How Can Spatial Computing Transform Your Retail Space?

Spatial computing technology is set to change traditional shopping forever, making it immersive, interactive and responsive to the client's needs. For instance, AR can allow customers to see how furniture might look in their homes or try on clothes virtually, reducing the uncertainty often accompanying online shopping. This blend of digital and physical worlds improves the shopping experience and drives customer engagement and satisfaction.

Therefore, by utilising AR, VR, and other spatial computing technologies, retailers can design services that engage customers in novel ways - achieving a new level of spatial commerce.In this text, we aim to explore how this technology can rewrite retail from scratch, leveraging daily shopping to create a universe of captivating experiences. First, it is essential to consider how these experiences can engage with clients, namely sensing experiences and acting experiences. Sensing mechanisms, which include technologies that measure and track, such as motion detectors and image capture devices, serve as the foundational layer for gathering nuanced consumer data.

Conversely, acting mechanisms encompass elements that can initiate environmental changes, like dynamic lighting systems and interactive displays, and respond to insights derived from sensing technologies. This symbiotic relationship between sensors and actuators facilitates the creation of Spatial User Experiences, emphasising a transversal understanding of consumer inputs and the tailored outputs they trigger.

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Acting and sensing experiences

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By categorising these acting and sensing experiences according to simplified senses — sight, sound, touch, and spatial — we can start to understand immersive experiences as appealing to human needs and perceptions. For example, intelligent shelves with sensors can detect when a customer picks up a product and display additional information, reviews, or complementary items on nearby screens.

This level of interactivity and personalisation makes shopping more engaging and helps customers make informed decisions, ultimately driving sales and loyalty.Integrating spatial computing into service design also opens new possibilities for data collection and analysis in retail environments. Retailers can gain valuable insights into shopping behaviours and preferences by tracking customer movements and in-store interactions through sensors and cameras. This data can be used to optimise store layouts, product placements, and inventory management, ensuring that customers find what they need quickly and efficiently.

Moreover, understanding the flow of customer traffic and dwell times in specific areas can help retailers design better in-store experiences, such as optimising the placement of promotional displays or creating engaging focal points that attract attention. This data-driven approach to service design enhances the customer experience and improves operational efficiencies and profitability.

These sensing and acting experiences can be translated, as examples, into:

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Sound
Designing spatial experiences incorporating sound involves using technologies that capture and interpret audio inputs to create interactive and immersive environments. By leveraging sensors like microphones, sound level meters, speech recognition technology, acoustic sensors, and Doppler devices alongside actuators such as digital assistants, speakers, buzzers, and chatbots, retail spaces can engage customers by enhancing the unique ambience and objectives of the space.

Sight
Creating spatial user experiences based on sight involves integrating visual technologies and design elements that enhance the physical environment and engage customers in novel ways. We can craft immersive and interactive spaces by utilising sensors like cameras, motion detectors, light sensors, and X-rays, alongside actuators like projectors, lights, screens, and AR/VR displays. Focusing on sight and integrating these technologies and strategies, retail spaces can become more than just places to shop—they can be environments where customers learn, create, relax, and engage in memorable ways.
Touch
Integrating touch into spatial user experiences can profoundly impact customer interaction and satisfaction in retail environments. By employing tactile sensors, buttons, and environmental sensors like humidity and temperature alongside actuators such as heating elements, cooling systems, linear actuators, motors, vibration units, and levers, retailers can create immersive, interactive spaces that cater to the sense of touch.
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Spatial
Creating spatial user experiences in retail settings involves leveraging location-based and movement data to personalise and enhance the shopping experience. By using sensors such as GPS, IP tracking, accelerometers, gyroscopes, geofencing, persistence tracking, anchoring, occupancy sensors, and RFID, alongside actuators for delivery and services, retailers can craft environments that respond to and anticipate customer needs, enhancing the customer's experience and relationship with the brand.

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And how are brands responding to spatial commerce?

