On Monday, the US-based resale platform StockX launched a shopping app for Apple Vision Pro, a spatial computer that blends digital content and apps with the real world and lets users navigate this blended reality using their eyes, hands, and voice. In a statement, StockX president and chief operations officer Greg Schwartz commented, “Nothing replaces the feeling of picking a sneaker off the shelf and holding it in your hands, but this new experience comes very close. “Innovation is at the
t the heart of everything we do at StockX. We were the first to introduce stock market mechanics to the resale space, and we’re proud to be one of the first marketplaces to launch a spatial app for Apple Vision Pro. It’s everything you know and love about StockX, but in an entirely new dimension.”
In addition to making purchases via the app, users can interact with an immersive sneaker showcase, which features 3D models of top releases on virtual shelving, using Apple Vision Pro’s 3D user interface.
Users can view StockX’s full product catalog with interactive market data, including visual graphs and sales information and real-time insights, as well as a “shop the look” feature with user-generated content from global customers in a 4K display.
As Drew Moore, senior director of product design at StockX stated, “In addition to being one of the first resale marketplaces to bring spatial shopping to market, the StockX experience offers a unique balance between immersive features and our core competencies. We’re incredibly proud of how this first iteration came together, and we’re already looking forward to rolling out the next phase of features and updates.”
StockX stated it plans to build upon the app’s selling capabilities and level of personalisation and has plans to introduce a feature that will allow customers to shop and browse the same products as their friends using SharePlay.
As Schwartz told Inside Retail, “We remain laser-focused on our core offering and rolling out services that impact our millions of customers around the world, but we’re also committed to innovation and keeping our finger on the pulse of what’s next in tech. We’ve carved out space to place bets on the future, and this app is just one example of that.”
What this means for retail
The Apple Vision Pro headset is still relatively new on the market. It was released in the United States on February 2.
Macrumors.com, an American-based site that reports on Apple and Mac-related news, reports that 200,000 units have been sold to date. With an RRP of $3,499, that equates to an estimated $700 million in sales.
Upon launching the headset, Apple offered 600 new spatial experiences, from gaming to shopping, which users could explore in the App Store, alongside more than 1 million compatible apps across iOS and iPadOS.
StockX’s Apple Vision Pro app was designed entirely in-house by a small team of product designers and engineers. The team was assembled last December to create a first-of-its-kind spatially-focused program for the company’s user base, which primarily consists of millennial and Gen Z customers.
This demographic is especially interested in digitised, interactive shopping experiences that incorporate tech such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality (AR).
According to a survey conducted by Tata Consultancy Services, 60 per cent of millennials are willing to shop with or spend more money with a retailer offering virtual fitting rooms or virtual staging capabilities.
AR has become a lot more prevalent in recent years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, 83.1 million people in the US used AR every month, a marked jump from 68.7 million the year before. With consumers stuck at home during the pandemic and unable to test out products in-store, many switched over to using AR services to get a better sense of the product they were trying to purchase.
The emergence of wearable devices such as the Apple Vision Pro headset means that StockX and other retailers can provide a much more realistic AR experience — one that’s far closer to 3D, rather than just being 2D.
Beyond the novelty factor, by interacting with the merchandise in spaces such as the StockX app, consumers can get a better feel of the product they are shopping for online and may be less likely to return it.
As reported by Snap Consumer AR Global Report, 56 per cent of shoppers say they are more confident about the quality of a product with an AR experience.
As the customer journey continues to move online, retailers may want to delve deeper into the world of spatial shopping services before they get left behind.