wpradicalgalaxy, Author at Radical Galaxy

For Retail, Augmented and Virtual Reality are the Future

by wpradicalgalaxy | May 1, 2018 | Radical Galaxy Studio

Where is the mall headed?

Mall owners are redeveloping and reimaging their properties to be relevant in today’s changing retail market. Many properties are going through major redevelopments trying to create an experience, not just a place to shop. Whether it’s offering more dining and entertainment options or having interactive features such as showcasing the latest augmented reality tech, the malls are keen to create opportunities for the consumers to engage more actively with physical retail.

The jury’s still out on the actual death of the mall. There is talk revolving around whether the “death of stores” and the general lean towards online life – and with that, online shopping – is something that will continue to transform the retail industry entirely and indefinitely.

Changing Retail Landscape

There is something to be said about the convenience that point-and-click shopping brings to a consumer. Couple that with an augmented or virtual reality infused experience that not only enables you to shop from anywhere, but puts you in the place you wish to be, pick the product you need and have it reach you, all via a series of clicks, and the virtual experience really gives an actual physical trip to a mall a run for its money.

Millennials, the ever-hungry, ever-spending cohort that is always on the lookout for the next purchase that will wow their followers, are mobile-focused high spenders set to make up 2.6 billion of the global population by 2020, with access to $44 billion in buying power. And millennials are not shying away from spending this money, according to research – in fact, they spend more than half of what’s available to them each month.

Millennials are dictating a new path forward for the retail industry and if key players refuse to adapt, they may find themselves in some seriously hot water. To stay relevant and give this expanding audience an unique opportunity to spend their disposable income, retailers need to heighten their game by providing customers with relevant technology which is intuitive, engaging and exciting.

“This presents a significant challenge for retailers and brands to create a personalized, interactive experience with the latest digital advances or risk falling behind. This kind of innovation is not linear or a one-time project — it is a new way of thinking, operating and behaving,” said IBM General Manager of Global Consumer Industries Steve Laughlin.

Enter Virtual and Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality has found a way to engage the customer both from the comfort of their own home and by providing them with a unique shopping experience in a physical mall. Users can enter a virtual store, Ralph Lauren for example, and walk through the store, try on virtual clothes, interact with staff or even invite friends to shop with them in the virtual reality world. On the other hand, mall owners can heighten the appeal of their space by creating tech demos and virtual reality simulations. Especially while VR and AR headsets are still more of a novelty, physical stores can attract attention and increase visitations through the promotion of new experiences.

With its undeniable appeal and the promise of attracting millennials, retailers are buying into the idea of using virtual and augmented reality technology to improve their business operations in various ways. It’s not just a sales tool, but also an effective research tool which helps physical stores with merchandising, product placement and developing planograms. The use of planograms in the retail stores helps create a better store layout and product positioning.

A brand that is courageously spearheading this trend of using virtual reality technology in the retail environment is Rebecca Minkoff. The designer partnered with Ripple in late 2016 to virtually live-stream a fashion show of her latest collection. The 360 VR experience allowed users to manipulate imagery at their whim and wander anywhere along the street where the fashion show was held. This fully immersive experience was only a toe dip for the company’s intentions to integrate VR into the way they reach customers.

Walmart launched several augmented reality apps, in the United States and Canada, coupling the technology tools with in-store marketing activities for blockbuster features such as The Avengers, the Amazing Spiderman and, most recently, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series. Using a free app, available for Android, iPhone and iPad, shoppers were given an opportunity to interact with signage placed throughout the store and embark on a virtual adventure during which they could obtain series-related merchandise.

Along with Walmart, companies such as Wayfair, Amazon, Overstock, Ikea and Sotheby’s have all dabbled in creating augmented reality apps to improve the experience of their customers. At Radical Galaxy, we have been involved in the creation of virtual and augmented reality apps that are pushing the boundaries of what can be done within the space. Our current R&D projects are being designed to make the shopping experience more modernized, intuitive and profitable for both malls and retailers.

Lochwood Lozier Selects Radical Galaxy Studio as Its Preferred Virtual Reality Provider

by wpradicalgalaxy | Apr 9, 2018 | Radical Galaxy Studio

Today, Radical Galaxy Studio, a real estate technology firm with offices in the greater Seattle area and New York City, announced that Lochwood Lozier, a high-end custom home builder based in Redmond, Washington, has named Radical Galaxy Studio as its preferred Virtual Reality (VR) provider.

