Dulux puts augmented reality app at the heart of e-commerce plans
It’s been in play since May 2014 and the latest round of updates are being tipped as the start of a conscious attempt to adapt to how decorators – both amateur and professional - are using their mobile devices to help them create the best homes; whether it’s sharing photos of rooms to using virtual scrapbooks.
While the updates vary from market to market, one of the key new features is the ability to synch up a user’s virtual scrapbook on the Dulux site. So if for example, someone adds a colour to their virtual scrapbook then they can use those same log-in details to access and test that colour out from their mobile device. Another prominent addition lets users colour in their photos with paints so that they don’t have to be standing in the room they want to decorate to use the app. Colour accuracy has also been tweaked for darker coloured walls and in those markets where painting the exterior of buildings is the norm – like Asia - the app has now been recalibrated for outside walls.
The next update for the UK will introduce the ability to buy testers from app. “We know from research that if you get people to the point of getting a tester then there's a high conversation rate of them actually applying the paint to the wall and then actually buying it,” said David Menko, global head of marketing, Decorative Paints at Dulux owner AkzoNobel. “It’s really aligned with the marketing strategy to execute and convert and make life easier for consumers.”
While it’s primarily a consumer app, Visualizer is being used in markets like Brazil by professional decorators to help them price and scope out jobs. In Brazil, AzkoNobel has been experimenting with digital initiatives in classical point-of-sale settings, offering digitised decoration magazines on tablets.
“Distribution in our bricks and mortar shops is extremely important,” said Corinne Avelines, global head of digital and ecommerce at AkzoNobel. “The challenge is to integrate all those different channels into one seamless experience.”
The app is available in 40 countries, 28 of which have been updated over the last month. ( The orginal app is available in 128 markets however the new version has been launched in 28 the past month)