Marker-Based AR Catalog App for a Fashion Brand Learn more
Learn how OTR has created an immersive AR catalog app…
Augmented Reality
Marker-Based AR Car Showroom Application
Challenge
Research suggests that 95% of car sales today are made at the dealerships. Even so, one of the biggest challenges automotive marketers and sales personnel face is winning buyers’ attention over the ever-growing competition. To convince someone to invest in a new car, you must provide them with the right information to make an informed decision while building an emotional connection with their future vehicle.
Our partner, a large car vendor, wanted to present some of their premium models for remotely located customers, with no need to travel to a specific showroom. To achieve that, OTR created an immersive AR app as a fast and engaging way to display the car’s appearance, interior, and characteristics beyond the traditional 2D printed brochures’ limits.
Solution: Description and Key Capabilities
SOLUTION:
Augmented Reality Application
INDUSTRY:
Retail
TECHNOLOGIES:
Unity Engine, C#, Vuforia
METHODOLOGIES:
Agile
PROJECT DURATION:
9.5 Weeks (Project Development)
PROJECT TEAM:
3D Modeler, 1 CG Artists, 1 Vuforia Developer, 1 C# Developer
Our key focus was to create an AR app that would provide the dealers with an immersive marketing tool to allow customers to “experience” the car, interact with it, and learn about its features. The key capabilities included the following:
Marker-based AR app enhancing 2D catalogs and leaflets;
Fully compatible with Android and iOS devices;
Custom 3D models based on product's photos and tech drawings
Customers can interact with the car, rotate it, view its interior
Custom design and simple, intuitive interface
Integrated animation, videos, and narration
Development approach:
OTR started with analyzing the customer’s requirements, outlining the apps’ general concept, and defining the key milestones. This time we chose the Agile methodology to facilitate the development process and introduce the necessary improvements on the go.
After that, we moved on to the most challenging part — creating the cars’ three-dimensional models to showcase. The design team built the 3D models from scratch, based on the product photos, tech drawings, and each model’s specs.
The development team decided to rely on the combination of the Vuforia and Unity engine. With a running history of successful projects on this stack, we knew it was a great way to create 2D and 3D objects in the AR environment for both Android and iOS. The entire process had three stages: creating provisions to track brochure’s markers, transforming them into the code a mobile device can process, and adding in the previously generated 3D overlays, complete with the interactive features, captions, and infographics.
Results
The final AR app has become a perfect tool to educate customers on their technical capabilities before entering a showroom. The outdated brochure formats are now transformed into compelling stories, filled with multiple details and information you can interact with through the screen of your phone or tab.
Like a mobile game, the augmented reality showroom makes the car selection a far less stressful and much more engaging process, something not many of our client’s market competitors are ready to offer.
The AR-enhanced presentations and customer meetings have already resulted in a 34% increase in the number of showcased models’ orders, boosting the total sales count. More benefits included savings on marketing campaigns, with over 80% of clients mentioning they would love to see more products in AR.
