Saatchi Art Launches ‘View in a Room’ In WebAR

he world’s leading online art gallery, Saatchi Art, has just launched a WebAR ‘View In A Room’ feature for customers shopping on their mobile web browser. The new AR feature, which is part of Saatchi Art’s latest investment in mobile, allows shoppers of the site to visualise over a million works of art in their own home before they make the decision to purchase it online.

Saatchi Art has seen a record number of shoppers arrive to the site from mobile web browsers over the past year, in fact, since Spring 2019, the online art platform has seen a significant shift in its customer behaviour, with mobile web shoppers outweighing desktop and according to the company, in Q2 2020, Saatchi Art’s mobile transactions grew 100% year-over-year.

The AR “View in a Room” feature was previously only available to Saatchi app users, however, with the shift to mobile WebAR, shoppers can instantly select and view artwork on their own walls at home through a smartphone or tablet device. With just two simple steps, shoppers can easily test the artwork to ensure it is suitable for their chosen environment before committing to purchase. 

In a recent interview about the shift to WebAR, General Manager of Saatchi Art, Jeanne Anderson stated: 

“We know from customer surveys that over 70% of art buyers are hesitant to purchase because they can’t see the artwork in advance. By offering the ability to view an artwork via augmented reality on mobile, buyers will instantly see the beauty of the artwork in their home and will feel confident in their purchase,”

Anderson added: 

“As one of the world’s largest online art galleries, we have always looked to innovate within our industry. Creating thoughtful, useful tools for mobile web users is just another example of our dedication to our art buyers and part of our ongoing effort to make it easier for them to discover and buy art they love.”

Saatchi Art claims that since the launch of AR in its app back in April 2018, the AR tool has played a significant part in driving shopper confidence, as those who utilize the AR feature are “significantly more likely to purchase.” especially now with Saatchi Art’s most recent launch which provides AR functionality to the majority of its shoppers through their web browsers, without the requirement for an app to access the experience thanks to 8th Wall’s WebAR technology platform. 

Founder and CEO of 8th Wall, Erik Murphy-Chutorian stated: 

“Saatchi Art’s site-wide rollout of augmented reality reflects a significant shift we are witnessing on the web as the e-commerce experience moves from 2D to 3D to make it feel more physical,” 

The AR “View in a Room” solution was designed for scalability across the entire site, with each piece of art dynamically scaled based on the artwork’s metadata and before being deployed into AR on a 3D canvas with the approximate real-world dimensions of the physical artwork.