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Virtual Reality Can Help Jewelers With Marketing | June 15, 2016 (0 comments)
Merrick, NY—Virtual reality brings to mind The Matrix movies or other science-fiction films. According to Google, virtual reality is “the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.” Left: This is a peek through the virtual reality headset. Scroll to bottom for a larger view of this image.
Rarely do we think of jewelry together with virtual reality, but that’s changing. Recently, retailers and others had an opportunity to explore jewelry through virtual reality (left), complete with a viewer to check out the sparkling virtual gems. The virtual reality experience featured jewelry by designer Wendy Brandes in conjunction with CEEK VR, and Richline, who shared a booth in the INTERVISION room at the Luxury by JCK Show.
What benefit could virtual reality have for jewelry? Consider really allowing your customers to interact with the images of jewelry instead of seeing it on paper in a catalog or onscreen in an email image. By using a viewer, they can see the jewelry in three dimensions and examine it closely, appreciating the design and manufacturing that went into it.
Retailers may find uses for this technology for special one-of-a-kind pieces that they want to showcase to a wider audience. Or perhaps designer will promote a new line using virtual reality, offering potential customers and press the chance to see designs in a different, better way than two dimensions.
While in the booth, it was possible to both see Brandes’ designs in person, as well as see them via virtual reality googles. The goggles at the booth were heavy duty and not really suitable for mailing, but there was a alternate set of cardboard goggles suitable for mailing, that jewelers and customers could easily assemble. The cardboard set holds a smart phone while it runs an app to showcase the jewelry.
The CEEK heavy-duty goggles are useful for in-store presentations of virtual reality jewelry. For direct marketing, cardboard goggles are easily mailed and are designed to hold a smartphone with the VR app running:
Brandes’s intricate jewelry (below) shows well through the goggles (and in person, too). Through this medium, jewelry comes to life for customers who can’t come to see you in person.
Imagine your customer being able to see each of these views of a piece of jewelry in three dimensions, without having the actual jewelry. Here's a closeup of the image from the top of this page, showing the taxi to the far right, which does come to life in VR (though hard to convey in a photo):
Other technology + jewelry experiences can be found here and here.