Augmented reality as a sales tool for industrial machinery
Augmented Reality in the industrial sector
The impact of Augmented Reality has reached many sectors, among them: education, retail, health and medicine, automotive, oil and gas or tourism. In all of them it is proving to be an effective tool.
In the field of Industry 4.0, this technology has multiple applications related to manufacturing, logistics, operator training, machine maintenance or remote assistance guided by a supervisor offering support from anywhere in the world, for example.
However, this time we are going to focus on AR showrooms that allow manufacturers to show their entire product catalog in a realistic way.
Augmented Reality and industrial machinery
Industrial machinery, because of its high cost, is not something that can be easily sold from a website. Customers often need to see the machine in person in real size and in operation before making a final decision.
AR has a key role to play in selling large industrial items. With this technology, the salesperson can show the customer the machinery in its exact dimensions and even observe it in the real working environment and be able to choose where they prefer to place it. In addition to being able to visualize the product in space before closing the business deal, suppliers will be able to show how it works in a very real way, without having it physically in front of them.
An example of this extrapolated to the world of B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing is the IKEA PLACE application, with which the brand allows consumers to try out the company’s furniture in their home in a virtual way.
Of course, the personal relationship between customer and sales manager does not disappear, just the opposite, since the latter will have at his disposal a more effective, visual and dynamic sales tool. He will be able to take a complete catalog of industrial machines to visits and show them to the potential customer through an Augmented Reality APP, as well as hold remote meetings, sending images of the products so that the user can activate the Augmented Reality showroom in situ.
