Etsy launches AR shopping feature

Building on its augmented reality ( AR ) offerings, Etsy on Monday launched Etsy House, its first interactive AR experience that lets shoppers tour items in a virtual environment .

Etsy House provides real-scale renderings and 360-degree images that can be used to showcase holiday decorations and gifts, Etsy Design Award-winning items, furniture, art, and other goods. Therefore, customers can enjoy a 360-degree viewing perspective when shopping online. In addition, it also gives buyers the opportunity to view items on site and understand how the products fit into the home environment. The company said that if users find something they like, they can hover over the item to view product information and purchase links.

According to the announcement, Etsy has partnered with creative visualization studio The Boundary to create Etsy House.

With Etsy House, the company continues to experiment with augmented reality. In June 2020, Etsy released an AR tool that helps shoppers view artwork, photos, and prints in their own homes.

"Have you ever found yourself admiring a beautiful piece of art, a striking light fixture, or some custom furniture on Etsy and wondering what it would look like in your home?" wrote Etsy vice president Jessica Doyle in a blog post.

“Now you won’t have to, thanks to Etsy House, the first-ever interactive augmented reality experience that lets shoppers ‘walk through’ a digital home filled with curated Etsy items.”

Etsy isn’t the only retailer using AR and VR to help customers view merchandise remotely . In October 2020, David’s Bridal partnered with AR technology company Vertebrae to create 3D and AR product pages for its best-selling dresses. In August 2020, Amazon launched an AR shopping tool that lets shoppers view a variety of furniture items from Amazon and its third-party sellers in their homes.

Tech companies are also adding AR to their e-commerce businesses to improve social shopping. In December 2020, Google partnered with ModiFace and Perfect Corp. to release an AR makeup try-on feature through the Google app. Facebook said in June that it would integrate AR try-on tools into Instagram .

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