3D in your online store? How to turn your store into an experience

06.06.2024
by Meike Müller
E-Commerce
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With 3D elements, you can turn your online store into a real experience for your target group. Especially with physical products, it can help your customers to get a view from all sides. However, there are different types of 3D and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. Find out everything about 3D elements in the online store in this article!

What is 3D in the online store?

3D in online stores includes interactive, rotatable models and photorealistic renderings to bring products to life. 3D elements offer users immersive experiences.

A distinction can be made between "real" 3D and renderings. Renderings are 2D images created from 3D data. "Real" 3D is rotatable, offers different camera perspectives and is comparable to 3D computer games.

When can real 3D be used?

Real 3D can be used whenever a product needs to be captured in all dimensions. Real 3D is also helpful for all products that are to be presented in a room. Real 3D is also necessary for use with technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality or mixed reality.

What can renderings be used for?

Renderings, on the other hand, are suitable for photorealistic materials such as fabrics or wood and scenarios and whenever fixed perspectives that do not require interactivity are sufficient.

Your advantages and disadvantages with 3D in the online store

Integrating 3D elements in your online store has both advantages and disadvantages, which we have summarized for you here:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • With 3D elements in your online store, you can create a wow effect. The product can be viewed from all sides, you can incorporate lighting effects and more.
  • You can also cover many variants with the 3D elements in your store. This is because you can combine the individual 3D elements with each other like components of the real product.
  • You can also create even more of a wow effect for your online store with AR, VR and MR.
  • Unfortunately, the integration of 3D elements is associated with relatively high effort and high costs in media creation.
  • A high level of expertise is also required for implementation.
  • 3D is not suitable in every case. Depending on the case, there is a "danger" of getting lost in 3D. Then it is not effective for your online store.

Your advantages and disadvantages with renderings in the online store

There are also advantages and disadvantages to using renderings. These include

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Renderings are photorealistic representations that can also display beautiful materials perfectly.
  • Renderings are sometimes closer to existing workflows (agency images).
  • They also offer the possibility of easy reuse in other media such as print.
  • Depending on how many images are used, higher costs may arise (because many images also mean more costs).
  • Of course, it is not possible to interact with the product.
  • There is also no possibility of display for AR, VR or MR.

The performance of 3D

The efficiency and performance of real 3D elements and rendering depends on several factors. With renderings, you should always pay attention to the size of the images in order to keep loading times to a minimum. As a rule, however, renderings are highly performant, just like 3D representations. They now run well in all common browsers and devices, but problems can still occur with older devices. With a poor internet connection, the loading times naturally increase if the level of detail of the renderings is higher.

The implementation of 3D in the store

If you want to incorporate 3D elements and renderings into your online store, you first need to decide on the right tools and platforms. There are numerous technologies that can be used for this. For example, you could consider integrating WebGL-based frameworks such as Three.js or Babylon.js. There is also software with 3D features such as configuratorware, objectcode or spatial commerce. The integration of these tools requires technical know-how. So if you need support with this, you can contact our experts at any time. We will be happy to help you give your online store a wow effect!

Our conclusion

You can give your online store that certain something with a 3D element or a detailed rendering. Visuals are helpful in terms of the target group's imagination. If they can experience your products from different perspectives, they are more likely to get exactly what they expected when they place an order. They have already familiarized themselves more with the product and also know how it looks in space and in detail. If you can ensure that the performance of your online store does not suffer as a result, the integration of 3D elements is highly recommended. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions or need support.

Many thanks also to configuratorware for the informative insight into the current state of the art.

What is your project? If you want to tell us about it, we'll call you back!

 
Meike
Meike
from 06.06.2024

Hello, my name is Meike. I take care of the EXWE back office and am responsible for our social media channels. All of our articles are meant to make your life easier and help you make decisions. Nevertheless, it can happen that something remains unclear, so: If you have questions about this article you can easily reach me at +49 231 93149827.

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