The online retailer Walmart has announced the launch of a new AR scanning tool in its iPhone application. This feature will help customers with product comparisons. Also, Walmart’s AR scanner can be panned about across store shelves, offering details on pricing and customer ratings beneath the products it sees.
This particular technology was initially developed by a team at an internal Walmart hackathon using Apple’s ARKit technology. At the time, their idea was to create a scanning experience that worked faster and felt faster when used by customers.
“Walmart store shoppers love using our mobile app barcode scanner as a price checker. Our team sees the potential of this product as so much more, though,” stated Tim Sears, senior engineering manager at Walmart Labs.
“When a customer launches the scanner, they get a direct connection between the digital and the physical world that their screen and camera lens creates for them,” he added.
Walmart isn’t the only retailer to give AR a go. Others have used it in various ways, including Amazon, Target, Wayfair and many more.