In-Store Technology in Luxury Retail: AR, VR & Interactive Displays

Even before a shopper touches a garment, the numbers tell you where the industry is headed.

Global investment in in-store technology is accelerating; AR and VR are leading the conversation, but they are far from the full story. From connected mirrors to data-driven personalization tools, luxury retailers are rethinking the boutique experience to meet a new era of expectations.

The momentum is clear. AR in retail reached $19.9 billion in 2024, and is projected to climb to $64.4 billion by 2030, with enterprise spend driving growth. 

This shift reflects a broader trend as brands increasingly allocate budgets toward experiential marketing to drive measurable financial outcomes. These investments underline the importance of creating immersive brand experiences that engage multiple senses and emotions.

Smart applications are already delivering results: 

Nike reported an 11% lift in sales tied to AR try-ons, while Gucci saw a 188% spike in product views and a 25% increase in purchase intent. 

Virtual showrooms and runway experiences extend brand storytelling in ways that protect exclusivity while deepening engagement.

This shift reflects broader consumer trends.

Younger luxury buyers, especially Gen Z, value immersive, shareable moments, while virtual try-ons are helping to reduce returns. 

It comes down to bringing convenience and confidence into the purchase journey. Retail accounted for 55% of AR usage in 2024, signaling rapid mainstream adoption. 

The ability to merge digital immersion with in-store intimacy is no longer optional. It’s essential.

In luxury, technology is never about novelty. It’s about the human connection; creating spaces where craft, culture, and cutting-edge innovation work in harmony.

WONU helps luxury brands choreograph this evolution with precision, balancing high-impact tech with the artistry and intimacy that define true luxury. If you’re ready to reimagine your in-store experience, our team knows how to make it resonate.

Luxury shoppers walk into the store with digital fluency and high expectations. They want technology to elevate the boutique, not overwhelm it. 

From immersive try-ons to interactive displays and personalized journeys, consumer demand is reshaping what “in-store experience” means for luxury retail.

Immersive try-ons have shifted from novelty to baseline. 

Shoppers expect mirrors and AR apps that capture fit, finish, and context in seconds. With more than 1.4 billion AR-enabled devices in use, customers already carry the technology in their pockets.

Apparel and footwear drive the demand, with beauty and eyewear close behind. 

When you stage immersive environments with subtle phygital layers, you keep the brand’s aesthetic intact while revealing measurable lift. That is to say, these tools are not only experiential. 

They deliver business results. 

AR users are 27% more likely to complete a purchase, while 3D product views increase add-to-cart rates by 44%. Returns decline when shoppers see how an item looks before buying, strengthening both loyalty and lifetime value.

For luxury, the key is discretion and design. 

Immersive tools should feel seamlessly integrated into the store environment, enhancing brand storytelling without distracting from the craft.

Today’s luxury shopper expects displays that do more than loop visuals. They want screens that respond. Touch, gesture, and motion-based interfaces draw people in and keep them exploring. 

Digital displays outperform traditional signage, lifting engagement by nearly 50%, and retailers report that 74% of shoppers are more likely to buy after interacting with them.

The advantage is not only in the attention.

Interactive displays can deliver real-time pricing updates, queue relief, and social sharing opportunities, making them powerful drivers of both sales and satisfaction. The global retail display market is projected to hit $33.2 billion by 2035, following a CAGR of 6%, signaling long-term relevance.

When executed well, these displays become less about spectacle and more about shaping a sensory-rich environment that reflects the brand’s narrative and identity.

Screens respond back; now they need to adapt and respond to the individual.

Nearly 70% of luxury shoppers say personalization is central to their purchase decisions, while younger generations view tailored experiences as the standard.

From the AR try-ons that recall the customer’s size and preferences to the AI-powered recommendations that anticipate taste, personalization is redefining clienteling. Integrating mobile apps, loyalty profiles, and sales associate tools ensures a unified journey. 

We have online and in-store data working together to deliver a bespoke service.

The impact is measurable: 

Personalized experiences can build trust, reduce return rates, and shorten decision-making time. And for luxury brands, in particular, they also protect the intimacy of the shopping ritual, allowing technology to feel like a natural extension of the boutique experience.

At WONU, we design and deploy these experiences with cultural fluency and creative precision. Our team ensures that every layer of technology enhances, not replaces, the human touch that defines true luxury. If you’re ready to meet these expectations, we can help you build experiences that resonate today and scale tomorrow.

