Chapter 1: 3D eCommerce
What Is 3D eCommerce?
How Does 3D eCommerce Work?
Why Is 3D Vital to the Future of eCommerce?
The Benefits of 3D eCommerce
The Challenges of 3D eCommerce
Tracking the Performance of 3D eCommerce
Chapter 2: The 3D eCommerce Maturity Model (How to get Started with 3D eCommerce)
3D Applications for Product Development, Sales, and Revenue Streams
3D Can Accelerate Product Development
3D Can Improve Marketing and Sales Conversion Rates
3D Can Open up New Revenue Streams
3D eCommerce Maturity in B2B
3D eCommerce Maturity in B2C
Chapter 3: Virtual Reality (VR) in eCommerce
How VR eCommerce Works
How VR eCommerce Works
How to Implement VR eCommerce
Chapter 4: Augmented Reality (AR) in eCommerce
How AR eCommerce Works
How AR Helps Drive eCommerce Sales
How to Implement AR eCommerce
Chapter 5: Virtual Reality (VR) vs. Augmented Reality (AR) in eCommerce
How Are VR and AR Similar?
How Do VR and AR Differ?
When Should You Use VR vs. AR?
Chapter 6: Creating Digital Product Showrooms
What Is a Digital Product Showroom?
Digital Showrooms vs. Virtual Showrooms vs. Mixed Reality Showrooms
Types of Virtual Showrooms
How to Build a Digital Showroom
Chapter 7: Choosing a 3D Commerce Platform
What Can 3D Commerce Modeling Platforms Do?
Benefits of Using a 3D Commerce Platform
Get Started with 3D eCommerce with VNTANA
Quick Answer: 3D ecommerce refers to the use of interactive 3D product models, augmented reality, and immersive visualization tools on online shopping platforms to improve the customer purchase experience. Brands that have adopted 3D in ecommerce report an average 40% reduction in returns and up to 250% higher conversion rates compared to static photography. VNTANA is an enterprise platform that enables global brands to create, manage, and publish 3D and AR product experiences at scale across any ecommerce platform.
3D eCommerce is one of today’s most important innovations in online shopping. Brands and retailers adopting this technology enjoy higher customer engagement, increased conversion rates, higher average order sizes, and reduced return rates. In this guide, we’ll cover the essentials of 3D eCommerce. We’ll discuss:
- What 3D eCommerce is, how it works and why it’s important
- How to use a 3D eCommerce maturity model to assess your brand’s progress in adopting this vital technology
- The role of virtual reality (VR) in 3D eCommerce
- The role of augmented reality (AR) in 3D eCommerce
- How VR and AR differ
- How to build a digital 3D showroom
- How 3D eCommerce works with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the Metaverse
- How to choose a 3D Commerce platform
Read on to learn what you need to know about 3D eCommerce and how to use it to grow your business.
Chapter 1: What Is 3D eCommerce?
3D eCommerce is the use of 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality technologies to support digital marketing and sales. It also may be referred to by terms such as 3D commerce, 3D modeling commerce, or immersive commerce.
Examples of 3D eCommerce applications include:
- Customization of or configuration of products in a browser or mobile app based on a selection from virtual models
- Showing interactive, 360-degree views of products on an e-commerce shopping website
- Placement of products in a user’s actual physical environment using smartphone or tablet cameras
- AR try-ons of fashion products like clothing and footwear
- Immersive multimedia and video gaming experiences
- Digital product showrooms which present 3D models of products
- Metaverse shopping in 3D space
These applications enable 3D technology to be incorporated throughout the eCommerce experience. Shoppers can engage 3D marketing content and ads, browse virtual catalogs of product and service selections, see virtual previews of benefits, and test simulations of the ownership experience.
How Does 3D eCommerce Work?
Before you can get started with 3D eCommerce, you must have 3D models ready to go. Existing 3D design files (or 3D CAD files) used in manufacturing are the starting point for many brands. To get started with 3D model creation, there are three main approaches to creating 3D images:
- 3D scanning: A 3D scanner bounces light off a physical object from multiple angles to capture data about the size and shape of the object. The data is then converted into points and shapes on a mathematical coordinate system to create a 3D model of the object.
