A new feature on Pinterest will be able to let consumers see what a piece of furniture or another home décor item will look like in their own home, using augmented reality. As reported by NBC News: "Similar technology has already been implemented by major retailers, such as Amazon, IKEA, and Wayfair, as well as others in the home design space, such as Houzz.". In the case of Pinterest, it has teamed up with a limited group of U.S. retailers - notably, Crate & Barrel, Walmart, West Elm, and Wayfair - to allow online shoppers to, in effect, photo-match an object in real time using the "Lens camera" within the Pinterest app. Provided the shopper likes the look, he or she can then place the item on order directly through the retailer.

The virtual shopping experience for home décor has launched across over 80,000 shoppable Pins in the U.S., and it's Pinterest's biggest investment in AR shopping to date. Third 'Try On' product, and it's the first "Try-On" in home decor for the company that's rolled out over the past two years. Its first forays were in the beauty arena, through Try On features that let consumers virtually test out different lipstick shades and eyeshadows, all 14,000 of them shoppable Pins. Pinterest hadn't yet worked with placing items directly in a room, in other words-only on users' faces. While not the same technology, every single Pinterest Try On experience shares the same end: to help transform inspired products into bought.

Using the feature on iOS or Android, US users can click supported home décor Pins and then "Try in your Space" to view the virtual product through the camera lens. They can change the product in their own space and visit the product information, such as prices. Buying the product requires nothing more than clicking the Pin again, which would lead them directly to the checkout page on the retailer's website.

For its part, Pinterest has focused on funneling consumers' more casual browsing behavior into retail transactions for some years. But the company has been slow to adjust to shifts in the market, say in static images morphing into a source of video inspiration for shopping, at least until recently. Last year, the company finally stepped into that space with its first video-first product, Idea Pins, and has invested in creator tools that would allow online influencers to monetize their content.

Pinterest is not the first to have an idea for the new AR shopping feature to buy furniture and décor. But the AR market for shopping is still nascent. Here, adoption has been so limited by the tools available to AR developers, such as Apple's ARKit, improving over time to make the experience of the end user less cumbersome and clunky. And app makers are still figuring out how to make AR shopping appealing to consumers. Just last week, for example, Snapchat enhanced its own AR experiences, including a shopping Lens that enables consumers to look at several products in one place with real-time pricing.

While some of the early experiments in AR shopping have felt more gimmicky than anything else, there is at least some evidence that, if done well, using AR can increase conversion for retailers. And maybe some consumers want this type of experience. Consider this: For instance, a 2019 Google survey revealed how much consumers wanted AR. Two-thirds of people said they would like to use AR for help while shopping. But so far, there hasn't been much data or research on real-world conversion rates. One of the biggest e-commerce platforms, Shopify, reports that merchants who were adding 3D content to their stores saw a 94% lift in conversion, on average, according to internal metrics. In fact, and some merchants who deployed 3D models in AR had increased by up to 250% in conversion rates said Shopify. It further mentioned that according to the 2020 findings by Vertebrae, conversion rates surge by 90 percent among customers who engage in AR, compared to those that do not.

While there is this, Pinterest noted that their users are five times more likely to purchase from a "Try On"-enabled Pin than its standard Pin. It also said that home décor is the top category on its platform, with 3.37 billion search clicks in 2021. That means this new AR technology has the potential for an even bigger user base than some of its existing AR-based beauty shopping features. The company highlighted its visual search feature, whose usage grew by 126% year-over-year, but didn't provide concrete numbers for total searches.

5 futures of e-commerce

As the pandemic continues to unfold, we are seeing more digitally savvy shoppers than ever, now that millions of people have begun expecting virtual and mobile options to try before they buy, see personalized recommendations, and gather information as part of their decision-making process," Jeremy King, SVP of Engineering at Pinterest, said in a statement. "These behaviors are happening across Pinterest every day, which is why we're continuing to advance technologies like AR Try On and make Pinterest a full-funnel shopping destination that takes people from inspiration to purchase anywhere in the app,"

The company isn't yet monetizing the AR shopping feature, but its retail partners for the efforts are brands that have already found success on Pinterest with organic and paid advertising, so now they're capitalizing on another option for letting consumers organically discover products.

The AR shopping feature launches as a U.S.-only iOS and Android feature, but will roll out globally, according to Pinterest.