How eyewear companies are leveraging AI, AR, and the metaverse
Today’s tech-driven world has paved the way for innovations that revolutionize industries. For instance, the wide adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in key industries like eyewear has led to its strong market performance, with current projections predicting its market value to reach $2.12 billion by 2030 with a 21.6% CAGR.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tech are also now being leveraged for therapeutic uses in mental health services. These technologies provide immersive remote experiences that enhance specific types of therapy, including exposure therapy and music therapy. Similarly, the eyewear industry is adopting emerging technologies like AR and AI to boost market growth and improve customers’ retail experiences by integrating digital perceptual information with the real world.
Eyewear companies have also ventured into the metaverse, a digital space created by integrating virtual and physical environments through AR, indicating their commitment to reach diverse audiences to help boost their growth. Together, these technologies allow these companies to foster an interactive retail experience that helps increase customer satisfaction and engagement.
But how exactly are these technologies being used? Below, we look at how eyewear e-commerce companies leverage AI, AR, and the metaverse.
Augmented reality
One example of how eyewear companies leverage AR tech is by creating and incorporating interactive virtual try-on features into their e-commerce platforms, enabling shoppers to see if their preferred eyewear frame or style perfectly fits their faces. Eyebuydirect, a leading optical retailer founded in 2005 that offers quality eyewear for an affordable price, maximizes this technology to ensure that customers can virtually fit various specs by either using their device’s front camera or uploading a clear photo of their face.
This AR-powered feature lets the company’s potential buyers see if a specific frame style complements their facial features, allowing them to check out a wide selection of eyewear from the comfort of their homes. This technology can significantly increase revenue, as studies show that virtual try-on technology can boost sales by up to 30%.
Metaverse
Eyewear retailers are also no stranger to the metaverse. Take LensCrafters, currently one of the largest optical retail brands in North America, with more than 1,000 stores in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company has a wide selection of offerings and services, including eyeglasses, prescription sunglasses, and eye exam appointments. It carries top brands such as Ray-Ban, Gucci, and Versace, among many others. Aside from its diverse offerings, the company is also venturing into the metaverse with the release of its interactive game LensCrafters Eye Odyssey: A World of Optics on Roblox, which is the second installment of the Eye Odyssey series that takes gamers into an immersive journey with an eye-bulb character named Blinky. Within the game, players try to overcome challenges caused by prolonged screen exposure and are occasionally reminded to have an annual eye exam and do eye-healthy practices.
Sunglass Hut, a leading eyewear retailer that started as a family business in Miami in 1971 before expanding across Asia, South America, and Europe, is also leveraging the metaverse. The optical brand offers a range of glasses and sunglasses that can be customized, and by venturing into the metaverse, Sunglass Hut is able to tap diverse audiences to promote its products. In 2023, the company collaborated with avatar platform Ready Player Me to create digital sunglasses, a first-of-its-kind initiative integrating physical retail into the metaverse. Custom-made avatars can wear these digital sunnies from Oakley and Ray-Ban across virtual spaces and games, and customers only need to redeem them in select Sunglass Hut stores in the US by scanning a QR code. Utilizing the metaverse allows eyewear brands to reach broader audiences, further expanding their niche market.
Artificial intelligence
Eyewear companies are also optimizing their products and services with the help of AI. For instance, designer brand Ray-Ban, which initially created protective sunglasses for pilots in the 1930s before becoming a staple accessory in movies and pop culture throughout the 1980s and 1990s, is now leading the way in introducing groundbreaking specs through the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The smart glasses, a product of the brand’s collaboration with tech giant Meta, are equipped with multimodal AI features that serve as a virtual assistant that helps wearers process all kinds of information – from landmarks and sounds to text. Wearers can activate the assistive AI by saying “Hey Meta” followed by a command, whether they’re requesting it to describe a landmark or read a text from a different language. These glasses are a commercial success, with the newer version outselling the previous smart glasses model.
Zenni Optical, an online eyewear retailer founded in 2003 that aims to make affordable eyewear more accessible, has also integrated AI technology into its e-commerce platform. The eyewear company has included an AI-powered search feature on its website that leverages image recognition and machine learning capabilities to analyze photo content and search for similar product offerings in its database. Shoppers can use this AI-powered feature by uploading a picture of their preferred eyewear style, whether from a Google search or real life, and the website will redirect them to results showing similar versions found on Zenni’s selection. This AI-enabled technology can provide major convenience for buyers looking for eyewear styles unavailable in other online retailers or nearby physical stores.
The emergence of new technologies like AI, AR, and the metaverse has opened up new opportunities for the eyewear industry to adopt innovative features that foster growth and customer engagement. From immersive virtual spaces and interactive features to groundbreaking eyewear design, these new technologies allow eyewear companies to introduce game-changing innovations that are reshaping the future of the industry.
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