A Detailed Guide to 3D Commerce Strategy

A recent significant development in the history of eCommerce is the advent of 3D options for consumers. Businesses that use this tech see a rise in consumer engagement, conversion rates, average order values, and a decrease in return rates. In this guide, you will learn the fundamentals of 3D eCommerce. For ease of readability, we split it into 3 parts. Part 1 will focus on the basics of 3D commerce strategy, Part 2 on 3D use cases, and in last part we recall what are the elements of an effective ecommerce 3D strategy. This last can be applied for 3D ecommerce as we intend to implement at Virtualia Shop, our business related to virtual shopping.

At Virtualia Interactive Technologies, we provide a unique?3D shopping experience?by making all of our products available in full 360 degrees, use virtual reality and we are structuring our partner stores from the ground up so they can be explored in augmented reality. As we detailed in our 3D services and in the coming serie of articles about the Virtualia Shop Network, the availability of thousands if not million of 3D assets opens up a world of opportunities in the next decade.

Figure: Example of 3D product visual — an Italian Sauce sold by one of our partner stores in Luxembourg

Figure: Example of “dollhouse” view of one of our partner stores in Luxembourg.

Figure: Example of a 3D pasta product shown in augmented reality and projected on a table at home

Part 1 - What Is E-Commerce Strategy and 3D Commerce?

3D E-commerce

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) 3D models are built into web pages and mobile apps used for 3D commerce. The objective is to provide potential buyers with a graphic, user-friendly 3D product model.

The term “3D commerce” can refer to many different things. Whatever you want to call it, the consumer is at the center of the various factors that help us make 3D a major player in the world of e-commerce.

Consumers value variety and ease of use during their shopping experience. They seek a profound sense of identification with the brand in some circumstances. Here we describe how immersive eCommerce may bring these effects to clients.

3D e-commerce provides a wide range of exciting experiences for shoppers, such as:

• View-in-room/Virtual showrooms let customers experiment with furniture and decor layouts in virtual rooms before purchasing a 3D eCommerce platform. It can be found on major furniture retailers like IKEA and Macy’s websites. We propose virtual showrooms for the store owners to showcase a specific product. For users, they can preview the 3D model at home through the screen of their phone.
• Using 3D product configurators, customers may alter the look of almost any item, from home furnishings to fashion accessories like Nike sneakers or Bose headphones.
• Customers may now visually configure, price, and receive quotes on major items like TimberTech decks and Chevrolet Corvette sports vehicles. Because the 3D technology computes a bill of materials, ultimate pricing, preferences, and budgets may be considered during the design process.
• Makeup from brands like Revlon and Ulta can be virtually tried on by customers using their own images. They can try on anything imaginable, from Prada to Warby Parker glasses. Virtualia shop offers this native service to all our shop partners. We are democratizing AR try-ons.
• Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) for Photograph Substitute: Creating the perfect atmosphere for a product by conventional means of production is time-consuming and expensive. CGI allows marketers to show consumers different product iterations, including different settings, colors, textures, uses, and more, without significantly increasing time to market or costs. It’s not just high-end retailers like Restoration Hardware and Walmart that use CGI to bring their wares to life, either. 3D models are suitable for product variations. We can thus offer any color and texture variation you can imagine for. We also offer bodyscan services or non-fungible-self that allows anyone to try-on a product on their avatar.

Strategy for E-commerce

The ability to make a profit from online transactions and efficiently fulfill orders is the end goal of any company’s e-commerce strategy. No company should try to offer products or services online without first developing a solid e-commerce strategy, just as no company should launch without a business plan. The primary focus of an e-commerce strategy should be on making sales, but it must also take into account merchandising, retailing, price strategy, selling, and fulfillment. After all, revenue is what keeps the lights on.

It is crucial to differentiate between an e-commerce strategy and a marketing plan for online stores at this time. A company’s approach to online transactions is outlined in an e-commerce strategy, whereas the acquisition and retention of customers is the focus of an e-commerce marketing strategy. While both are important to a business’s success, this article’s emphasis will be on the e-commerce strategy.

Why is it so important?

Deloitte stated in a recent analysis that “the pandemic is fast altering human behavior towards online channels, and the alterations are likely to stick post-pandemic.” While the crisis has made it difficult for many businesses to stay afloat in the near term, it has also created opportunities for those who are willing to take risks and invest in their internet business in an ambitious and timely manner. Companies that make the bold, timely decision to adapt their operations to the shift in consumer behavior stand a good chance of becoming market leaders in the wake of a pandemic.

Consumers of all ages will look for immersive 3D shopping environments by 2026. Due to the rise of online purchasing and the popularity of smartphones with augmented reality features, customers may eventually stop using brick-and-mortar stores altogether. Reason number one is why retail businesses should switch to 3D Commerce right now.

When you enter a store, what do you do first? The product being examined. The same applies to shopping online. Sight is crucial to human navigation. Approximately ninety percent of what the human brain takes in is visual.?The better the image, the greater the likelihood of a sale and the greater the level of satisfaction among buyers.