Luxury brands are experimenting with tech that improves service and deepens customer engagement, but the most effective applications all share one trait: 

They amplify the human touch.

When technology is embedded into the shopping journey, its influence shows up in measurable business outcomes. The most immediate lift is in sales: immersive tools like 3D models and AR try-ons increase purchase intent, with conversion rates as much as 90% higher compared to non-AR users.

These experiences recreate the confidence of in-store browsing while adding digital convenience, which explains why brands such as Sephora report double-digit gains in conversion through virtual consultations and try-on features.

The effect doesn’t stop at the first purchase, either. 

The average order value consistently climbs when customers get to see products styled in sets, try on complementary items through AR mirrors, or explore curated VR spaces. 

In fact, retailers report that basket sizes grow when immersive tech is part of the decision-making process.

Returns, one of the costliest pain points in retail, drop significantly when shoppers feel more certain about their choices. AR visualization alone can cut returns by up to 40%; IKEA’s VR tools have trimmed furniture returns by more than a third by giving customers a clear sense of scale and fit before checkout.

Beyond transactions, in-store technology drives loyalty and advocacy. Shoppers will spend more time with brands that make discovery engaging, whether through personalized AI recommendations or interactive experiences that encourage exploration. 

Longer sessions translate to deeper relationships, while positive word-of-mouth grows as customers share their experiences of innovative, friction-free shopping. 

Taken together, higher conversion rates, bigger basket sizes, fewer returns, and stronger loyalty create a compounding effect on profitability that makes in-store technology a strategic, not cosmetic, investment.

Rolling out in-store technology is not about flipping a switch. It is a staged process that turns experiments into proven, scalable systems.

The journey begins with pilots that are sharply defined and measurable, setting the tone for everything that follows.

Before hardware ships or content is built, clarity on what the pilot must prove is non-negotiable. Three things matter when you validate an in‑store tech pilot: 

What it sells, how it shifts behavior, and if it scales cleanly.

Decide whether your goal is to cut returns through AR try-ons, lift basket size with smart mirrors, or drive loyalty through immersive consultations. Then, lock in the target cohort and context: flagship fitting rooms, private client suites, or beauty counters.

Metrics must be sharp and tied to business value. Focus on conversion lift, sales lift per featured SKUs, basket growth, return-rate reduction, dwell time, and CRM opt-ins. Loyalty signals, like repeat visits and content engagement, should complement hard commerce KPIs. 

Now, the validation challenges. The industry lacks standardized metrics, vendors inflate engagement, and attribution gets messy across POS, inventory, and content stacks.

You’ll solve them with pre‑registered hypotheses, geo/time A/B designs, and SKU-level tagging on content interactions. That way, pilots are evaluated on commercial impact rather than vendor-driven vanity metrics.

Once the pilot validates, scaling requires discipline.

Treat scale-up governance like a runway checklist: 

You standardize, you verify, then you accelerate.

Build governance frameworks that protect brand aesthetics while ensuring operational efficiency across AR try-ons, VR showrooms, and smart displays. 

Staff training is equally important; associates need to guide AR/VR experiences with the same polish they bring to traditional service. 

Finally, embed ongoing optimization into the roadmap; AI-driven personalization and return-rate insights can help you refine experiences as the network grows.

With these foundations in place, luxury brands can expand confidently from experimental pilots to scalable rollouts, making sure that innovation strengthens both brand equity and commercial performance.

When you bring WONU into a flagship or a high-street boutique, we start with a close read of your store environment, including how guests move through the space, where attention lingers, and where it drops.

These observations help us shape a modernization plan that respects your brand codes while upgrading sightlines, content zones, and service touchpoints.

This approach reflects our commitment to integrity and mastery in delivering customized retail solutions.

Our role here is to make in-store technology in luxury retail feel seamless, never intrusive. Smart mirrors, AR try-ons, RFID-enabled displays, and modular digital canvases are integrated in ways that improve craft and service rather than distract from them. 

The result is a store that feels contemporary without sacrificing the refinement that luxury clients expect.

Partnership means clarity:

A defined brief, a roadmap with measurable outcomes, and ROI captured through metrics like dwell time, conversion lift, and basket growth. 

It also means discretion. We white-label with agencies, guard brand aesthetics, and hold timelines tight.

As a Black-owned, women-led team, we bring cultural fluency and creative rigor to every collaboration. Our work ensures that technology elevates, rather than overwhelms, luxury retail experiences. For brands ready to lead the next chapter of engagement, WONU makes those transformations not only possible but profitable.