( Estimated reading time: 4 min )

As most of us know, E-Commerce has to do with online shopping so that customers do not have to wait until they are able to go out of their house before they can buy what they need. It’s really becoming a growing trend but coming along with it are two other forms of digital technologies which are virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

In fact, people are really buying into E-Commerce because it just makes life easy and according to a report from the US Department of commerce, the growth rate of the E-Commerce sector is high with about 14.6 percent increase between 2014 and 2015. While in Germany alone we have a growth rate of 13.2 percent increase between 2014 and 2015.

“The E-Commerce experience revolution we all have been waiting for”

Let us examine augmented reality. This was developed to create an enhanced shopping experience; more like to improve on what was done with E-Commerce. The AR actually links the real and virtual worlds by enhancing the external surroundings of a consumer using digital technology. It then provides additional information so that the user can have a different view of the world. It is also mobile-friendly.

The VR is in another class of its own as it virtually takes the user to the store to actually try out the products to be purchased. What VR does is that it creates a completely immersive, computer-generated environment. Brands selling online can create photorealistic 3D scenes by using advanced computer networking, display, interaction and graphic technologies. This way, it is possible for a user to smell, hear, and even touch this computerized environment almost as if it’s the actual one. Virtual reality can center on making the user feel as if they are in the store of a fashion powerhouse, at the comfort of their own home. Simply put, virtual reality is all about creating an immersive shopping experience for users.

Virtual reality can center on making the user feel as if they are in the store of a fashion powerhouse, at the comfort of their own home. Simply put, virtual reality is all about creating an immersive shopping experience for users.

While these new technologies have not yet been totally activated, they are really going to change the face of E-Commerce. This is because while customers or users can just look at products from a different store and pick the ones they want, these two new technologies will take online shopping to a whole new level such that some of the things that you might have been seeing in movies will actually become real.

Customers will begin to get more involved, or as experts would like to put it “immersed”, in what they buy because they will actually be trying it on before purchasing. What shopping experience could be more awesome than that? Well, none for now anyway until some further years from now.

There are already positive responses to the launching of these new technologies and people are waiting to see how it will pan out but however it turns out, this new set of technology is definitely something to look forward to. So hold on to your seatbelts because E-Commerce is about to change its face and take a different form that will get people talking.

In conclusion, technology keeps improving every day bringing changes along with it and as human beings, we should not get left behind in the past which means we need to keep up. Personally, I hope luxury e-commerce sites like mytheresa.com, ssense are already on this and would love to see their work soon.