Greece

Since the rising of AR technology in the Greek E-commerce market is now a thing, Greek companies are trying to adjust themselves by enrichening their websites with an AR section.

Greek company Aline furniture – (https://aline.gr/ar-view/) has created a web environment, where people can view the products and via AR application on their mobile, or tablet, digitally “transfer” them wherever they wish to put them; in their house, garden, office, or elsewhere.

Source: Aline.gr, 2022

Choosing furniture can be difficult. Aline created this AR feature to make it easier and more convenient for customers to create the interior design of their dreams. With this new feature, people are now free to add and place selected products in their homes to see how they fit their space and style.

Romania

Mondly AR – https://www.mondly.com/ar – is an app that lets you learn from any of its 33 languages to any other. It impacts building the future of learning and teaching.

This augmented reality app from Mondly uses technologies like chatbot and speech recognition and brings your conversational friend in your environment for a “face to face” interaction. For a more realistic effect, the virtual language learning assistant uses a human voice and registers your input to respond accordingly. The chatbot functionality lets you speak directly to your PC or smartphone’s and to record a conversation that can be played real time. The application also presents life-size animals and other object that appear in the virtual learning room.

Source: Mondly AR app (https://www.mondly.com/ar)

Another example for using augmented reality in Romania is for the export brand of the Happy HalloWine! label created by Recas wineries – (https://fb.watch/d78gKZH8DN/). The new slogan, “Red to remember” will be discovered by the consumer through the animation resulting from the scan of the label that underlines both the strong character and intense aromas of the wine, and to the specifics of Halloween. It is a very innovative way to include augmented reality in the brand positioning.

Poland

Polish companies are getting used to AR, with Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality finding application not only in manufacturing, servicing and training, but also in marketing, sales, architecture and health care, e.g., helping in therapy or supporting the disabled.

VOX furniture store – (https://www.vox.pl/en/) – prepared a virtual showroom that the consumer can visit without moving from their armchair. With the help of a virtual walk, you can see the products in detail and learn all the details about it by clicking on the designated place. In addition, the salon offers full support during the entire online purchasing process. With the help of visualization, the customer can feel like they are at the shop. The Vox brand shows that there are no barriers to e-commerce and that it is possible to successfully transfer brick-and-mortar purchases to the virtual world, maintaining a positive shopping experience and not losing anything at the same time. The Vox virtual showroom is an example of the brand’s very good response to the crisis caused by the pandemic and the closure of brick-and-mortar stores. Vox has thus strengthened its e-commerce and online presence, giving customers the opportunity to experience something new.

WEARFITS – (https://wearfits.com/) – is one of the Polish start-ups that creates solutions supporting the sale of clothing and footwear thanks to 3D and AR (augmented reality) technologies. The amount of the investment will be allocated to automating the footwear digitization process. The company has also signed acceleration agreements under the Startup Spark and S5 – 5G Technology Accelerator programs. The Startup Spark partner is Indigo Nails – one of the largest operating companies in the beauty industry. The aim of the cooperation is to implement the digitization of clothing into 3D models and to implement a virtual fitting room for a newly emerging clothing brand. As part of the 5G accelerator, the start-up will work on solutions using augmented reality (AR) in cooperation with a partner from the fashion industry. The start-up’s vision is to enable clothing and footwear manufacturers to replace traditional photos with photorealistic 3D models, created at the design stage, which will enable their use in all sales channels, including virtual trying on. Ultimately, the start-up from Krakow wants to help manufacturers reverse the supply chain, enabling them to sell and then produce.

CinematicVR – (https://cinematicvr.pl/aplikacje-ar/) – is a start-up from Rzeszów (Podkarpackie Province), which has been producing AR and VR solutions. They create applications that display movies, animations, interactive 3D models and mini games after detecting the label on the product packaging. In only necessary to point the camera towards the packaging. The app detects the label and displays animated content encouraging the user to interact with the brand. This start-up is currently working on AR solutions for museums, the real estate industry, interior designers, fashion and e-commerce.

An interesting project was the AR application for the Artistic Exhibitions Bureau, where in the three-dimensional space of the main exhibition hall you can see selected works of art (presented below).

