Augmented Reality, the cutting edge of new product testing

As a follow-up to our video discussion recently on the usage of Augmented Reality, please find an overview about the technology, different use cases, the application within Market Research and what's next for AR by our in-house AR expert Davis Schierlmann .

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality (AR)? is a form of technology where stimuli are presented to the user by leveraging a smart device’s camera to project virtual images, videos, or characters onto the user’s existing physical environment.?

What is the Difference Between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?

The main difference between AR and VR comes from the medium that is used to present stimuli to the user. Augmented reality projects virtual stimuli onto a user’s existing environment and can be accessed via smartphone or smart device. Virtual reality, on the other hand, requires a computer or a dedicated VR piece of hardware (such as Oculus’ Meta Quest) and usually leverages sensors, headsets, and/or gloves to project virtual stimuli in a virtual environment. The distinction between projecting onto a virtual (VR) vs physical (AR) environment is the most crucial distinction between AR and VR. As such, mobile augmented reality systems provide services without constraining the individual’s whereabouts to a specially equipped area like VR does – this means that AR users can move freely as they normally would without being constrained by their location or by the need for expensive hardware.??

How does it work??

AR works by using computer vision technology to scan a user’s environment with the ultimate goal of adapting a customized virtual stimuli onto the user’s environment. The two key elements that make AR work are the smart device’s camera capacity to capture the environment around them as they move, and the software that calculates and projects some computer generated images or content in front of them.

AR for Consumers

For millions of smart device owners, Pokemon Go was their first meaningful exposure to AR, with Niantic's popular video game amassing a peak of 45 million concurrent users back in August of 2016. The app utilized a user’s real world location to create a more realistic game world and then leveraged their user’s cameras to project in-game characters on their physical environments in real time. AR has become more and more commonplace since the release of the popular app, which is evident most clearly through Niantec seeing their user base nearly double from 45 million users in 2016 to over 80 million users in 2022.?

After IOS 11 and ARCore1.0 were released back in 2018, developers and users for Iphone and Android alike were able to start uploading and downloading new apps that leveraged AR on a widespread basis. The low barrier to entry for AR usage has led to widespread household penetration for AR in the United States; in fact, as of 2022 over 93 million people in the US already use AR. As a result, the current market value for AR, Virtual reality, and Mixed Reality is estimated to be $30.7 billion. More broadly speaking, the market size for AR internationally is poised to exceed 300 billion dollars by 2024 which makes investing in AR a lucrative opportunity both domestically and abroad.

AR in Market Research?

?So why use AR in the market research field? Well, the short answer is that consumers are already using AR for a variety of different occasions, from shopping, to renovation, to gaming, across a number of different platforms – all from smart devices that they already own.? As AR has gotten easier to develop and consume, the use cases for AR have expanded to help both the CPG and market research industries drive innovation and ideation.?

One of the first adaptations of AR in the market research field, AR Visualizer, was created by Nailbiter due in large part to the fact that AR technology has advanced, been tested and deployed, and is now scalable for research purposes. Moreover, AR introduced a solution to pre-market product concept and pack testing that online surveys never could fully fulfill – user interactivity and full 3D visual fidelity. Without using AR, online surveys were forced to rely on isometric views of a product as a best case scenario and front facing views of a product in a worst case scenario – effectively limiting a 3D pack to a 2D view. By leveraging AR rather than online surveys, firms can render every side of a product correctly and, ultimately, secure reactions from consumers at the moment of truth.

While it was possible to solicit feedback from shoppers before AR existed in the market research field, it was never scalable; furthermore, packaging and planogram prototypes had to be tested in pilot stores or in controlled environments with small base sizes.? AR has made a direct impact on the market research field by allowing our users to react to packaging, displays, and full planograms at the moment of truth. Ultimately, AR has been a useful tool to market research firms as well as for clients. For market research firms, AR enables more rich insights at a cheaper cost; for CPG firms, AR-centric market research testing allows the firm to test new products, displays, and planogram ideas to more panelists for much less money.?

The Future of AR

AR glasses such as Microsoft Hololens, Magicleap, and Google glass are the next stage of innovation for augmented reality as a platform in the coming decade. While some new glasses like Google Glass 2 aren’t consumer-centric products yet nor available to the public, new services like real-time translation and location based directions inside glasses lenses should prove to be valuable additions to the lives of AR consumers, market research firms, and the CPG industry alike.?

Written by Davis Schierlmann