- Photogrammetry: A digital camera captures images of a physical object from multiple angles. Photogrammetric software then converts the images into points and shapes on a coordinate system.
- 3D design: A graphic designer uses software to create a 3D model of a real or prospective object by working from product descriptions and images.
Once a 3D model has been created, it can be used for eCommerce through 3D viewers, virtual reality, or augmented reality technology. 3D viewers present an interactive 3D model to visitors on the web or in mobile apps. Virtual reality involves using a 3D image to simulate a physical experience of any object digitally. For example, an architect sharing a building project with a client might show them a three-dimensional digital blueprint of the building. Augmented reality layers a 3D image onto the physical world of the user using a smartphone or tablet camera and display — using the virtual world to enhance the experience of the physical world. For instance, a furniture seller might use augmented reality to let customers see how a piece of furniture from their catalog would look in their client’s home.
Both VR and AR can combine visual images with other types of sensory immersion, such as surround sound, haptic gloves, which simulate touching an object, or haptic shoes, which simulate walking. In this way, 3D eCommerce potentially can provide an experience that closely replicates physical experience.
Why Is 3D Vital to the Future of eCommerce?
Several recent technology trends have converged to make 3D increasingly vital for the future of eCommerce. One is the growth of eCommerce itself. Already growing in significance before the COVID-19 outbreak, eCommerce has accelerated in importance due to the pandemic. U.S. eCommerce sales increased 14.2% in 2021, according to fourth-quarter 2021 data on quarterly retail eCommerce sales released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Global retail B2C eCommerce will continue growing by 1% annually to account for 22% of global retail sales by 2024, projects the International Trade Administration.
As eCommerce grows, so will multimedia marketing and sales. 3D technology represents the cutting edge of multimedia marketing. The use of 3D displays to support advertising is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 22.6% from 2020 to 2027, reaching over $2.253 billion, according to market research firm ResearchAndMarkets.com.
A key technology trend supporting the deployment of 3D eCommerce technology is 5G adoption. Delivering VR and AR experience over the Internet depends on sufficiently fast connection speeds. The accelerated connectivity 5G provides is conducive to increased adoption of VR and AR. With the global 5G market expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 58.7% in the period between 2021 and 2026, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com, VR and AR adoption are poised for explosive growth.
As VR and AR become more mainstream, competition will promote innovation, promoting more growth. Improvements in image capturing and modeling, virtual showrooms, and computer vision will make VR and AR more efficient and more effective. These trends and others will help make 3D a critical part of future eCommerce.
The Benefits of 3D eCommerce
3D offers several compelling benefits to eCommerce brands and retailers:
- 3D more closely approximates everyday human experience, making 3D, VR, and AR more realistic than other forms of digital interaction with customers
- 3D, VR, and AR renders of products can convey information to customers which is difficult to describe in mere words or 2D images
- VR and AR allow customers to realistically experience products before purchase, enabling virtual “test drives” which promote higher conversions and lower product return rates
- 3D and AR technology can be incorporated by brick-and-mortar and mixed retailers as well as online eCommerce retailers, inviting in-store customers to virtually interact with products
These benefits help make 3D technology a powerful tool eCommerce businesses can use to drive revenue and create deeper customer relationships.
The Challenges of 3D eCommerce
Adopting a 3D eCommerce strategy can present new challenges for your business to address. Some of those areas of interest include:
- Technological learning curve: Adding VR and AR to your company’s technological toolkit can take time, particularly if you’re going it alone within your own IT department. Partnering with third parties can help shorten the curve.
- Product catalog digitization: If you want to add VR and AR models of your products to your sales catalog, you’ll need to go through your inventory and create 3D models of each product.
- Developing 3D marketing materials: VR and AR can be used in your marketing to tell your brand’s story, showcase your products and create promotional content. However, you’ll need to get a knack for telling stories in 3D.
- Sales pipeline integration: If you’re going to make 3D part of your sales process, you’ll need to review your sales pipeline to identify places where VR and AR can be used effectively and develop standard operating procedures to leverage these technologies.
- Cost: The challenges listed above entail expenditures in time and money.
These are some of the biggest challenges facing eCommerce retailers who want to incorporate 3D technology. Companies incorporating 3D should develop strategies for addressing these challenges early in the adoption process for best results. Working with the right provider can help you create an effective strategy and avoid costly mistakes.
