This project utilizes augmented reality software on the Microsoft HoloLens platform to provide better spatial and aesthetic information about the retail products in the Ikea catalogue, making remote e-commerce on parity with in-store visits and decrease information asymmetry. This provides users a more immersive experience and conveniently relays spatial information before transactions, without the need for premature shipment, assembly, or furniture movement/placement; ultimately reducing the rate of returns/exchanges.
The motivation behind the project is based on the fact that Ikea, the world's largest furniture retailer, maintains multiple commerce channels for consumers in print, online, and in stores with ¬200 million printed catalogues, >700 million store visits, and >2 billion visits to ikea.com, the largest of the three. Hence, e-commerce, yields a returns rate of 10 percent, three times higher than that of transactions made at brick-and-mortar stores. This difference is attributed to the consumer being less informed about the product at the time of purchase when shopping for furniture online, leading to dissatisfaction with the size, aesthetics, or decorum compatibility with the furniture post-transaction.
Before releasing, extensive user studies were conducted to measure usability. The user's interactions in selecting, moving, and pinning the holographic 3D models while wearing the HoloLens headset was observed to determine the efficacy of the software. The software's ability to assist the consumer in assessing furniture, versus looking at static images and text was measured. The ease of use and perusal time for users interacting with the software was also measured to evaluate likelihood of adoption.
Please help provide feedback to improve future versions of the app. Any constructive feedback is encouraged and welcome.
This app was made as an engineering project by student developers; Monis Khan, Tianhao Zhu, Tony Wang, Oscar Leung