John Lewis taps AR tech for Virtual Sofa mobile feature

John Lewis has launched an augmented reality feature on its IOS app, enabling customers to see how sofas and armchairs will look in their homes before they buy.

The Virtual Sofa feature is being tested with over 123 of the retailer’s best-selling sofas, with more to be added in the coming weeks.

“Buying a new sofa or armchair is a very considered purchase as it’s something we tend to have for a long time,” says Sean O’Connor, Head of Online Product & Customer Experience at John Lewis. “From talking to our customers we know that many of them go through as many as 13 different stages before making their final choice of sofa; so we wanted to simplify this process for them.”

“Customers can now browse styles on our website, test comfort in one of our shops, and check scale and colour in their home using the AR function in the app. We know this will not only save a lot of time but also offer peace of mind that their new sofa will look great in their home,” he adds.

Virtual Sofa follows a Virtual Lipstick trial in 2019. This gave customers the chance to test hundreds of colours in real-time before buying. In June last year, the retailer also began trialling Visualise Your Space in its Cambridge, Horsham, Kingston, and Peterborough stores. The service uses virtual reality headsets to let customers create an entire room set, using the dimensions of a room in their home, and drop in John Lewis products to see how they look.

Further details here.