The challenge
The client, being extremely cooperative, provided a lot of details from his side. He provided the blueprint of how the store should look like, what should be the colour scheme, the brand identity, etc. But there was a problem.
Past two decades have witnessed some massive advancements in the sector of retail. Not only have the ways and methods of shopping changed, but the definition of purchasing has been made central to the technology.
The 21st century can be said to be the time of machines where we are continuously trying to bring efficiency in our workings through the integration of robots in almost every way.
Now, the target of each shopper is not just to provide excellent products to the client, but they are now thriving to provide the services which they would crave to get again. And believe me, it all is possible with the help of technology.
Working on the same path, a Mall owner contacted MagnoStack for the development of Shopping Mall AR application so that it can provide the services more conveniently to the customers and can take care of the clients with individual focus.
Here is how we helped our worthy client with our services.
Objective
As the malls have widened their scope and have the shop number in hundreds, it sometimes becomes difficult for people to navigate inside the mall. Hence, the client wanted an indoor mall navigation app for iOS and Android with a powerful navigation feature towards the store.
The app was also needed to deliver retail promotions through impressive location-based services which get activated when a person is in the vicinity of the mall.
The user interface was explicitly asked to keep extremely simple and easy to use with a floor-to-floor view to map the stores easily.
Business requirements
The requirements of our client were precise. They wanted to have an application which has all of the following:
- Augmented reality: To show the real-time information about the current offers, discounts and help locate the stores and other merchandise.
- Seamlessness: Easy to sort the products category wise or by any other sequence depending upon the need and requirement.
Scalable solution: A dynamic app indeed to cater to future enhancements.
Challenges
- Providing the unified user interface and experience.
- Popping up real-time offers to the customers as per the categories on their phones.
- Suiting to the compatibility of current and upcoming smartphone generations.
- Integrating indoor location-based functions
Approach
To make our client’s dream come true, the expert and experienced team at MagnoStack designed, developed and tested the indoor navigation technology for both Android and iOS. The solution was focussed on providing the best platform for indoor mapping functions with high-resolution maps for convenient mall navigation between stores via smallest routes and on-screen trails.
We also went another mile by adding a parking tab in the app. This way, a person can spot his/her parked car easily. Also, we integrated the offline features so that people can surf through their choices and categories even when they are not on the net.
The road map
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1
First of all, the blueprint of the mall was studied to know the layout of the mall along with the number of floors and the stores. The mall was big, so this had to be our first step.
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2
To update the shopping mall map, we integrated the SLAM (Simultaneous localisation and mapping) technology, which would also help in forming the trail while navigating inside the mall.
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3
To add the data, Google API was used, and this had to be filled by the admin manually for the genuineness of the information was to be taken care of.
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4
To develop the cross-platform augmented reality, we used the open-source AR Toolkit.
Integrated features
Business benefits
- Extreme user satisfaction and high-end efficiency.
- Developing strong connections with customers by understanding their shopping algorithms.
- Enhancing brand visibility by sharing promotions and offers.
- Shop discovery was made easier with customised indoor maps.
Technology stack
Conclusion
The team of MagnoStack worked with a holistic approach, bringing a merge between skills and creativity. The app so made was extremely easy to use, yet very attractive in its looks. Also, the excellence shown by the internal maps increased the praise stack for the agency.
If you wish for an AR Application for your business, halt no more and reach out to us.