[Virtual Reality](/blog/what-is-virtual-reality/ "Virtual Reality") is a great way to keep your business up and running even when your premises are closed, and since exploring the ["benefits of implementing Virtual Reality Tours into your store](/blog/vr-for-retail/ "benefits of implementing Virtual Reality Tours into your store"), we will now look into what you should consider when choosing a company to implement VR Tours by answering the following questions: **What are the purposes of implementing Virtual Reality Property Tours?** And **What should you look for in a company when considering a Virtual Reality Property Tour?** Keep reading to make the right purchase decision with Virtual Reality Tours to help you **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## WHAT ARE THE PURPOSES OF IMPLEMENTING VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS INTO YOUR STORE?

You've noted that a Virtual Reality (VR) Tour for Retail would provide your business with [several benefits](/blog/vr-for-retail/ "several benefits"), now it's time to decide what your main goal is for implementing a Virtual Reality tour. Determining what you want to get out of a Virtual Reality Tour (which could be multiple reasons) will help you narrow down your options when choosing the best solution for you. And so below, we have compiled a list outlining three purposes of adopting Virtual Reality (VR) Tours into your store:

### 1. ENHANCING YOUR CUSTOMERS SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

Implementing VR Tours can take the customers shopping experience to the next level as it's like an extension of online shopping. Customers can virtually visit the store, explore, and interact with the products and not just see them before deciding to purchase. Shopping can be perceived as a dull experience for some people, and VR offers something new and exciting. The personal experience makes shopping less like a chore as they view and engage with your products and services in a whole new way. Virtual Reality can create a whole fun and exciting environment, modernising the shopping experience and offering something unique compared to your competitors.

### 2. OPERATING OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS HOURS

A great way to future-proof your business is with Virtual Reality technology. If you are looking to make potential sales during opening and closed working hours, VR Tours make it possible for you to do that.

Your store can continue to stay open even during a lockdown as VR allows customers to have accessibility and flexibility to virtual shop at your store safely at any time, anywhere, enabling you never to have to miss out on a sale again.

### 3. MARKETING AND PLANNING PURPOSES

Virtual Reality Tours can go beyond just enhancing a customers experience. It can also help you understand your customers better with marketing psychology and planning your layout accordingly.

When it comes to displaying goods or rearranging the store layout, for instance, you can do a trial run using VR before actually committing to plans eliminating the guesswork, allowing you to see how your customers interact with your brand.

## WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR IN A COMPANY WHEN CONSIDERING A VIRTUAL REALITY TOUR FOR RETAIL?

Since uncovering why you want to implement a Virtual Tour into your business, hiring the right company to produce a highly immersive VR Tour is next on the list. And because we understand the importance of technology, we've compiled a list of things you should consider before hiring:

### PROFESSIONAL AND FULLY INSURED

It's important to hire professionals who are fully insured and have permission to be handling various equipment. A company can provide you with proof of Public Liability coverage which we believe should be a minimum of £5 million. You can also get a grasp of the companies previous work, which may be viewable on their website, for you to get an idea of what they can offer, the standards they deliver, and how experienced the company is.

### SOFTWARE

We advise researching what software a company will be using for your VR Tours so you can weigh out the pros and cons.
Most companies use Matterport. However, [Matterport comes with many downsides](/why-do-we-try-to-avoid-using-matterport/ "Matterport comes with a potential list of downfalls") such as additional licensing costs and no rights to owning your VR Tours. And so, to get suitable VR Tours for you, we have listed a few things you should be aware of:

- **If you can incorporate your own branding**: With Matterport software usually use their logo as a watermark promoting their brand on your VR Tours and so it may be a good idea for you to consider if you can incorporate your branding and use your logo
  **The intellectual property owner**: Get clear on who has ownership of the VR Tours produced for your business. If you want to obtain ownership, then it's best to avoid hiring a company that uses Matterport as they keep all the rights, and you can be opted into a licence just to keep the VR Tours they own up and running
- **Additional costs**: No one wants to have sprung on them unwarranted additional charges that they weren't expecting, so before any work is conducted and anything is signed, it's essential to make sure all the costs are declared from the get-go, so you don't get hit with any additional fees, hidden charges, or a monthly subscription fee to keep your VR Tours hosted

### EQUIPMENT

Moving on from software, you don't need to be an expert or knowledgeable in how the equipment works, but it can be useful to look into what equipment the company uses to deliver high standards and the quality you want to ensure you're not hiring amateurs.

