Dior seeks to involve Snapchat users with an interactive AR e-commerce experience that directs them to the point of sale, with many customers looking to buy holiday presents sooner than ever this season because of the pandemic. The AR lens turns Snapchat into a direct distribution platform that reaches a larger audience of buyers who may not be able to locate the shoes in local stores, in addition to raising awareness of Dior.
The virtual try-on provides an image of what the B27 sneakers look like when wearing them, eliminating the experience of trying them on in-store in part. Digital shopping experiences have been made a greater focus by the pandemic. Due to safety issues, many customers are reluctant to spend time in shops, with 54 percent of men and 65 percent of women stating in May that they did not feel comfortable trying on clothes in dressing rooms, according to First Insights researchers.
Shopping malls continue to see steep drops in foot traffic from last year, with the second wave of coronavirus cases reaching many countries, though wholesale chains have done much better, as per location data company Placer.ai.
As brands aim to reach homebound customers on their mobile devices, Dior is the latest brand to deliver a virtual try-on of items on Snapchat. Most recently, Champs Sports has become the first retailer of sportswear to offer AR sneaker try-ons using modern technology from Snapchat. Hoka One One, the athletic apparel manufacturer owned by Uggs manufacturer Deckers Brands, developed a mobile shopping experience with an AR pop-up store and a virtual running shoe try-on in August. In a quarterly study, other advertisers, including Clearly, Essie, Kohl’s, Levi’s, Jordan Brand and Sally Hansen, given virtual try-on experiences on Snapchat, Snap’s parent company said.
Another indication of how Snap is combining its advertisement technologies with shopping online is Dior’s AR try-ons and e-commerce experiences, as digital B2C commerce has become a greater focus for social media companies. Snap promoted AR interactions in its most recent earnings announcement as a key growth factor in helping brands connect with their overwhelmingly younger audience. As per the data shared by the company, more than 180 million of Snapchat’s 249 million users connect with AR every day for an average of 30 times. Snap saw a 52 percent annual leap in sales to $678.7 million in Q3 as more individuals used social media during the pandemic.
