Last year, retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc. spent $112 million to acquire a tech company that would help customers of its Pottery Barn and West Elm stores better visualize how furniture would look in their homes. Now the company is about to launch one of the fruits of that investment, a 3-D imaging application that reflects the increasingly tighter integration of digital and physical stores.
The app, expected to launch later this month, will integrate technology from 3-D imaging and augmented reality software firm Outward Inc., which Williams-Sonoma acquired in the fourth quarter of 2017. The new app underscores how in-house technology development is becoming more essential for companies across all industries to gain a competitive advantage. Companies that are successful at integrating the digital and physical worlds will be the winners in creating new kinds of experiences for consumers in many aspects of retail and commerce, ranging from groceries to consumer goods.
Williams-Sonoma joins several home furnishings companies that are launching technology platforms with the aim of making it easier for customers to visualize how big-ticket items such as sofas and dining room tables will fit in their homes before they buy. The retailer sells home-goods through its eight brands: Williams Sonoma, Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, West Elm, Rejuvenation and Mark and Graham.
“We’ll shrink that sales cycle and make it a more fun experience, with improved conversion (rates) and top-line growth,” said Chief Technology Officer Yasir Anwar, who joined Williams-Sonoma in February from Macy’s Inc., where he was previously chief technology officer.
Other furniture retailers such as IKEA, for example, are joining suit. Last year Ikea launched an augmented reality application for Apple Inc. mobile devices that lets customers visualize how a piece of furniture would look in their living rooms before they make a purchase. Augmented reality superimposes digital content onto a user’s view of the real world through mobile devices or headsets.
Online furniture merchant Wayfair Inc. also has launched augmented reality-based mobile apps to aid in furniture shopping, and most recently announced a furniture shopping app for the Magic Leap augmented reality headset.