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Brands are rapidly adopting spatial computing technologies, particularly with the latest release by Apple; this adoption has been accelerated. With Apple Vision Pro and future AR technologies, content can blend seamlessly with the physical world, creating more interactive and engaging shopping experiences. For example, Vision Pro can enhance e-commerce by offering virtual try-ons and personalised shopping environments, enabling customers to interact with products intuitively and immersively. This transformation exemplifies how spatial computing can elevate customer engagement and satisfaction. Apple’s Vision Pro has already shown practical applications in retail, such as a specialised e-commerce navigation experience designed by HumanNYC, a Shopify agency. This innovative approach directly projects a floating website window in the user's visual field. Vision Pro enhances the shopping experience by creating a visually immersive environment, making it more interactive and contextually rich.
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Other brands are also harnessing the power of spatial computing to enhance their retail offerings—for instance, Alo Yoga and E.l.f. Cosmetics have developed apps that leverage the capabilities of Apple Vision Pro. Alo Yoga's app combines wellness and shopping in a virtual nature environment, encouraging purchases by showcasing products in a captivating setting. E.l.f. Cosmetics' application integrates gaming elements with product discovery, offering a playful yet informative shopping experience.
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Additionally, IKEA has entered spatial computing with their Co-Worker Game on Roblox, creating a virtual store where users can interact with products and earn real money. Boss has also ventured into spatial computing with a virtual showroom as part of Metaverse Fashion Week, offering an immersive, interactive shopping experience. These examples demonstrate how brands creatively use spatial computing to provide unique, engaging retail experiences, blending entertainment with practical shopping, enhancing consumer engagement and driving sales.
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Luxury brands, in particular, are embracing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to reimagine their online shopping experience. For instance, Gucci and Cartier use AR to offer virtual try-ons for shoes, accessories, and jewellery, allowing customers to visualise products on themselves before making a purchase. These experiences enhance product discovery and reduce the likelihood of returns. Louis Vuitton has developed VR experiences that immerse customers in their brand narrative, exploring iconic locations and the brand's history. Porsche leverages mixed-reality technology to offer immersive product demonstrations, allowing customers to explore the all-electric Macan in detail. These innovative applications of AR and VR enable luxury brands to deliver personalised, immersive, and interactive shopping experiences, positioning themselves as leaders in digital innovation and enhancing their appeal to tech-savvy consumers.

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What needs to be taken into account when choosing spatial computing technologies?

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Considering retrofitting costs, scalability, industry vertical, and location is crucial. Utilising off-the-shelf spatial computing hardware that doesn't require extensive programming or customisation is vital to rapid deployment and flexibility. Implementing spatial computing in retail settings demands versatile and user-friendly hardware, minimising the need for extensive programming or physical modifications to existing infrastructure.

‍Software Compatibility: Ensure the hardware is supported or can be integrated with your chosen software platforms for content management and analytics.
‍Ease of Use: Prioritise devices that offer intuitive setup and maintenance processes to reduce the need for specialised training or technical support.
‍Customer Experience: Choose hardware that enhances, rather than complicates, the customer experience, ensuring interactions are engaging and accessible.

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In conclusion, spatial commerce and service design can potentially revolutionise retail environments. By merging the physical and digital worlds, retailers can create immersive, interactive, and personalised shopping experiences that meet the evolving expectations of modern consumers. The strategic use of technology to enhance service design ensures that every customer interaction is smooth and satisfying, fostering loyalty and driving sales. As retailers continue to embrace these innovations, the boundaries between online and offline shopping will blur, leading to a more connected and engaging retail landscape where customer experience is paramount.

At anitya, our mission is to bridge the gap between highly advanced spatial computing technologies and users who want to create retail experiences for their companies or clients. We offer a web-based low code toolkit for creating multiplayer experiences, including gamified training, collaboration & workshops, and e-commerce solutions that any browser and device can access - guaranteeing software compatibility and an ease-of-use platform that smooths the customer experience.

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