Tracking the Performance of 3D eCommerce
To make sure your 3D eCommerce strategy is effective, you must track your performance. You can do this by establishing key performance indicators in a few major categories:
- Pre-sales marketing KPIs: Metrics such as website visits, visitor-to-purchase conversion rate, and cost of acquisition can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your VR and AR marketing campaigns
- Sales KPIs: Numbers such as sales volume, conversion rates, revenue per sale, average cart size, and average customer lifetime value let you measure the value of your 3D eCommerce campaigns
- Post-sales KPIs: Metrics such as return rates, support ticket volume, and Net Promoter Score can help you weigh how well your 3D efforts contribute to customer satisfaction and retention.
To collect and analyze the KPI data you need, you can use several categories of tools:
- Website analytics tools
- Social media analytics tools
- Embedded eCommerce analytics tools built into your shopping cart
- AI-powered business intelligence apps
These tools can help you assess whether your KPI performance meets your business goals. This will empower you to optimize the value of your 3D eCommerce investment.
An eCommerce maturity model is a framework for mapping stages of eCommerce technology adoption to assess where you are and what your next steps should be. Applied to 3D technology, a 3D eCommerce maturity model gives you a roadmap for identifying where you are in your adoption of VR and AR and what you should do next to get to where you want to be.
There are several approaches to eCommerce maturity models. In general, a maturity model charts steps from basic to advanced adoption. For example:
- Stage 0: You don’t have any 3D assets or digital twins of your products available.
- Stage 1: You have 3D models of your products available (for design and production use) but they are not in the appropriate format or size for use in eCommerce or other marketing channels.
- Stage 2: You have optimized 3D models of your products available, but you haven’t yet incorporated 3D, VR, or AR into your eCommerce strategy.
- Stage 3: You’ve started using basic 3D, VR, or AR eCommerce applications, but they’re not yet a significant part of your operations.
- Stage 3: You’ve integrated 3D, VR, or AR into a single marketing channel and are using it to increase sales.
- Stage 5: You’ve developed 3D, VR, and AR best practices and applied them across multiple marketing channels throughout your operations.
- Stage 6: You’re using big data and AI to optimize your 3D eCommerce deployment and deliver personalized 3D, VR, and AR experiences customized for individual buyers.
- Stage 7: You’ve mastered 3D eCommerce to a point where you’re developing innovations that give you a cutting edge over competitors.
A 3D eCommerce maturity model can look different for organizations of different sizes. The stages of adoption for an individual marketer can be less complex than those for a team within a department or an inter-departmental initiative.
To leverage a 3D eCommerce maturity model to drive your 3D eCommerce strategy, start by conducting a review of your operations to assess where you are in different places where you could be or already are applying 3D and AR. Next, identify which maturity stage you would like to reach next in each area over a given period, such as the next quarter or year. Then set goals and establish KPIs to define some objectives. Finally, plan and implement action steps to achieve your goals.
Chapter 2: 3D Applications for Product Development, Sales, and Revenue Streams
3D can be applied to a number of areas throughout your organization and operations. Some of the most important include product development, sales and revenue stream expansion.
3D Can Accelerate Product Development
Incorporating VR and AR can increase the efficiency of your production, speeding up product development and reducing costs. When evaluating your 3D eCommerce maturity, consider whether production might be an area to include.
Early in the product lifecycle, 3D can be used to test-market virtual versions of product designs, helping ensure alignment between what your market wants and the direction of your development. This allows you to test a large number of products on a large sample of hundreds or thousands of prospective buyers, rather than just a handful of physical products and a few dozen testers as with traditional product development.
Moreover, your testing turnaround time can be significantly reduced, with same-day results in some cases. Add the fact that virtual testing reduces your carbon footprint, and the result can be major savings.
3D can also help your production process when you’re ready to sell products. If your business model allows customers to submit personalized specs when ordering a product, you can use 3D technology to provide virtual previews of products and assist customers with their selection. This helps you ensure customer satisfaction, reducing returns while boosting customer retention.
