Azione Unlimited's Virtual Reality Show House is live. The showroom software, developed by BDX, allows users to experience how technology will look and function in a home while moving virtually through each room.
Azione says the showroom is “built on a sophisticated graphics engine employed by top video game studios.” The demo runs on a computer or app, giving dealers the ability to bring the showroom demo to their customer's home. The showroom demo can be controlled with a PC or Xbox game controller, viewed through an Octulus Rift VR headset, or shown to multiple people at once on a computer monitor or large HDTV or projection screen.
The base model contains over 100 products from 30 companies. Dealers can purchase the model as-is or customize it. Specialized versions created by BDX can include dealers' particular brand mix, company logo, contact info and regional/environmental landscape representing the dealer’s location.
“The Azione Virtual Reality (VR) Showroom platform gives dealers the option to customize as many details of the demo as they want, from different scenes within the home down to the specific products deployed,” says Richard Glikes, president, Azione. “We can even customize the screens within the VR environment to play a video promoting the dealer’s services and brand, which users can play upon entering a room. It’s quite exceptional!”
Customer Experience
With the dealer’s guidance, consumers can “walk through” the virtual home and interact with the different components, and then choose to view a pop-up information panel that describes a certain product’s features.
The tactile experience gives the consumer an idea of the various options available and the functionality of different products and, more importantly, helps the consumer visualize the end result in their own home.
Many Azione dealers have a physical showroom, but it’s often hard to imagine the separate components within a whole home environment. However, real-world showrooms don't usually give dealers the ability to switch out equipment for demos. And the success of a traditional brick and mortar showroom demo is contingent on getting the client through the door in the first place.
“For many dealers, adding a VR showroom is a unique step up that really differentiates their brand (and ours),” says Glikes. “Azione is growing and our members are evolving. Adding services like this—and being the first ones to do so—make it far easier for customers to experience technology before they buy, which increases the likelihood they will purchase what dealers recommend.”
