Swedish homeware giant Ikea has announced the arrival of its first ever augmented reality catalogue.
Ikea is a company famous for its innovative and forward-thinking furniture, home furnishings and kitchenware. Now, the company intends to extend this innovative approach to its Catalogues by fusing the latest mobile technology with its promotional literature, to give customers a much richer experience by offering them the opportunity to interact with products using their smartphone or tablet device.
Ikea is using a technology known as augmented reality. Augmented reality works when the customer downloads an app for their smartphone, which they would then use to scan the catalogue. The app then recognises the scanned images and these act as triggers that would play rich content, such as an instructional video.
The actual printing process does not need to change at all with augmented reality, as augmented reality is designed to recognise flat printed images. This means that traditional printing companies can produce promotional literature like the Ikea catalogue using regular catalogue printing.
Cardiff is home to a large Ikea store, which could soon be the place where customers could pick up a copy of the latest catalogue, download the app and start enjoying the futuristic fusion of printed and online content. The new augmented reality Catalogues have already been launched across the Atlantic in America and are due to appear in the UK in the next month or so.
Ikea prints a whopping 211 million Catalogues each year, so it makes sense that the company has taken the decision to enrich the customer experiencing their printed material.Get a Free Quote for Catalogues
