In a world where globalisation leads the way and products are becoming so good customers often choose based on customer experience (Freedman, 2019). Customers want seamless, fast, and memorable moments (Puthiyamadam & Reyes, 2018). This not only creates an increase in customer loyalty, but also the price that the consumer is willing to pay. This extra added service is most significant in higher-end products.
This arises the question of how luxury markets can use and exploit AR and VR to create a better customer experience for their existing and potential customers. Several markets where the customer experience is most important are the airline, healthcare, retail, and banking industries (Puthiyamadam & Reyes, 2018). Another exciting market that has not been mentioned in this article is the real estate business.
Virtual reality can be used to create virtual tours for potential buyers/renters to give a better direct experience of the property, as both buyers and sellers would not need to travel to the apartment (One VR Malaysia, 2021). If the more luxury segment real estate market is targeted, and customers are looking for a second third or even fourth house in different parts of the world this can be costly, and it can be nice to be able to see the house and tour it virtually saving time and money.
A way augmented reality can improve the process for serious home buyers/renters aswell if the house comes unfurnished the seller can create a few different interior styling options. This can help potential buyers see a better and cheaper version of what the home could be like, unlike homes being styled with actual furniture. This costs a lot and is only able to show one type of style.
Lastly, VR is not only helpful for buying a new house but also if you want to renovate your house, like the kitchen or bathroom for example. When designing a kitchen it is often hard to place yourself in the kitchen and “try-out” how and where everything is located before actually building the kitchen Once the kitchen is built there are probably certain parts the customer regrets, but as it is already built you are unable to go back from it. Using VR to walk around the kitchen design “try and use” the different appliances will help the customer catch certain parts that do not work well together before the whole kitchen is built.
In conclusion, AR and VR have many potential features in real estate that real estate agents and renovators can use to create a better, more seamless, and smooth customer experience, which will lead to higher customer satisfaction, in turn leading to higher profits.
References
Freedman, R. (2019, November 21). Consumers Are Hungry For An Experience-Based Connection With Your Brand. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2019/11/21/consumers-are-hungry-for-an-experience-based-connection-with-your-brand/?sh=2805c5e358fe
One VR Malaysia. (2021, August 27). Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Changing the Real Estate Business. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/virtual-reality-augmented-changing-real-estate-business-/?trk=organization-update-content_share-article
Puthiyamadam, T., & Reyes, J. (2018). Experience is everything: here’s how to get it right. PwC. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/future-of-customer-experience.html
It is a very insightful approach to the real estate markets. AR and VR are viable solutions for home-seekers to find their ideal apartment. It is also widely and easily adapted as the physical space are determined for AR and VR technologies. Wayfair, a US based online furniture store also utilize the AR feature for homeowner to visualize how a new furniture will look like in their particular home, which advanced their retail strategy as it used to be hard for users to visualized without physically measuring the furniture against room sizes.