3D Can Improve Marketing and Sales Conversion Rates
A critical area for evaluating 3D eCommerce maturity is marketing and sales. Using VR and AR can increase both marketing and sales conversion rates by boosting customer engagement and providing a more realistic, more persuasive buying experience. Incorporating 3D ad technologies such as Google Swirl and Facebook 3D Posts can triple customer engagement, increase exposure time by a third and raise intent to purchase. VR and AR tools can double conversion rates, while increasing cart size by as much as 60% and reducing returns by 40%. When assessing your 3D eCommerce maturity, consider whether you could be using VR and AR to increase your marketing and sales conversion rates.
3D Can Open up New Revenue Streams
3D technology also can boost your sales by creating new opportunities for revenue streams. For example, limited edition digital designs can be offered as NFTs or 3D assets. Brands that have increased their revenue in this way include Louis Vuitton with its League of Legends collection and Balenciaga with its Fortnite collaboration. These types of items can command a high premium. When assessing your 3D eCommerce maturity, consider whether developing 3D product lines could expand your revenue opportunities.
3D eCommerce Maturity in B2B
If you’re using a B2B sales model, there are several items that you might want to include in your evaluation of your 3D eCommerce maturity:
- 3D line sheets: Web-based 3D line sheets make it easy to share a link with all pertinent information about products and services. You can store and share 3D line sheets for internal use and collaboration or for external b2b sales use cases. Brands like Nordstrom have used 3D digital line sheets successfully in their wholesale purchasing process.
- Virtual showrooms: With 3D interactive environments, you can provide clients with realistic opportunities to experience and test products. Virtual showrooms usually are built with game engines (such as Unity or Unreal).
- 3D prototyping: 3D technology can allow you to replace physical prototypes with virtual ones. This can reduce your cost and increase your speed to market while lowering your carbon footprint and helping your brand achieve its sustainability objectives.
Not all these elements will apply to all business models. Review the items relevant to your business model when evaluating your 3D B2B maturity and 3D’s potential impact on your organization.
Virtual reality provides one of the main tools for 3D eCommerce. Here’s a rundown of the essentials you need to know about VR eCommerce applications. Let’s take a look at how VR works, how it drives sales and how to implement it for eCommerce.
Chapter 3: How VR eCommerce Works
Virtual reality works by using multiple images to simulate the way your two eyes perceive 3D objects. You have two eyes, which is why you’re able to see objects from multiple angles, creating the perception of three dimensions. However, 2D images only present a flat surface, failing to fully replicate this 3D effect.
3D technology restores this experience by presenting two or more images to the eye simultaneously. This can be done by using a VR headset with two lenses, each displaying a separate image, or by displaying images on multiple screens in a physical room.
To further approximate three-dimensional experience, VR can incorporate other sensory modalities. Sensors which track head movements can coordinate shifts in your gaze with adjustments to your visual environment, replicating the experience of turning your head to look in the physical world. Sound effects such as binaural beats or surround sound integrate hearing into the 3D experience. Haptic technology such as gloves and boots can even simulate experiences such as grabbing objects and walking.
VR can be applied to eCommerce in a number of major ways, including:
- Making marketing more engaging: VR allows you to create ads and content which engage audiences and encourage clicks
- Providing virtual previews of your inventory: VR lets you provide customers with an immersive experience of your product and service line
- Delivering three-dimensional views of your product line: VR enables customers to inspect products from multiple angles for a more complete and realistic product trial experience
- Product personalization: VR can allow customers to preview and select product specs, enabling greater customization
- Customer support: VR can be used to enhance product support tools such as tutorials and FAQ guides
These are just a few examples. VR can be incorporated anywhere in your operations where a more three-dimensional experience would enhance your customers’ experience and achieve your business goals.
How VR Drives eCommerce Sales
VR drives sales by promoting higher customer engagement, more persuasive sales presentations and better post-sales experiences. A study by ad platform OmniVirt found that VR photos generated a click-through rate 300% better than regular photos and video completion rates 46% higher than regular videos. This higher engagement increases disposition to buy, promoting higher conversion rates. Using VR to engage customers in the post-sales experience can further promote higher customer retention and repeat business.
