Wayfair Introduces Technology to Enhance Shopping Experience

May 2, 2023  by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry   

The Digital Design Studio is a kiosk that allows customers to create and interact with a variety of design layouts and experience products in a digital, 3D room at photorealistic quality.

Located in the Dedham, MA AllModern store, this pilot technology truly embodies the omnichannel experience, allowing customers shopping in the store to experience the larger digital catalog in life-like quality.

"Experimentation and innovation with an eye on improving the customer experience is at the heart of everything we do at Wayfair," said Fiona Tan, Wayfair CTO.

"Wayfair strongly believes in meeting our customers where they want to shop, whether online or in-person. The Digital Design Studio helps us execute on this omnichannel experience, by making it easier for customers to find what they are looking for and ultimately have greater confidence and satisfaction in their purchase."

When customers shop for their homes, they either go online and view millions of products, or shop in-stores to view a curated selection. The Digital Design Studio merges these experiences to help customers make the best possible decisions for their home by allowing them to create interactive, three-dimensional spaces, giving them an accurate depiction of what the furnishings look like in various configurations and lighting conditions.

Customers shopping in-store can move and place furniture cards to create true to scale, virtual furniture arrangements. They can also move the camera to zoom in on the product, view the piece in a different fabric or finish, or view the furniture from different perspectives.

For more information on the creation of the Digital Design Studio, read the blog post, "Introducing Wayfair's Digital Design Studio ."

Digital Design Studio is an output from Wayfair's R&D team, Wayfair Next, tasked with examining and evaluating emerging technologies on a two-to-three-year horizon. Wayfair Next looks to the future of shopping and how consumers will use technology to engage with and purchase goods in new ways.

Regarding the Digital Design Studio, Shrenik Sadalgi, director of research and development at Wayfair, said, "As a technology focused retailer, we are excited for shoppers to experience the pilot of our Digital Design Studio, learn from their feedback, and evolve the offering to continue to create the best possible shopping experience for the home."

View a video of the Digital Design Studio here.