Not only are more car shoppers than ever beginning their search online, now consumers can digitize the entire experience from start to finish.

Car manufacturers, dealers, and even advertisers are using augmented reality to create a fully immersive buying experience for their customers. Even though many Americans are still continuing life from home, the automotive industry has continued to thrive in 2020.

Read on to learn more about the ways augmented reality is transforming the car retail industry:

Improved Product Photography and Cataloging

One of the most useful benefits of augmented reality-enabled devices is the application of hyper-personalized branding. By applying user-centric information like location tracking and social media activity, AR applies this data to effectively “learn” about the user’s unique behaviors.

Brands can apply this data to create content that’s personalized for each user individually. This improves the consumer’s experience, leading to positive conversion and customer satisfaction rates in major mass retailers.

In addition to 2D still photography, augmented reality is making it possible for shoppers to conduct a proper walk around of their prospective purchase – right in their own driveway. SLAM projection technology is one way brands are providing consumers with a realistic 3D model that is accessible regardless of their physical location.

In 2020, more car shoppers than ever before started their search online. Augmented reality is taking online shopping even farther by adding another layer of dimension to the media, marketing, and informative material related to their prospective purchase.

Car Retail Industry

Immersive Dealer Showrooms

For retailers who have remained open during the pandemic, enhancing the showroom is an effective marketing tool that has led to an influx of conversions for many luxury car brands.

With 360-degree viewing platforms or mobile-friendly showroom applications, shoppers can be transported to an adventurous location in the car of their dreams. Or, using a VR headset, they can take a digital test drive and truly feel like they’re behind the wheel on the world’s most well-known roadways.

Statistically speaking, shoppers love an exciting experience. The AR/VR craze is an apt example of the type of media people want to consume. By incorporating immersive, interactive technology to their brick-and-mortar platforms, car brands are finding innovative new ways to reach their consumer bases.

Car Retail Industry

Streamlined Online Shopping

Online shopping rates are climbing record rates as shops around the country remain closed. This, paired with low federal interest rates, have created the perfect recipe for auto brands to thrive.

Augmented reality uses superimposed visual data and interactive response technology to build a fully immersive shopping experience for every user. Customers can manipulate a high-quality 360-degree image of the car they’re interested in, while also learning about specific features at the tap of their screen.

With virtual test driving via the user’s smartphone (or an external VR headset), prospective buyers can clearly view the interior and auxiliary features in unprecedented detail.

Additionally, with the social distancing measures established by COVID-19, this provides consumers with an informative and personalized shopping experience at home.

Improved Brand Awareness

Brands have long used demographic information to reach their target consumer base. But augmented reality is giving them even more data to work with.

 A primary benefit of improved targeted advertising is the integration of brand identity into your information and advertising content. This is made possible by targeting biometric, location, and browsing activity.

Every ad, social post, and message you put online tells a part of your brand’s story. By augmenting your digital media with interactive, responsive tech, you can attract (and retain) even more viewers to your main page. Using AR as a marketing tool, companies can turn everything they publish online into an extension of their brand’s image.

Gaining a deeper understanding of their audience is helping brands build informational and entertaining campaigns that continuously keep their consumer base in mind.

Car Retail Industry

Simplified Application Process

If you could secure financing to buy a new car from your laptop or smartphone, would you be more inclined to make your purchase right away? Augmented reality helps buyers learn more about the product before they buy, and AI-enabled application systems make the pre-approval process faster than ever.

By collecting user data to make a series of progressive decisions, augmented reality helps AI learn more about the customer. For lenders that utilize AI to this extent, AI can in some instances create a faster, more efficient approval process that requires less human involvement than standard online calculators.

Making this process easier and more accessible for everyone is one way VR is making it possible for consumers across the country to purchase vehicles despite what else is happening.

Using this system, consumers can choose a car, apply for auto financing, and get approved for a loan in just a matter of minutes.

Eliminating the waiting game is one key way auto retailers are making the car buying process simpler and more enjoyable for their customers. Faster application and loan approval procedures attract more buyers, especially since it is a great time to take advantage of rock-bottom federal interest rates.

Realistic Digital Test Drives

There’s only so much you can learn about a car with a quick drive around the block. Using augmented reality via a mobile device, many retailers are allowing customers to test drive their vehicles digitally. This sales tactic has been proven to lead to conversions among some of the industry’s top brands.

Digital test drive programs give customers a way to truly test their new purchase, on a variety of terrain and environmental options, from any and every location possible.

Augmented reality is making it easier than ever for the typical consumer to keep their digital world within reach. The automotive industry is capitalizing on this growing demand for immersive online experiences by attracting more customers from this corner of the market.

Car shoppers can now complete the entire transaction, from research to signing, in a matter of minutes. Augmented reality has opened up a world within the ecommerce sphere that will inevitably change the way we shop for cars.