How to Implement VR eCommerce
You can follow these steps to implement VR into your eCommerce process:
- Designate a VR adoption team leader to coordinate your efforts
- Establish a VR adoption budget
- Review your production, marketing and sales procedures and identify places where it might make sense to implement VR, such as content creation, digital advertising or product descriptions
- Set goals for your VR implementation
- Establish KPIs to set benchmarks and track progress
- Develop strategies to achieve your goals
- Select appropriate technology solutions
- Create required 3D models
- Track your results
- Make ongoing adjustments to optimize your performance
Success in putting these steps into practice will depend heavily on getting support from key decision-makers and strategists. Make sure to get buy-in from key personnel such as chief marketing officers, chief financial officers and chief technology officers. If you lack in-house technical expertise, seek an outside consultant for best results.
Augmented reality is one of the most important tools for 3D eCommerce. Let’s look at the essentials of AR eCommerce applications. We’ll cover how AR eCommerce works, how it drives sales and how to implement it in your business.
Chapter 4: How AR eCommerce Works
Augmented reality overlays the digital world with the physical world through the aid of devices such as smartphone and tablet cameras and displays or AR headsets. This blending of the digital and physical allow your customers to place your products in their physical space and interact with them through their smart devices. AR may add other immersive sensory components such as sound and touch.
Applied to eCommerce, AR can let you:
- Allow customers to virtually try-on your product and see what it would look like on their physical selves, such a 3D image of a shoe superimposed on the customers foot when viewed through their smartphone display
- Allow customers to select personalized options when interacting with a product
- Enable customers to test the experience of owning a product
- Allow customers to see your product in their environment before they commit to a purchase
- Show product information overlaying product images
- Add key customer support captions to product images
These are just a few examples. Any image of your products or related items can potentially can be enhanced by AR to provide an interactive, immersive online shopping experience that begins to parallel or in some cases exceed what a customer could experience in a traditional purchase process.
How AR Helps Drive eCommerce Sales
AR propels sales by engaging customers in an immersive environment that enables them to picture themselves owning and using your products and services. The ability to preview options, test selections and see themselves using your product makes customers more inclined to buy and less likely to return the item due to improper fit or size. AR can double online sales conversion rates, according to data from AR platform provider Adloid.[1: Susan Galer, “Augmented Reality Boosts Online Shopping Sales Up To 200%,” Forbes, September 28, 2001, https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2021/09/28/augmented-reality-boosts-online-shopping-sales-up-to-200/?sh=30c9e8247b26.]
How to Implement AR eCommerce
To put AR eCommerce into effect, follow these steps:
- Select an AR adoption team leader to manage your implementation
- Set an AR adoption budget
- Review your operations and identify where it might make sense to implement AR
- Define goals for your AR implementation
- Pick KPIs to define benchmarks and chart progress
- Design strategies to achieve your objectives
- Choose supporting technology solutions
- Build optimized 3D models of the appropriate size and format
- Track your performance against your KPIs to measure impact
- Make adjustments and improvements
For best results, get all key internal decision-makers on board with your AR adoption plan, and consult outside experts if you lack in-house expertise with AR.
VR and AR are two key technologies in the 3D eCommerce mix. How are these two technologies related? How do they differ? And are there times when one is more effective than the other? Let’s explore these question
Chapter 5: How Are VR and AR Similar?
VR and AR both immerse users in digital environments which add a dimension to the experience provided by non-3D digital technologies. VR engages the user with a fully digital environment which may reflect physical reality to a greater or lesser degree depending on the application. AR adds digital layers to physical reality. Both technologies may use supporting technologies such as binaural beats and haptic clothing to enhance the immersive experience. Both technologies are considered 3D in the sense that they deliver a different and more immersive experience than technologies that present two-dimensional images of reality.
How Do VR and AR Differ?
VR and AR differ in their relationship with physical reality. VR provides a digital environment that may resemble physical reality but is experienced relatively independently of it, similar to the experience of a daydream. AR takes images of physical reality and adds digital layers to them. Essentially, VR offers an alternative to physical reality, while AR enhances physical reality.
These differing relationships with physical reality entail different technological interfaces. VR is designed primarily for headsets, while AR is designed for smartphones. However, both types of technology may be used in conjunction with other interfaces such as PCs.
When Should You Use VR vs. AR?
