VR \ AR armed with digital retail

“I created the OASIS because I felt uncomfortable in the real world. I did not know how to get along with people. I was afraid all my life. Until I realized that the end is near. Only then did I realize that along with how cruel and terrible reality can be, it remains the only place where you can find real happiness. Because reality is real. Do you understand? ” “Yes,” I replied, “I think I understand.” “Good,” he winked. “Then do not repeat my mistake.” Do not lock yourself here. ”
Ernest Kline.

1. Introduction.

The time is coming when the humanities, just like business, exist in such close symbiosis with the world of information technology that linguists begin to write code, and programmers, admins and engineers begin to engage in digital marketing and sales. And sooner or later, this symbiosis will absorb all the currently known technologies. I suggest today to talk about how VR and AR have become a powerful weapon in the arsenal of digital retail.

But first, I think it would be wise to make sure that we understand all concepts in one language.

2. Terms and definitions.

The most unambiguous will be the definition of digital retail. These are all sales and transactions made using digital commerce or by offering services and goods using digital space. Probably, almost everyone reading this article at least once ordered goods from China or the United States, so this is digital retail.
Realities are more complicated. Over time, the concept of virtual reality (virtual reality-further VR) or artificial reality has changed. Now, VR is a world created entirely by technical means, transmitted to a person by affecting his senses: touch, smell, sight, hearing, etc. With the growth of the level of technology, reality began to not only simulate the environment, but also the reaction to user interaction with reality.
Augmented reality (augmented realit - hereinafter referred to as AR), in turn, is the result of the introduction of any other data into the field of perception of data, affecting certain senses in order to supplement information about the environment. Everyone, probably, likes to include in the headphones some kind of track that matches the mood during a long walk. So music in this case supplements the audio information contained in reality.
That is, with virtualization of reality, a new space is created, and with the addition of imaginary objects are added to reality.

3. When did they begin to change reality?

Any developed technology differs little from magic, we all remember, right? So people began to “conjure” in the direction of VR and AR more than 100 years before the launch of the first computer. The progenitor of all virtual reality glasses became Charles Winston's stereoscopic glasses of the 1837 model. Two identical flat images were placed in the device at different angles, and the human brain perceived this as a three-dimensional static image.
Time passed and after 120 years Sensorama was created - a device that allows you to see a dynamic three-dimensional image.

Further, the industry moved forward and in just 50 years there were mobile platforms, mobile glasses and helmets, controllers and special programs that were written to simulate reality.
Only in the 2010s were representatives of the gaming industry talking about VR. Before that, there were also games, but not so common. The main user of this technology in the middle of the 20th century was the guys from NASA who trained astronauts, arranged exams for knowledge of the equipment of manned and unmanned modules, etc.
Unfortunately, augmented reality does not have such a speed of technology development and visual objects seem ridiculous and very “cartoony”.

4. Digital retail and VR \ AR. Backgrounds, cases, development paths.

Okay, back in 2019. Technologies are striding widely, taking over various areas, including retail. Sometimes, it would seem, a simple start in business can lead to a big financial problem.
Consider an example, you are the owner of a furniture store, you have a warehouse in the country where suppliers bring finished furniture. To start a business, you decide to open several points of sale. But it’s expensive to bring copies of furniture for sale to every point, and renting large rooms is also not entirely cheap, especially at the start. But in a small office you can offer a person in the catalog to choose the samples he is interested in, and then load the pre-prepared scale model with AR glasses, drive with the client to his house or office and “try on” a closet or sofa to a real room. This is interesting and this is the future. I agree that 100% of buyers will not be able to agree with such ideas, because many people want to "see with their hands."
Those. Unfortunately, the prerequisites for doing business are not so much a thirst for technology, but a desire to save. And if we’re not talking about the closet, but, for example, about a ready-made interior solution or repair, then lay the texture of the wallpaper on the walls, arrange the furniture from the catalog, choose the carpets and look at the curtains without leaving the house ... is this interesting, right?
Looking for a dress, but there is no time for fitting? Does the car need a new body kit? All this can be selected using the technologies mentioned above. However, while the range of products sold using AR is limited. It is difficult and probably impossible to sell food products, raw materials for production and much more with a change in reality.
However, digital retail is not only goods, but as I said earlier, services. Choosing a tour of interesting places it would be interesting to see these places before buying tickets, and if the buyer is a person with increased requirements (limited opportunities) then virtual reality can sometimes be the only way to see the Chinese Wall or Victoria Falls. This is after all the sale of a service, which means retail. The service is provided using high technology, which means digital retail.

5. Development?

Of course, these technologies have a development in terms of sales. This development on the part of technology looks like MixedReality, when imaginary objects will be indistinguishable from real ones, and on the part of business, the development of new sales methods.
The future is not far off when for shopping you just need to pick up a virtual reality helmet and put on tactile gloves. The room will immediately transform and you will find yourself in the middle of the counters and virtual buyers scurrying there.
Do you think we will not build an Oasis? (ps It's an easter egg)