No matter what you’re selling or doing for a living, the consumer and his or her desires and requirements will always be your starting point. Marketing Land reports that a growing number of shoppers visiting online stores anticipate seeing visuals of products on the store’s product page. If consumers were content with seeing three product photographs three years ago, they now expect to see eight.?This means that online shoppers are increasingly interested in interacting directly with the products they wish to purchase.

Since we can’t use our other senses online (taste, smell, touch), making eye contact is much more crucial. To be remembered, images and videos are superior.

The average person remembers only 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read, but they retain 80% of what they see or do.

Two third of buyers value high-quality visual content more than written descriptions of products or star ratings from previous buyers.

We’re not only talking about virtual reality or augmented reality internet purchasing experience. The current fashion, known as the “omnichannel approach,” combines offline and online shopping. In other words,?you must integrate online and offline products to create a unique customer care experience.?User loyalty can be increased using omnichannel marketing.

In a nutshell, 3D Commerce makes shopping more exciting for consumers and less frustrating for merchants by decreasing returns. Customers mainly send products back to internet retailers because they don’t look like the pictures. Users can have a close look at the product with the use of photorealistic 3D models and augmented reality technologies. As they gain knowledge, the potential for loss in their investment decreases significantly.

Part 2 - Is 3D good for my business?

3D solutions are ideally suited for businesses experiencing:

• Costly product photography
• Slow delivery of product visuals
• There’s more demand for online interaction and pictures of products
• Maintaining relevance in an increasingly digital world.
• Enhancing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in E-Commerce about Engagement, Product Returns, Conversions, etc.
• The overcoming of current pandemic constraints and hurdles
• Bridging the digital and in-store experience gap

To know more read one of our Medium articles on that?question.

The Case for 3D in Business

3D and AR technologies are altering consumer business practices and the shopping experience. Three-dimensional modeling and virtual reality are the most significant retail innovations since the Internet’s advent. It has been shown that interactive and immersive product visualizations like 3D viewers and augmented reality increase customer engagement and drove sales. The implications can be found in every phase, from conceptualization to manufacturing to marketing. In the not-too-distant future, this technology will be necessary rather than merely convenient. Visualizing products, asking questions, and making personalized purchases are becoming increasingly important to consumers, and 3D is one of the best methods to meet these demands.

Today, the issue is not whether or not to adopt 3D but how to do so effectively and at scale.

Top 8 3D Use Cases

We offer diverse skills to a variety of clients. This can be categorized into eight groups:

1. 3D modeling: 3D modeling allows you to create a digital representation of any physical location or object for usage in AR or VR. It is also used in 3D configurators and virtual showrooms.
2. Augmented reality: Augmented reality allows you to supplement your current view of the environment with digital data displayed on your computer, smartphone, or tablet.
3. Photogrammetry: Using photogrammetry, you can turn a scan of any small, physical object (a sculpture, product, vehicle, clothing, or even yourself) into a very accurate digital replica.
4. 3D virtual staging: Create a walkable 3D model of your empty room and fill it with furniture using 3D virtual staging. This is useful for home furniture business and this the technology we are proposing at Virtualytics our real estate 3D design agency.
5. 3D Virtualization/virtual shop tours: We scan any area in stereoscopic three-dimensionality for visits that feel like you are really there on any device (mobile, tablet, desktop, VR headset).
6. Media?services/virtual brank marketing: We provide a full media service, including footage, visual effects, and music to enhance any 3D model’s media content. We also place ads in any 3D scanned store of our shop network. We also offer virtual doors to jump from one store to another. For that simply partner with shop owners of our Virtualia Shop Network to propose a full buying experience from shoes to head if you have a complementary product, this could be really a new shopping experience for customers.
7. 3D live capture: This is more for entertainment business and 3D ads. We can capture an entire performance in real-time, including the performer’s face, body, and lips, with a 3D live capture system. This is the technology we are investing in for our 3D live concerts in our virtual worlds. This could also serve for virtual assistance in our Virtualia Shop Network instead of current use of bots. We are working in a 3.0 bot version using recorded avatar facies that talk and interact with the user increasing the interest and attention of every customer.
8. Mutliverse and Metaverse: We are working on our own version of virtual worlds before Facebook announcement based on photorealistic virtual worlds with a serious business underlying and backed by real and creative added value. We use non-fungible selfs that represent yourself in our virtual worlds, NFTs to store ownership and a blockchain to support the decentralized finance that will interconnect between those virtual worlds. The metaverse is a graphical, hypothetical version of a rich virtual place where individuals can work, play, shop, and socialize, using avatars built by Meta with a community of artists around their ecosystem.

Our hybrid and virtual worlds, part of our Virtualia ecosystem, rely on these 3D foundational services.

