3D is no longer optional, just like video is standard today, having 3D as part of your storefront is soon going to be mandatory because it’s driving real results.
3D is proven to double online conversion rate while reducing returns by 40% because it gives consumers such a better understanding of the product. We’re also seeing an average of 85 seconds dwell time, almost double that of image ads and a 33% click-through rate to purchase. This is real money to the bottom line.
And it’s not just B2C, we are also seeing these significant increases in sales for B2B. Covid obviously expedited this as it shut down sales travel and delayed sample deliveries. Without access to physical samples, the fashion industry was forced to try virtual showrooms and those with 3D visualization were in a much better position. 2020 proved you can sell wholesale digitally and the benefits are leading companies to double down on digital showrooms.
Replacing physical prototypes with digital is a huge step forward for the apparel, footwear and consumer goods industry. There are significant cost savings implications because samples are usually 3X the normal unit cost, plus shipping. This in turn reduces carbon footprint which is also a real cost for companies in Europe that pay for carbon credits. Of course sending a digital file is much faster so you speed up time to market. And lastly, because it’s digital you can still make changes and do product testing at a much faster rate with a broader audience.
Mesh01 is a product testing company for brands like Nike, The North Face, Lululemon and more. VNTANA is working with them to enable digital testing with 3D models. So before heavy investment is made in tooling and molds, brands can get significant feedback to tweak their designs before production.
Testing with 3D digital files provides exponential benefits. The number of variants you can test is almost infinite as long as the testers are happy at their computers. You can also get a way more diverse group of testers from around the world because you’re not constrained by shipping products. And of course it’s a much faster turnaround time.
Physical product testing is not going to completely go away, but with 3D it can significantly be reduced.
Whether you are creating a digital showroom or wanting to do product testing in 3D it is important you start with a 3D design file. If you are a clothing, footwear, bags, furniture and other consumer goods company, your digital product creation team is most likely using Browzwear, Clo, Modo, or Keyshot to design in 3D. These files are great to start with, but they need to be optimized for other use cases. Digital showrooms, eCommerce or product testing need to be down on the web or in game-engines like Unity or Unreal and unfortunately these design programs to not meet their standard.
VNTANA is helping companies streamline their 3D workflows by providing a cloud CMS that automatically converts existing 3D design files into web standard formats that are ready to use across eCommerce, social media, mobile, game-engines and more so you have a single source of truth 3D file per product to use across the retail value chain.
This also makes collaboration easier. 3D designs are huge files with every detail for manufacturing, making it extremely difficult to share them to internal and external stakeholders throughout the product development and sales process. B2B sales require decisions across a multitude of internal and external stakeholders. Without a 3D standard, every person who wanted to view the 3D model would need the 3D software that was used to make it. Higher up decision makers are not trained on any of these software programs so this is not an option. Instead they are getting screenshots of 3D which is not the same. Having a web standard file that is easily shared is essential.
This is why VNTANA works with the Khronos Group, which is setting standards to enable 3D at scale. They are the architects of glTF, the “jepg” of 3D and WebGL. These technologies are enabling us to deploy 3D across a huge array of devices through the web so everyone can look at the same 3D product. This is expediting the digital transformation of B2B sales with the power of 3D visualization. If you want help getting started, contact us to talk to a 3D expert.
