’s suitability.
Consequently, virtual try-ons have been proven to improve satisfaction and trust with the buying experience. According to those retailers using this technology, it increases the conversion rates because the usual barriers to buying such items as watches are eliminated.
Brand engagement and loyalty
Technological and socially engaging tools such as virtual try-ons are critical to building substantial brand equity since they are enjoyable experiences that the customer can remember. These tools show that watch brands are not only competing with technology but with their client’s expectations as well.
Due to its unique and practical approach to the shopping experience, brands prove their dedication and satisfy the end consumer with their user-oriented designs. Among the virtual try-ons, watch brands present themselves as innovative and technologically oriented, which may be highly appreciated by young people orienteering to digital space.
Interactive Buying Experience
Virtual try-ons partially transform traditional shopping by providing people with an enjoyable experience. Customers can use augmented reality to try on the watches, rotate them to the have a 360-degree view of the product, and even zoom into the particulars as well as check how the watches fit and looked on their wrists. They can even take photos to compare the watch with the outfit and occasion for which they intend to buy the watch for thus boosting the confidence of the consumers. This integration of the omni-channel approach makes the process of shopping to be smooth and convenient leaving out complications which would make customers uncertain.
Customization Options
Virtual try-ons make customer experiences customizable in terms of changeable straps in leather, metal, silicone, fabric and changing dials based on customers’ choices. This level of customization makes consumer’s choices suitable for occasions, preferences and workplace.
Higher Sales and Conversion Results
In this case, virtual try-ons minimize risks, such as suitability of an outfit to an occasion or how comfortable a particular style is. Customers are able to see watches on their wrists, thus reducing risk of buying items online. There is an increase in conversion rates and reliability by retailers since there are essentially no impediments to acquisition.
Brand Engagement and Loyalty
Virtual try-ons build the brand assets by creating exceptional and technology based experiences that would suit the current generation of brand conscious consumers. These tools convey a brand’s effort in the product development and designing process making customers loyal and associating the brand with modernity in the market.
Beyond Virtual Watch Try-Ons
Integration of AR technology with other groundbreaking advancements in AI and Metaverse takes the virtual try-on experience to the next level. Let’s explore it in detail:
Ulysse Nardin’s 3D and DigitalArt Spectacle
The Ulysse Nardin 3D Watch Spectacle in Sanlitun is an excellent example of how true interactive branding can be done in an artful manner. This unique ad model relies on huge 3D billboards and CGI ads to reveal the engravings on the Ulysse Nardin wristwatches. It is an exciting show and probably made that way on purpose in order to grab the attention of the viewers and show them the brand’s dedication to innovation and the elegance of the product. Check out this amazing vision in this Ulysse Nardin Sanlitun 3D advertisement.
Watches and Wonders 2023: Combining digital tech with art
At the recently concluded Watches and Wonders 2023 event in Shanghai, Ulysse Nardin revealed its unique way of presenting the beauty of its timepieces using revolutionary augmented reality technology. This luxury watch brand managed to engage the attendees with augmented reality experiences and let people play with the watches. This demonstrates how augmented reality can help to create artful marketing marvels and gives a preview of the future of luxury retail.
Ulysse Nardin and Apple’s Vision Pro tech
At the historic Sun Ke Villa event in Shanghai, Ulysse Nardin displayed its Freak watches using Apple’s Vision Pro technology. The event was a perfect combination of tradition and the modern world, the company’s background in watchmaking, and digital interaction. This AR demo helped attendees discover the delicate work that goes into making their watches in detail.
Visitors were able to look at watches with an impressive realistic image (it’s a 3D interaction) and orientation and analyze them from all sides to get more details about design and distinctions. This kind of technology imitated an actual shopping environment, and thus, the choice of luxurious products on the Internet was as natural as in the shopping mall.
On May 25th, in Shanghai, at the Sun Ke Villa event, Ellemen, a top Chinese men’s lifestyle brand, presented an impromptu night of fashion, technology and performance. The absolute standout of the evening was when using Apple’s Vision Pro the Ulysse Nardin Freak watches came to life. The traditional and innovative methods merged thus helped enthusiasts to learn about the exquisite work and uniqueness of the watches through beautiful 3D animations. Thus, the AR demo also let people explore the timepieces from different perspectives and receive information about their construction and functions. The modern technology was enabling consumer engagement and made luxury watch selection as smooth and as natural as it would have been physically shopping.
Conclusion
It’s more than an amusing possibility to try on watches virtually; it is the future of the shopping industry. This technology helps the customer fulfill their needs while simultaneously fulfilling the corporate goals and objectives of increasing business in the watch industry. From social media to augmented apps, Kivisense virtual try-ons are revolutionizing how consumers interact with watch brands. Experience the future of watch try-ons and improve how you buy watches today!