Generally speaking, VR and AR each have specialized uses they each excel at, although they also can do some of the same things. VR is ideally suited for applications that involve displaying something a customer could not view easily or at all from their physical location. For example, VR can be used to create a virtual showroom allowing customers to browse your brick and mortar store without leaving their home.
AR, on the other hand, is ideally suited for applications that involve showing the customer how your products or services could interact with them in their existing physical environment. For example, AR can be used by a shopper to see how a handbag compares in size to an existing handbag they already own.
Another example serves to illustrate this essential difference between the two technologies. If an architectural design firm wanted to show a client a preview of a building design, they might use a VR model of the building. However, if a furniture store wanted to show the same client how a chair would look in the new building after it’s completed, they might use AR.
While VR and AR have different best uses, they’re not mutually exclusive, and they can sometimes serve similar functions. Both types of technology can be used to advertise products and create promotional content. Both also can be used to support the sales process. It is even possible to combine a VR environment with AR digital overlays. These technologies should be thought of as supporting each other rather than competing. They are two tools in your 3D toolkit.
Digital product showrooms allow you to provide customers with a 3D preview of your products before buying them. This can help you circumvent supply-chain limitations and eliminate dependence on physical samples. Let’s take a look at what digital showrooms are, how they can be used and how to go about building one for your company’s needs
Chapter 6: What Is a Digital Product Showroom?
Digital showrooms are 3D environments, often displayed through a web browser, that allow customers to view multiple 3D models, such as those in a new collection, without necessarily being present in a meeting room, showroom, or other physical space. Images may be organized into line sheets or collages.
Digital showrooms can be experienced on smartphones, computer screens, or other devices. They can be experienced by customers at home, in offices, on mobile devices. Digital showrooms most commonly support B2B sales use cases, such as retail wholesale selling.
Digital showrooms offer businesses a number of outstanding benefits:
- Letting customers preview before buying lets you sell even before you manufacture, reducing supply chain needs, with some companies saving as much as $83.1 million on manufacturing costs
- Allowing customers to preview items in 3D can help bring products to market more quickly, reducing time to market to as little as 41 weeks
- Digital showrooms cut down reliance on physical samples, enabling you to reduce your carbon footprint by as much as 61 kilograms annually
- Customers can gain a better understanding of your product by getting a 3D perspective, helping you increase sales and reduce marketing costs
These benefits make digital product showrooms a great option for engaging customers with 3D technology.
Digital Showrooms vs. Virtual Showrooms vs. Mixed Reality Showrooms
While some people use the terms “digital showroom” and “virtual showroom” interchangeably, these terms also can be distinguished to refer to different types of 3D environments. Another closely related term is mixed reality showrooms. Understanding the differences between these technologies can help you decide which type to use for a specific application.
Virtual showrooms are digital environments that allow customers to simulate an in-store shopping experience. They use images or videos to allow shoppers to navigate a virtual shopping environment. Shoppers can see the showroom and items in it from different angles by zooming in or out, looking from side to side, looking up and down, virtually “walking” to a different location in the showroom or even “hovering” over the showroom from a bird’s-eye view. Virtual showrooms are most commonly interacted with using a VR headset.
Some virtual showrooms combine elements of VR and AR into what are called mixed reality showrooms. In a mixed reality showroom, shoppers can use VR or AR technology to interact with virtual or real objects. To take a simple example, a touchscreen might allow clothes shoppers to swap different outfits onscreen.
Both virtual and mixed reality showroom options are distinct from digital showrooms. Digital showrooms organize 3D images into line sheets or collages rather than environments that resemble the interior of a store. They don’t seek to replicate the in-store experience the way virtual showrooms do. Rather, they focus on experiencing products themselves from a 3D perspective.
Digital showrooms also don’t necessarily include the ability to interact with virtual or real objects the way mixed reality showrooms do. They deliver a 3D visual experience of objects rather than the experience of manipulating objects.
While these varieties of showroom environments differ, they are not mutually exclusive. It is possible to combine digital showrooms with features of virtual or mixed reality showrooms. Which option or combination of options is best for you depends on what type of 3D experience you need to deliver. Digital showrooms allow you to focus on letting customers visually browse 3D product selections, while virtual showrooms replicate the experience of walking around a store and mixed reality showrooms incorporate the tactile experience of manipulating objects. Use the sensory modality or modalities appropriate for your needs.
