2nd December 2019
The Future of Augmented Reality in Japan
As technology advances – particularly with handheld devices becoming more powerful – there has been a major increase in brands using augmented reality and similarly advanced features to appeal to the public. In an FMCG Gurus survey of Japanese consumers (2019 – 2,000 respondents), 32% of consumers said they were aware of the concept of augmented reality, and 26% of them – almost 1 in 10 of the total sample size – were familiar with products that used it. Even though there are clearly products on the market that already use these features, they are few and far between, and there is very little consumer awareness of the technology.
FMCG Gurus research shows that when consumers are made aware of augmented reality, they are extremely interested by it. Of those who knew of the technology, 63% said that they found this type of innovation appealing or very appealing, compared to only 23% who disliked it and 15% who were unsure. 41% went on to say that they thought that this type of packaging would influence purchasing behavior, and a full third said that they would be likely or very likely to pay a premium for packaging that has augmented reality features.
This combines to suggest that augmented reality shows great promise as a premium feature for packaging, as a technology that is already popular and likely to get more so as it grows in awareness. Seeing that almost two-thirds of customers who knew about augmented reality reacted positively to it suggests that this trend is likely to continue as public awareness grows. As more of this packaging becomes available, there will be an increasing drive to purchase it, particularly while the novelty is still fresh. Brands that utilize these innovations as early adopters will likely reap rewards from the first influx of consumer awareness.
This data is from our Japan Packaging Survey – Q4 2019 – 2000 Respondents. If you would like to know more about our packaging surveys please contact us here: Click Here