Part 3 - Elements of an (effective) e-commerce strategy

These are the components of an e-commerce strategy that should be integrated into a resort or attractions business regularly:

• Defining Goals

The “why,” “what,” and “how” of your online company goals are crucially important. Why does it want this, exactly? In what ways does the company plan to achieve its stated objectives? What effect will its approach to and success in online commerce have on the company as a whole? Create an objective, and then try to quantify it. Utilize the SMART goal-setting method (Specific (simple, sensible, significant);?Measurable (meaningful, motivating);?Achievable (agreed, attainable);?Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based);?Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive)).

• Establish a Timeline and Key Events

When do you plan to start working on the e-commerce strategy? When do you expect the rollout to conclude and online sales to start? How long will the plan be implemented, and at what intervals will its efficacy be evaluated? The key question is, “How will success be measured, and by what metrics?” Also, don’t forget to set goals for the strategy’s assessment and tweaking at key points for continued growth and success.

• Identify and classify many target audiences (or “Buyer Personas”) for your business.

The e-commerce and advertising approaches are based on the buyers’ identities. They’re much more in-depth than simply learning about your typical clientele. They instead provide information about psychographics, such as distinguishing behaviors and lifestyle markers, that can improve a company’s ability to create engaging marketing and e-commerce experiences. The consumer’s journey to buy or conversion may require multiple decision trees, each tailored to a specific persona.

• Strategies for pricing

As was previously noted, pricing strategies use methods and resources that can affect e-commerce sales. Data analysis is at the heart of Revenue Management, allowing for more precise forecasting and managing demand and related customer buying habits. You might think of it as a strategic goal to maximize profits by selling the optimal number of tickets to the optimal customers at the optimal price points via the optimal distribution channels.

Many resorts and attractions use dynamic pricing because it allows for dynamic pricing based on demand, season, day, time of entrance, and when customers buy, resulting in improved revenue management. Consider the process of finding and buying a plane ticket. It’s conceivable that the price has gone up due to dynamic pricing if some time has passed since the initial investigation was conducted. Using dynamic pricing, customers learn that it’s better to make a decision and purchase a product immediately than to risk paying more later. This type of consumer behavior learning results in higher advance sales and more stable revenue for an attraction that sells tickets. There are times when alternate pricing systems, such as variable pricing (where prices change daily but do not change daily over time), make more sense than dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing may be the better option if the ticketed attraction is more of an activity consumed daily despite limited inventory on any given day. However, a pricing strategy is essential to a well-rounded e-commerce plan, and the e-commerce platform must have the capacity to process and present dynamic pricing to customers (e.g., different combinations of prices and quantities of tickets on different days across a season).

• Conversion Funnel

The conversion funnel represents the path customers take from entering an online store to purchasing a product/service. Buyer intent is at the wide top of the funnel. A user’s journey toward conversion may begin off-site, on a search engine, or on a website for a reseller.

The conversion happens in the center of the funnel. Customers browsing the site may start putting together their shopping carts or decide to leave without making a purchase. The Conversion Rate measures the percentage of site visitors that actually make a purchase. How simple the checkout process is, how clear the messaging is, how competitive the pricing is, and how quickly customers can find what they need are all factors that affect the conversion rate. When it comes to selling admission to a tourist site, pricing is second only to the product’s identity and quality (what you’re selling) in determining success. Learn more about the various KPIs your company should be monitoring here. The goal of any savvy business owner should be to increase their business’s?conversion rate and revenue. They achieve this by regularly inspecting analytics and testing modifications that improve the conversion process. Both?average order size per transaction?and?conversion?might be greatly increased with some minor tweaks to pricing strategy, the addition of an upsell or cross-sell opportunity, or a change in the purchasing process. Some seasonal strategies may not be appropriate for another season. No matter how high the conversion rate may seem, there is always space for improvement.

• Device Optimization

Mobile e-commerce cannot be an afterthought, even while desktop e-commerce still results in higher average online order values (by over 30 percent). E-commerce strategies now need to account for the increasing number of customers making purchases via their mobile phones. If a company wants to earn as much money as possible, it needs to ensure that its mobile experience is just as good as its desktop one.

Conclusion

As time goes on, the market for buying and selling experiences and activities becomes increasingly dominated by online platforms. That is why we are helping physical and disconnected stores with a direct integration to the world of 3D with a custom 3.0 ecommerce website allowing them to be open all the time, more resilient to economic downturns or sanitary restrictions and attracting the youngest generation of consumers who are a major user of online shopping.

If you are interested to join the Virtualia Shop Network or to implement a 3D commerce strategy,?contact us.

We are open to capital investment

We are looking from 300K€ (1 product to market) to 50M€ (whole ecosystem). If interested to invest, contact us at [email protected]

To learn more about what we?do

1- Stay tuned to our Medium article campaign by subscribing @The Virtualia Team

2- Visit our company website at https://virtualia.ai to know more about what we are doing at Virtualia Interactive Technologies and understand better how 3DVRAR applications can have major impact on both the real and virtual economy.

3- Follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/virtualia-interactive-technologies/