Instagram has recently envisaged a new checkout tool that lets users purchase products directly on the app without leaving it. With the integration of Spark AR, users can virtually try several products before buying them on the app.

There are some products that one cannot adequately describe with a mere picture or video.

Courtesy AR, shoppers are virtually trying on products before making a purchase. Much akin to how the app rolled out stellar custom AR filters, IG is now beta testing a viable AR shopping feature. It entails select brands in the segment as of now.

These brands allow users to try the products before checking out of the app. 

The idea behind the feature

The main idea of using AR is to help one's followers for Instagram get a preview of how the products / goods will actually look on their bodies or faces.

Users will need to know that the underlying nature and tech are identical to the Spark AR platform, which powers the chunk of IG's camera effects and augmented reality ads.

There are a few pathways that IG users might encounter and use the new shopping feature. They can check out specific products that the brand tags in a post.

Consumers have the option of trying out the item via the AR filter before putting it in the car. Instagram also hopes AR experiences and features in Stories will inspire users to share them, providing a link back to the main / original product.

In this way, businesses can capture a well-timed, seamless selfie filter and a lot of virality. Users can share the product through Stories with pals.

For Instagram, its another proof that the app is inching closer and deeper into the e-commerce world. For marketers, IG has had a lot of strategic importance, even before it introduced its indigenous shopping channels.

So, by adding a host of new shopping features and enabling users to interact with new your products, IG can capture user attention more and possibly influence their wallets too.

Stories, scale and sharing

The platform has altered its Stories' user-interface for competing with Snapchat's AR mechanism. It deploys multiple methods to initiate a whole new AR experience.

It has the standard swipe-up procedure to generate AR. There's also the 3-star symbol with one username, which can tap for the same result.

It provides a more seamless and frictionless user-experience than Snapchat. Users can share an AR lens or experience manually with other users. For a brand, the implications of AR are immense.

Organic AR is the buzzword now. While Facebook has notoriously crushed organic viewership for brands to construct the pay-to-get advertising empire, IG Stories have an organic viewership setup. It directly depends on user behavior.

It also implies that in a normal feed, both friends and businesses are on a level playing turf.  This is exactly what makes AR is so compelling. You get followers for Instagram to interact in your posts.

The SPARK AR game

With essential visual information and constant support of advanced computers, the perception and accommodation of reality have undergone a massive expansion.

The main advantages of AR effects are that users can easily and directly use them in their social media apps. Anyone can create and share impressive videos or pictures without any premonition or prior knowledge.

Additionally, there's no need to download or install a standalone app. With a host of AR functions, any users can expand the inbuilt camera function of Instagram and other social media apps.

The objective here is to make products and services tangible for consumers and followers.

There are premier services that provide complementary IG camera filters. They are happy to help organisations, associations and companies with a good purpose with free Augmented Reality filters.

Reputable and popular brands present their customers and followers on other social media with a number of AR filters during festive seasons.

They develop a sound social media strategy in collaboration with leading partner agencies. It is viable to get an influencer to bolster the implementation.

The AR is shifting

Instagram seeks to capitalise on its 'at home' and 'try on' feature for simulating a grand, virtual makeup counter or dressing room.

It allows users to reach items on a more personal basis and level, ensuring an inevitable increase in conversions and purchases. For fashion and cosmetic brands, this is imperative.

During the first round of the beta testing phase for Spark AR, some cosmetic brands brilliantly channelise the shopping adverts, where users can implement their in-app camera to test or try on different styles and colours.

You can see how each product can look against your skin tone or complexion in real-time. One of the biggest AR adherents has been the lens and goggles brands. They use the at-home feature by providing selected frames in the product feed.

By looping the products in shoppable posts, they help users learn more about the products. 

*Image courtesy of Pexels