Augmented Reality vs Virtual Reality: Key Differences (2024)

In today’s increasingly digital world, there are endless new technologies available to e-commerce merchants. Two technologies that are on the rise are augmented reality and virtual reality. 1 Report Project By 2029, the US market is expected to exceed $16 billion.

Learn more about how AR and VR work, what their key differences are, and how you can use them to boost productivity and creativity in your company.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that facilitates interaction between digital content and the real world by overlaying computer-generated sensory inputs, such as sound and graphics, onto the real environment. Viewers can enjoy AR through their smartphone camera or smart glasses that place virtual elements over real-world objects and locations.

For example, the popular mobile app Pokémon GO uses AR technology to immerse the audience in an interactive video game experience. Outside of entertainment, AR systems are applied in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, education, real estate, and retail.

E-commerce tools Shopify AR Allow shoppers to try out and explore products through interactive 3D models, images and videos overlaid on the physical environment.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality (VR) technology creates a fully simulated environment for its viewers. Through tools such as a VR headset and motion controllers, virtual reality applications completely replace the user’s real-world environment with artificial sensory inputs such as sight, sound, and even touch (vibrations that simulate a tactile experience).

VR technology allows users to interact with fully immersive virtual environments for entertainment, education, and productivity. For example, VR devices provide architects with virtual worlds to create accurate 3D models of future buildings. VR users in the medical field use this new technology to simulate medical procedures without the risks of the real world.

VR technology is popular for creating more immersive gaming experiences, but it also has a wide range of applications in the business world. Employee training Remote collaboration.

What is the difference between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?

Both AR and VR are augmented reality (ER) technologies designed to enhance a user’s experience of reality through computer-generated sensory input, but there are important differences between the two technologies.

Immersion

While AR devices add digital elements to a real-world environment, VR devices replace the real world with an entirely simulated environment, providing users with two very different experiences: AR facilitates an enhanced experience in the physical world, while VR provides a sensory experience that is completely detached from the physical environment.

for example, AR App like Araya Virtual Makeup AR Plugin We provide beauty brands with the tools to allow customers to use their smartphone camera to apply beauty products before purchasing, adding information to their actual facial images to help them make more informed purchasing decisions.

In contrast, real estate companies can use VR devices to create virtual tours of properties by allowing potential buyers to walk around in a 3D rendered depiction of the available space. By creating an entire virtual environment for users to explore, VR technology is not limited to real-world environments and spaces in the same way that AR technology is.

Device

Augmented reality is often integrated into apps on Android and Apple devices. These apps use trackers and markers to overlay digital information onto a video feed of a physical space from a phone’s camera, making AR tools available to anyone with a smartphone. While AR headsets are available, most AR experiences are powered by software on the mobile device.

Virtual reality requires hardware tools such as a headset, headphones, motion sensors, hand and eye trackers, gloves and other haptic devices to simulate movement and create a fully immersive experience. As such, virtual reality typically requires more equipment than augmented reality. Because VR experiences require special equipment such as a VR headset device, it can be more costly for businesses to implement VR tools than AR apps.

application

While AR is designed to provide a useful, educational, or entertaining addition to a real-world situation, VR transports the user to an entirely different reality.

For example, AR applications can provide information about a user’s surroundings, such as the names of constellations when the phone’s camera is pointed at the night sky, whereas VR focuses on allowing users to interact with virtual objects, characters, and settings that are separate from the user’s physical surroundings.

How to use AR and VR for your business

E-commerce merchants and business owners can use AR and VR technology in a variety of ways.

Product Design

AR and VR environments provide product managers, designers and engineers with the tools to develop and iterate. Product Design There’s no need for the expensive process of manufacturing physical prototypes.

For example, engineers and designers in the automotive industry can use VR tools to create digital prototypes of vehicles that don’t exist yet. In the e-commerce sector, a seller making over-ear headphones for commercial sale can use AR software tools to project what different designs will look like to customers.

training

AR and VR technologies help experts train on real-world scenarios in a risk-free virtual environment. These technologies can enhance the learning process by facilitating interactive exercises that go beyond simple training manuals.

For example, retail companies can use VR headsets as digital training devices. Customer Service Trainingallowing employees to practice common customer interactions. AR and VR training tools allow surgeons to gain hands-on experience that can’t be replicated in the real world.

Shopping Experience

One of the most useful uses of AR and VR tools for e-commerce merchants is letting potential customers try out products before they buy. With e-commerce platforms like Shopify releasing AR software tools, Shopify ARIt’s now easier than ever for merchants to leverage augmented reality to enhance in-store experiences. Customer Experience.

IKEA has released an AR app that allows users to see how different furniture pieces would look in the real world by digitally overlaying them through their phone camera. Such immersive experiences can boost sales conversions by making customers feel at ease with the products they are trying out. One case study from a fashion brand was Rebecca Minkoff It has been shown that shoppers are 44% more likely to add a product to their cart after using AR software to interact with the product in 3D.

customer service

Another use of VR and AR tools is to improve customer service. For example, an electric bike company could use an AR app to allow customers with technical issues to scan their bike and receive instructions to resolve the issue. Similarly, IKEA uses AR tools for this type of customer service, with an AR app designed to provide customers with full-sized, step-by-step instructions for assembling furniture.

Productivity

Businesses can use AR and VR devices to enhance remote collaboration and improve productivity throughout everyday life. For example, employees in different locations can use VR headsets to hold interactive meetings in the same artificial environment.

These tools can increase teamwork and presence during meetings by creating a shared environment where employees can interact in real time. Ideation process Allow team members to seamlessly share ideas and prototypes.