VR can be used to get a sense of scale and make modifications to early stage plans, or to review different interior design options instantaneously such as changing ceiling heights or room dimensions, flooring options, back splashes, countertops and other elements to customize the space. Within the virtual reality world, users can also walk freely into and out of the home or up and down the stairs, peek into closets and even toggle on and off light switches and faucets, giving them a better sense of the space’s layout and allowing them to make more informed buying decisions.

“We’re going through the largest technology transformation within the real estate industry that I have seen during my career, and the advancements that Radical Galaxy Studio is making today are enabling us to reimagine the home building process for us and our clients,” said Todd Lozier, CEO at Lochwood Lozier. “We’re improving our process to take full advantage of the latest technologies, which will enable us to adapt and provide our clients with a more personalized and time efficient experience building their custom homes. Our relationship with Radical Galaxy and the services they provide are essential to creating the best experience for our clients.”

One of Lochwood’s early clients used the VR software to walk into a VR model of their dining room and immediately opined the room was too small, even though they had been happy with the size when looking at the 2D plans. Without Radical Galaxy’s tools, the client would not have been able to identify this problem until the framing for the house was complete, at which point the issue would have been expensive to fix, requiring an engineer to make complex structural changes. But because the problem was identified before the building stage, Lochwood was able to quickly modify the design before breaking ground.

“We are excited that Lochwood Lozier selected us as their preferred Virtual Reality provider,” said Matthew Shaffer, Managing Partner at Radical Galaxy Studio. “Lochwood Lozier was one of, if not the first, custom home builders to harness this technology as part of their service to provide their clients with the best experience during the home building process.”

About Radical Galaxy:

Radical Galaxy Studio, LLC (https://radicalgalaxy.com/) is a creative studio specializing in visual solutions for the un-built architectural environment focusing on virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). The Radical Galaxy team consists of designers, architects and developers who have teamed together to push boundaries and use cutting edge tools to create inspirational work. In addition to VR/AR/MR, Radical Galaxy offers architectural renderings, 360 videos and panoramas, animations and real-time PC walkthroughs.

About Lochwood Lozier:

Lochwood-Lozier Custom Homes specializes in designing and constructing quality homes with enduring design and superior workmanship, utilizing innovative products and techniques to meet total customer satisfaction. While our primary business is constructing custom homes in the greater Seattle area, we also have an established remodel division and a landscaping company. We have painters, framers, landscapers, laborers and equipment in-house to better control the costs, quality and scheduling. We’re not just offering custom homes, but also a tight-knit relationship as we intend our homes to become part of your family legacy.

Bellevue Reporter: Bellevue virtual reality business expands to New York

by wpradicalgalaxy | Apr 4, 2018 | Augmented Reality, Radical Galaxy Studio

What if you could walk through the halls and rooms of your new house before it was built?

Thanks to Bellevue’s Radical Galaxy Studio, that dream can become a reality — or, at least, a virtual reality.

Radical Galaxy Studio uses virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality to give architects, real estate developers and people having homes built a 360-degree idea of what the structure will look like when it is complete.

And that technology recently spread to New York City. Partnering with Bradley Snyder, formerly of Apollo and Eastdil Secured, Radical Galaxy is opening a second office in Manhattan.

According to managing partner Matthew Shaffer, virtual reality has been changing the face of real estate over the past year.

“As every day goes by, it becomes more popular,” he said.

Radical Galaxy chose the Big Apple for its expansion due to the city’s vast development opportunities.

“New York has a really big market when it comes to real estate,” Shaffer explained.

According to Shaffer, virtual reality technology can save clients quite a bit of money in the long-run, as it allows them to catch elements of a custom home that may not match their vision of the project. One client, after seeing the virtual reality of their future dining room, realized that their planned dining room table would not fit into the space. Radical Galaxy was able to model in the actual digital reality of the specific table the client wanted to use.

“In the past, the client would have realized that once the table was in the room and the dry wall was finished,” he said. “At that point, it becomes expensive.”

Clients also have the ability to see a clearer idea of what certain types of countertops will look like — a look that’s much easier to visualize than with a small sample, Shaffer said.

