One of Microsoft’s priorities over the coming years is to boost the popularity of the mixed reality niche, which combines virtual reality and augmented reality, projecting scenes onto the physical world whilst creating a new immersive experience. And to achieve this, the company looks set to target people who love shopping.
A patent recently registered by the company describes a mixed reality method that includes a holographic button which can be linked to a shop’s website.
This button would mean that, when visiting the physical shop in this setting, every time a customer picked up an item from the shelf, the button would appear directly above that item and, upon interacting with it, the user would confirm the purchase of the item on the shop’s website, thereby introducing ‘one-click shopping’ not only to online shops but also to physical shops.
Of course, to access this button, customers will need to be using the appropriate headsets to access the technology, but providing this equipment to enhance the shopping experience could become a key selling point for retailers in the coming years.
Source: Canaltech