Wayfair amps up AR with new app feature

Dive Brief:

Wayfair announced that its proprietary augmented reality application, WayfairView, has been integrated into its mobile shopping app on the ASUS ZenFone AR, which became available Thursday exclusively through Verizon's retail stores and website.
The app leverages Wayfair’s 3D model library and Google’s Tango AR technology to show customers virtual furniture and décor in their homes at full scale before they buy.
WayfairView is now listed as a featured app on the ASUS ZenFone AR, and can be found for download through the phone’s Tango Discovery App. Consumers currently can take advantage of a promotion under which anyone who buys the new $648 phone ($599 unlocked, according to Engadget) also receives a $25 Wayfair gift card.

Dive Insight:

Wayfair first announced WayfairView in June 2016 when it launched on the first Tango-enabled mobile device to hit the market — the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. The retailer also rolled out a similar 2D app in the form of View in Room back in December, and has been generally one of the more aggressive and innovative retailers working with augmented reality and virtual reality technologies.

Another has been Lowe's, which announced a Lowe's Vision app with some strong similarities to WayfairView earlier this year for the Lenovo device. Wayfair is the only retailer we know of that has launched an AR app on the Asus device.

To use WayfairView on the ASUS ZenFone AR, shoppers look at the screen to select a product in their viewing field, then virtually place it in a room to see how it looks and fits in their space. Shoppers can also move and rotate items to view every angle, visualize various layouts and perspectives, share views with family and friends, and complete purchases through the Wayfair app.

We're interested to see where things go from here, and if other retailers will now follow Wayfair onto the the Asus device with their own specially-developed AR apps. The effect any mobile apps leveraging Tango can have in the market is fairly limited for now because there are still the only two Tango-enabled devices available, but we can rest assured there will be more to come. Notably, the Asus device also is the first mobile device to support both Tango and Google's virtual reality technology — Daydream VR. That VR tech gives retailers and brands more reason to start developing both AR and VR apps for customer use.

Ultimately, the very best part of this initial ZenFone AR rollout for Wayfair might be the gift card promotion. It gives buyers of the not-cheap device a nice little perk, and a reason to visit Wayfair and make a purchase.