Source: https://cinematicvr.pl/wirtualna-galeria-bwa-rzeszow/

For the PuppetsWar customer, CinematicVR has prepared an augmented reality application, thanks to which the user can display a three-dimensional model of one of the figurines on offer (presented below).

Source: https://cinematicvr.pl/portfolio/aplikacja-ar-dla-puppetswar/

For The Beds brand, CinematicVR developed an AR app so the user can see furniture in a realistic scale at home. In this way, it is easier to arrange an apartment, house, and check whether the piece of furniture will fit (presented below).

Source: https://cinematicvr.pl/portfolio/meble-ar-the-beds/

Another successful implementation was the AR application for the insurance company “Warta” developed for the purpose of the Brokers Congress in 2019 so that participants could display animations on specially prepared posters that acted as markers (example presented below).

Source: https://cinematicvr.pl/portfolio/aplikacja-ar-warta-kongres-brokerow-2019/

Scotland

DFS – (https://www.dfs.co.uk/content/virtual-sofas) – works in the field of sofa retail in the United Kingdom. Even though showrooms were closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, DFS has seen significant conversion and sales results from AR implementation. According to the website, reydar.com in December 2020, DFS announced a 112% increase in conversions and a 106% increase in revenue per visit for buyers who interact with 3D and AR compared to those who do not.[1]

Argos – (https://www.argos.co.uk/?clickOrigin=header:cat:argos+logo) – has recently moved from a traditional company to one of the leading multi-channel retailers in the country. It has managed to meet the modern technological needs of its customers and the era. the company has integrated an AR projection function into the existing Argos application, allowing customers to visualize and interact with a range of home furniture products. It includes everything from furniture to toys such as Lego sets. In the way it works today, it helps its customers avoid product returns, especially those with a lot of weight, and it has completely changed the way e-commerce works. This way consumers can be more confident about the products they are buying, while also boosting business satisfaction.

With the evolution of augmented reality technology and, in particular, the launch of Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore, Argos were able to tap into the power of AR to help solve some of the biggest pain points their customers face when shopping for furniture. The iOS app has integrated an AR viewing mode into the existing Argos app.

One can visit the following page and read more about Argos: https://www.enginecreative.co.uk/portfolio/argos-augmented-reality-powered-shopping-app/

Source: Argos augmented reality powered shopping app from Engine Creative on Vimeo

Slovenia

VOLKSWAGEN – in 2018, Volkswagen introduced the new Touareg with its own augmented reality app. Car manufacturers and suppliers experiment with innovative technology also in areas not visible to customers: virtual glasses in the workshop help service staff and mechanics in their work. With advanced virtual reality tools, new cars can be designed to the smallest detail or used for simulations – without the use of the right materials. This allows us to save time and development costs. Digital technologies are also used in logistics, education, training and trade fairs.

Source: Porsche Slovenija d.o.o., 2022

BE-terna – (https://www.be-terna.com/platforms/mixed-reality) – The company creates new customer experience smart glasses or phones, smart mirrors or other smart immersive technologies and simulations. They can show products that are for sale virtually, additionally raising brand awareness.

GISmanager application – (https://www.troia.eu/ARvisualization) – GISmanager transforms traditional flat GIS data while overcoming the barriers of 2D world mapping technology, bringing GIS data into 3D world. GISmanager displays data from Esri ArcGIS or Geoserver to deliver all the right information on one screen, connecting the physical and digital world.

VRsolution – (https://vrsolution.si/en/) – The company creates exceptional technological solutions in the field of Augmented (AR), Virtual (VR), Mixed (MR), and Extended (XR) Reality, exceeding borders of imagination with an innovative approach, thus raising the competencies of cooperating partners.

Tipteh – (https://tipteh.com/augmented-reality/) – Tipteh acts as a AR one-stop source, i.e., they provide not only the enterprise software solutions but also the top hardware and support. Experts help leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to process huge amounts of reliable data, increasing efficiency and productivity, improving production quality, saving money and time.

3D Design Media – (https://vizualno-oblikovanje.si/en/augmented-reality-post/) – Augmented Reality is a technology that enriches or extends our physical environment by adding virtual information. To put it differently, Augmented Reality enables adding virtual elements – like videos, 3D models, animation, connections, and more – to the real world. By doing so, the company can change the perception of the real world.

[1] https://www.reydar.com/augmented-reality-ecommerce/