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There’s nothing more stressful than wasting a day wandering around a vast furniture store, struggling to find anything you like. Now, it looks like Amazon might be set to make this experience a whole lot easier – thanks to augmented reality.
According to the New York Times, Amazon is “exploring” the idea of setting up physical furniture stores with a technological twist. Sources say that the company is planning stores where people can check out furniture and home appliances and have them delivered to their homes but augmented or virtual reality will be used to help them see what the items will look like in situ.
It makes sense as we are much less keen to buy big things such as sofas or fridges online, preferring to go into bricks and mortar stores to try before we buy.
It’s not only the world of furniture stores that Amazon looks set to invade, as the company is also reportedly considering setting up electronics stores “similar to Apple’s retail emporiums”.
This isn’t the first time that Amazon has made a move into the physical world, having opened five book shops and with five more under construction.
However, the New York Times says “it is possible that some of the store ideas will never see the light of day” and, seeing as the company has refused to discuss any stores it hasn’t announced publicly, the concepts remain just that: concepts.
Maybe don’t set your trip to the Amazon furniture store in stone just yet but we like the idea of donning a VR headset to make the experience a little bit more fun.
