KETTERING, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Marxent, the leader in Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and 3D design and visualization applications, today announced a new release of their 3D Room Designer for Web and Mobile – and a vision for changing the real estate footprint of furniture showrooms.
Since the initial roll out, Marxent’s 3D Cloud™-powered 3D Room Designer has helped shoppers create thousands of design and Virtual Reality visualization projects and has generated millions of dollars in transactions. 3D Room Designer 2.0 combines the patent-pending Photo to Floorplan™ feature with performance improvements. Photo to Floorplan™ now comes standard with every 3D Room Designer subscription.
“Retailers and manufacturers asked us to help them update design and visualization processes that were stuck in the ’80s. This along with the Pinterest and Houzz-inspired trends of shopping by photo, led us to invest in the human factors research behind Photo to Floorplan™,” said Beck Besecker, Marxent’s CEO and Co-Founder.
“Inspiration and shopping used to be separate experiences. But shopping from photos has proven to be a much better reflection of how consumer’s want to shop. We’re taking it one step further to extend this concept to a design and Virtual Reality visualization experience to accompany furniture shopping and kitchen design,” Besecker said.
Already in use by Macy’s, American Woodmark and others, 3D Room Designer 2.0 with Photo to Floorplan™ combines an effortless user experience with speed and realism to help shoppers translate inspiration into reality quickly without having to understand complex business rules like which products are compatible.
Here’s how it works: Shoppers select an inspirational photo of a bedroom, living room, dining room or kitchen. With a simple click or tap, they can add a 3D model of any product in the image into their own floorplan. When the design is complete, they can view their project in 360-degree Virtual Reality and a bill of materials is generated. The average basket grows by more than 50% and returns drop by more than 80%.
Sales associates and consumers alike have rapidly adopted the feature. “This is how shopping for kitchen cabinets or a new sectional should be - easy, quick and realistic. All beauty, no waiting,” Besecker said.
How does all of this allow a retailer to get 60k sf of value out of a 5k sf showroom? “While you were sleeping, VR grew up. It drives sales. It makes the endless aisle a reality for brick and mortar, with the personalized experience that customers expect. And it’s changing the retail footprint. This is happening right now.”
Photo to Floorplan™ by the numbers:
- 20 minutes - Average 3D design session with Photo to Floorplan™
- 27 - The largest number of products added to a room with Photo to Floorplan™
- 42 percent of 3D Room Planner sessions use Photo to Floorplan™
- 62 percent higher conversion rate for sessions using Photo to Floorplan™ vs. with digital catalog and product search mode
- 2x engagement (amount of time spent) with Photo to Floorplan™ vs. with digital catalog and product search mode
Inspirational shopping by the numbers*:
- 81% of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by their friends’ social media posts.
- Customers are 6x more likely to purchase a product if the page includes pictures from social media
- Pinterest users have added 75 billion pins to the platform, and engage in 2 billion searches per month
- 97% of Pinterest’s top searches last year were non-branded
- 90% of Houzz users are homeowners, and they use Houzz to renovate and decorate their homes from start to finish
- Houzz contains more than 11 million photos
*Sources: Houzz, Pinterest
Marxent’s 3D Cloud™ is used by innovative omnichannel retailers to reduce furniture returns, sell bigger baskets and enhance the customer experience. From 3D Room Design to AR to VR, 3D Cloud™ enables shoppers to plan, visualize and buy with confidence. 3D Cloud™ is a content management and hosting platform for 3D products that scales to the enterprise and powers applications for product visualization and configuration at all points in the customer path to purchase, including Mobile with Markerless AR, VR Showroom and Web VR applications. With 3D Cloud™ retail solutions, buyers can visually configure, price and quote projects with multiple components and customizations. For more information, visit www.marxent.com.
