The augmented reality and virtual reality market, taken as a single entity, was worth $11.4 billion in 2017, according to International Data Corporation. By 2021, IDC expects it to be worth $215 billion. “There is a lot of potential to use these technologies to make customers’ lives easier and better,” says Blake Morgan, a customer experience expert and host of the “Modern Customer” podcast.t R and VR are already being used as important parts of customer experiences. Morgan cites Sephora, which uses AR to allow customers to “try on” makeup through the company’s smartphone app.

“We also are seeing other companies, like Yamaha, that allow customers to use a special headset to look at the mechanics of their motorcycle and see virtual renderings of the engine, the composition of the fuel and other parameters,” Morgan says. “Alibaba is another company that launched a virtual reality shopping program in 2016, which gives 400 million users the ability to generate 3-D renderings of thousands of products and allows retailers to create their own virtual reality stores.

“The potential to give customers an idea of what they can expect from a product is strong.” Marketing News spoke with Morgan about customer expectations, industry trends and the future of customer experience with AR and VR.