Types of Virtual Showrooms
Virtual showrooms have found a growing range of applications in a number of industries, including:
- Virtual car showrooms: Shoppers can select vehicles to view, see vehicles from different angles, inspect interiors, try out different specs and conduct simulated test drives
- Virtual furniture showrooms: Buyers can view furniture selections, see furniture from different angles, look at color options, see how furniture would look in their home and try out different styles for rooms
- Virtual kitchen showrooms: Homeowners can preview kitchen makeovers by viewing options such as different styles, colors, paneling, counters, appliances and furniture
- Virtual fashion showrooms: Shoppers can browse selections of clothes and accessories, view them from different angles, try different color options, preview how they’d look wearing different items and experiment with different style combinations
These are some of today’s most popular virtual showroom options. As VR and AR technology grow more popular, more applications will emerge and 3D showrooms will increasingly assume the role of physical showrooms. While they probably will not replace physical showrooms completely, a growing number of consumers will expect brands to offer a 3D showroom experience.
How to Build a Digital Showroom
Building a digital showroom for B2B sales involves a few key tasks:
- Identifying which products you want to include in your showroom
- Capturing images to be used for 3D modeling
- Creating 3D models
- Organizing your 3D content
- Publishing your content
- Integrating your content with other software used in your marketing and sales process
- Sharing your content with customers
These steps can be completed using different types of image capturing technology and software tools. The VNTANA 3D digital showroom platform includes built-in AR features so customers can virtually place products within their own physical environment.
Selecting the right 3D Commerce platform can make it easier for your business to enjoy the benefits of 3D and AR technology. Here’s a look at what 3D Commerce platforms such as VNTANA do, what they can do for your business and how the VNTANA platform can help you implement your 3D eCommerce adoption plan.
Chapter 7: What Can 3D Commerce Modeling Platforms Do?
3D Commerce platforms include a wide array of specialized software for 3D and AR applications. VNTANA’s platform is designed to let you:
- Upload existing 3D designs or have images scanned or modeled for you for use in the platform
- Have those 3D models instantly optimized to reduce file size and polygon count
- Organize and manage those 3D models in a content management system
- Share those optimized models in a 3D web viewer with built-in AR
- Publish those optimized models anywhere on the web, social, or metaverse
- Add interactive hotspots to the models to highlight product information
- Add comments and collaborate with other team members or partners
- Secure your images with enterprise-quality protection so they can only be viewed by intended audiences
- Embed your content anywhere using a simple code that can be copy and pasted onto your website or into your eCommerce store
- Display those 3D models in digital showrooms
These features combined let you optimize, store, organize and share 3D content. They are designed to let you deploy 3D eCommerce at scale and in a short amount of time with not technical knowledge or 3D expertise required. The interface is set up to be user-friendly so you can get up and running quickly, and file size is optimized to make file access and viewing rapid for customers.
Benefits of Using a 3D Commerce Platform
The features of VNTANA’s 3D Commerce platform benefit your business by helping you:
- Empower sales and marketing teams with the ability to deliver 3D content optimized for fast downloading and viewing
- Increase sales with 3D and AR optimized for commerce
- Raise sales conversion rates by as much as 83.1%
- Reduce returns up to 40%
- Increase average order value up to 61%
- Reduce the need for physical samples
- Lower supply chain costs and eliminate constraints
- Speed up your time to market
- Improve your company’s ability to collaborate across teams from design to commerce in delivering a great 3D Commerce experience
- Accelerate your ability to deliver 3D Commerce at scale
These benefits let you harness 3D Commerce as a powerful sales tool to increase your revenue while cutting your costs. This is part of the reason why VNTANA is trusted by brands like Adidas, Diesel, Deckers, and Hugo Boss.
Get Started with 3D eCommerce with VNTANA
The VNTANA platform is designed to make it easy to get started with 3D Commerce. If your digital product creation team already designs in 3D, you can upload your designs directly to VNTANA to instantly create a 3D web viewer with built-in AR. If you need 3D models, VNTANA’s team can help you create models of your products quickly by scanning them or doing 3D modeling. Schedule a demo to see how VNTANA can help you accelerate your 3D strategy and put you on a fast track toward greater engagement, higher conversions and increased revenue.