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BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

like e.g. the popular Google Cardboard. sector, AR applications are already used extensively.
The most important hardware are the smart glasses
How about a virtual trip to the Maldives? The Chinese that can be used in many ways.
online platform for luxury travel, Zanadu, allows its cus-
tomers check out their holiday destination before they But also in infotainment, AR opens a new dimension.
book, making sure that it is really the perfect trip for For around 2-3 years now, the Fraunhofer Institute has
them. With a virtual reality app, destinations are to be been increasing the interest of visitors to the ancient
experienced immersively, quasi interactively. statues in the Athens Acropolis Museum by using AR
on mobile devices with lots of textual and visual infor-
Already around a year ago, Ebay started a virtual depart- mation; or history around the Berlin Wall makes the
ment store in cooperation with Myer. With an app and a Timetraveler app on the smartphone tangible. At origi-
VR headset, customers can choose from more than nal locations, the app displays historical film scenes
12,000 products and a so-called “Sight Search” technol- surrounding the building of the Berlin Wall. And a good
ogy makes it possible to move a product by fixing it with example for the "home use" is the iOS app Pair, which
the eyes and placing it into the shopping cart. Personali- conjures furniture virtually into your living room. The
zation features help to understand in fact the personal furniture can be changed at will and viewed from all
taste of the customer so well that the product range can sides. Pair clearly shows what AR will bring us in the
be adapted accordingly on all subsequent visits. future: Playful help in everyday life and shopping in
countless areas. Not to mention that the increasingly
The sky’s the limit prevalent in-store internet access and availability of
high-speed internet access in many homes will contin-
Due to the rapid increase of new applications, it is no ue to facilitate the increased ease of AR app use in the
longer impossible for AR to be an integral part of our retail industry. ◊
everyday life within the next two to three years. In the By Daniela La Marca
working life, especially in the industry and the logistics

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