Industries affected by the onset of the hyper-visual era

Innovations are created so that businesses can flourish in this digital age, so it’s important to know which sectors will benefit from hyper-visual innovation.

Virtual reality, the use of technology to transform one’s reality; and augmented reality, the use of technology to enhance one’s reality; are two technological advancements that will change business forever.

Dion Chang, CEO of Flux Trends, is committed to informing businesses of the upcoming trends, and these are the industries that he says should look out as businesses and communication go hyper-visual …

Food

“This was the most innovative concept at the Milan Food Fair.” Chang talks about a fast-developing concept where supermarket shoppers will be able to access information about food products on a virtual database right before their eyes. “You can see how interactive the supermarket is. I love that hand gestures bring you more food information.”

Retail

“I went on an Innovation Tour of Manhattan and we went to a store in Soho, Rebecca Minkoff. While you’re in there, the sensors pick up which items of clothing have gone into the change room and the ‘magic mirror’ [which uses augmented reality to superimpose clothing on your body in the mirror without physically changing] shows you styling options, so it becomes a very integrated way of shopping.”

Hotels, hospitality and tourism

“They were the first industries to understand the visual language. They started bartering off people with a lot of followers, so if you have more than 100 000 followers you could get a free room [provided that you post pictures of the hotel and its amenities on Instagram or other platforms].”

Fashion

“It’s to do with models marketing themselves on Instagram,” Chang explained. Previously models had a Z Card with all their measurements and physical details, but today agents find models on social media where their physical details are listed as well as information about their social media following and reach.

The arts

“A lot of people feel intimidated going into a sterile gallery – it’s quite elitist. Visual social media has destroyed boundaries because you get a lot more people buying art, and marketing art has gone into the social realm.”

Marketing

Chang explained that marketing is now being conducted through social media, for example, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook allow businesses to buy advertising space on their platforms.

Media and Broadcast

“With the help of drones and military technology, we can see inside war-ravaged Syria and there’s immediacy to a whole lot of things.”

Healthcare

“Some hospitals are using virtual reality to take their cancer patients around the world while bed-ridden. They’re even exploring ways of using it to perform CAT scans and ultrasounds.”

Porn

“Spectator porn. Virtual reality is taking you, the viewer, into the middle of the room and you can see it taking place all around you, and in every corner of that room.”

Business

Soon people will be able to take part in 3D visual conferences and all staff will be nomadic workers who travel the world through visual reality in order to connect with like-minded business people from other countries.

Motoring

Mini and Volvo are using visual reality to put their customers into the driver’s seat and afford them the chance to experience the drive without moving a muscle. Volvo even uses virtual reality to take a look into their cars, allowing their engineers the ability to view the car in a different colour, change parts to check the performance outcome, and a range of other functions.

So, the advice is, make sure you know what virtual reality and augmented reality can do for your business.