The Chinese virtual reality (VR) market is expanding at a fast pace but experts have called for thetechnology to be applied to a wider range of sectors besides just entertainment and gaming,saying this is necessary for steady development of the market.
Industry experts noted that the retail sector could benefit from this technology by using it as avalue-added service for customers. For example, a scented candles retailer has developedshowrooms in which consumers can use a VR headset to gain an immersive experience withfloral fragrances. Furniture and interior decoration retailers too can leverage VR technology toprovide their potential buyers with accurate manifestations of designs.
"It costs about 80 percent less to build a VR showroom to present ceramic products to buyersthan to create a showroom full of real ceramics. What's more, in a VR showroom, buyers canview hundreds of patterns of ceramics and they can tell which details they like the best and whatalterations they wish to make," said Zheng Hong, sales representative with Lianbang CeramicsLtd Group.
"In a traditional showroom, consumers need to move from one area to another and spend half aday seeing only a handful choices."
Real estate professionals also said that VR and augmented reality (AR) can help their industry.Joey Chio, Senior Associate Director of Savills China Retail Tenant Representation, added thatthe technology can also be used to deliver a realistic viewing experience to potential hometenants and buyers, as compared to having to imagine how a property would look like based ona sandbox model or blueprint.
"There will be many opportunities to create content for VR and AR when the hardware market forsuch tech is consolidated following the announcement of the industry standards and regulations.VR and AR will hardly be used solely for entertainment purposes," said Wang Qing, analyst withShenzhen-based Buteng VR Ltd.
According to a new research report jointly released by the China Electronics StandardizationInstitute and Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese VR market was worth 1.54 billion yuan ($236million) in 2015 and is expected to rise to more than 5 billion yuan in 2016.
Alfred Zhou, general manager of GfK China, a market research and consultancy servicesprovider, estimated that 1.5 million sets of VR hardware will be sold in China in 2016.
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