“It’s easier than seeing one piece and trying to conceptualize it,” he said.

How VR Is Changing the Real Estate Landscape

by wpradicalgalaxy | Mar 15, 2018 | Radical Galaxy Studio

For those in need of new real estate, the process of finding, selecting and committing to a property can be one peppered with a vast amount of challenges. Buyers can ease into the process with use of full service sites such as Redfin, which offer a myriad of options that can help in this, often, very complex task.

According to National Association of Realtors research, 95% of customers search for real estate online and 51% of them find their homes through these means.

Indeed the online world offers many options and tools for an in-depth and thorough search for properties, and buyers are, evidently, taking full advantage.

Virtual Reality Real Estate Tours

What if one could not only see what their potential new home would look like, but actually experience the space in real time, interact with it from multiple angles, and even change the interior finishes?

And, do all of this, from anywhere in the world.

The meaningful merge of technology and the real estate market has brought forth virtual reality real estate tours. They’re not only rapidly reinventing the way buyers shop for property but are reshaping the view – quite literally – of this highly emotional process.

A VR tour allows for a fully immersive experience of a property without the buyer actually being in the space. Using a headset, the buyer can be transported into a real world property on the other side of the world by way of projected images from a professional camera such as the Nokia Ozo, Jaunt one or Samsung 360 Round Camera.

Researchers at Goldman Sachs are forecasting that virtual and augmented reality will become an $80 billion market by 2025, with $2.6 billion coming from real estate.

These numbers definitely point to a game-changing era, when it comes to this seemingly organic, no-brainer of a relationship between VR/AR and the real estate market.

But that’s not all.

A survey commissioned by Redfin of over showed that nearly 35% of people who bought or sold a home made a bid before viewing the home in person.

Arguably, providing people with the ability to walk and experience the space without having to be there could expand the market and kick open the door for this yet-to-be fully realized dimension of the real estate industry.

Next level of VR and AR

While Matterport and other traditional 360 firms allow buyers to tour a property that already exists, Radical Galaxy Studios takes the technology even further by allowing buyers to experience a space post renovation, or even a space that hasn’t yet been built. With a team of architects, interior designers, and technology experts, Radical Galaxy can fully render out architectural plans to show what a space can look like post construction. This allows developers to pre-sell projects earlier in the process, and buyers the chance to customize more features in their future property. By bringing buyers into the virtual reality of real estate, Radical Galaxy opens up a whole new world for the real estate industry. The project can be in any stage of completion, but the buyers will be able to look around and walk through the project, while interacting with the space such as going up the stairs or changing the flooring titles as if they were in a video game.

Market Hard-to-Sell Properties with Augmented or Virtual Reality

Radical Galaxy’s technology can also be an immensely useful tool for properties that are more challenging to sell. By creating an augmented or virtual reality simulation of what a place can look like post renovation, it allows potential buyers to see beyond a property’s current conditions to its full potential. Radical Galaxy can thus provide buyers with the vision that they sometimes otherwise lack for a remodel project. The possibilities of a space can even be seen in real time, before they actually happen. With the click of a controller, the walls can be removed, the kitchens can be reorganized, and other substantial changes can be made. Getting just the gentlest professional guidance, the buyers can get the vision of the renovated property into their stream of thinking, allowing them to more fairly consider those overlooked diamonds in the rough.

ICSC: Augmented and virtual reality change how retailers and landlords engage customers

by wpradicalgalaxy | Mar 12, 2018 | Radical Galaxy Studio

The use of augmented-reality and virtual-reality technologies is gaining popularity with retailers and retail real estate owners alike. As smartphones become ever more sophisticated and AR and VR apps get easier to use, adoption of these technologies is expected to accelerate over the next few years.

Landlords can also use AR and VR to pump up their leasing programs, says Mathew Shaffer, founder of Radical Galaxy Studio, in Bellevue, Wash., which creates virtual-reality scenes for real estate owners. “From a budgeting perspective, honestly, the virtual- and augmented-reality work is going to be a more cost-effective tool to use, rather than white-boxing or building out a spec unit,” said Shaffer. “Sometimes, though, there is a disconnect between the leasing brokers, the developers, the owners and the architects. If I am meeting with a developer, they may love it, but it is the leasing broker whom they give the budget to.”