Notably, industry-specific, high-definition 360-degree cameras, for instance, can offer your business a fully enriched user experience and 2D and 3D capabilities, and it's great to look into if the company can provide more additional elements, for example:

- **The embedding of further additional information**: If you want to add data like videos, external links, images etc., into your VR Tours, then look out for companies that can offer a range of data services to give your customers a data-rich experience
- **Sound**: Background sound is an incredible way to enhance a customers user experience when interacting with a VR Tour. For example, in the Retail Industry, in-person shopping experiences include music in the background, and you can bring that experience over to the virtual shopping world by adding additional 360-degree spatial sound
- **Extracting floor plans**: Floor plans are great for helping customers to navigate around your shop as it allows them to understand the space and layout of the store

### DOES YOUR STORE NEED TO BE EMPTY?

Conducting VR Tours is a lot more effective when the premise is closed and empty of people. However, the company providing you with the VR Tours will be able to advise what's best when conducting VR Tours, if the premise needs to be empty or if it's okay to have people around.

Now with all these considerations in mind, you can narrow down the company that best suits your needs, enabling you to make the best decision possible.

Are you looking to get a Virtual Reality Tour for your business? Then learn what you should consider when choosing a company to make the right purchase decision.

What to consider for Virtual Reality Tours

To follow on from our previous articles where we explained what [Virtual Reality](/blog/what-is-virtual-reality/ "Virtual Reality"), the [benefits of implementing Virtual Reality Tours into Retail](/blog/vr-for-retail/ "benefits of implementing Virtual Reality Tours into Retail"), and [what you should've considered when choosing Virtual Reality Tours for your store](/blog/what-to-consider-for-vr-tours-for-retail/ "what you should've considered when choosing Virtual Reality Tours for your store"). In this article, we will be sharing how Virtual Reality Tours can improve customer experience by answering the following questions: **Are you enhancing your customers' shopping experience with Virtual Reality Tours?** And **how can our Virtual Reality Tours help you to deliver an immersive customer experience?** Keep reading to find how you can offer interactive and data-rich experiences to help you **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## ARE YOU ENHANCING YOUR CUSTOMERS' SHOPPING EXPERIENCE WITH VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS?

Since the Coronavirus pandemic sent devastation to the Retail Industry with shops in the thousands in the UK ceasing to operate and make sales found us having to adapt and change the way we work, live, and operate.

The pandemic accelerated customers to shift towards the digital world of online shopping, which is predicted to have long-lasting effects after a survey titled,  ***[COVID-19 and E-commerce](https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/dtlstictinf2020d1_en.pdf "COVID-19 and E-commerce")*** was conducted by the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

With technology playing a significant role and estimated to continue doing so even after the pandemic, you can bring your store to life with Virtual Reality Tours helping you to:

- Stand out hangouts your competitors
- Never miss a sale with your business being accessible 24/7
- Provide a safe and social distance store re-opening
- Attract interest to your store globally
- Reach those who are restricted mobility-wise
- Provide a fantastic and immersive customer experience
- Adhere to the social distancing regulations currently in place

To find out more about the wonderful benefits Virtual Reality Tours can bring to the Retail industry, then click [here](/blog/vr-for-retail/ "here").

## HOW CAN OUR VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS HELP YOU TO DELIVER AN IMMERSIVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

In the comfort of their own home, a customer is just one click away on their favourite internet browser to interact with a virtual visualisation of your store where they can explore the products, goods, or services you have to offer, even when your store is closed enabling you to sit back enjoy a cuppa and not miss out on making a sale again.

Our team of industry-leading experts will help you to deliver a data-rich and immersive customer experience by providing you with a Virtual Reality Tour of your store. From day one, we'll work with you to map out the ideas you have and what you want to achieve, and turn them into a reality, keeping you up-to-date along the way.

In a previous article, we listed four key things you needed to consider when hiring a company for your Virtual Reality Tours, and below we will run through them outlining how our Virtual Reality Tours can benefit you:

### EXPERT KNOWLEDGE AND FULLY INSURED
We’re fully insured with Public Liability and Professional Indemnity covers.

### WE DON'T USE MATTERPORT
Believing that you deserve to own all the intellectual property rights to your VR Tours that are produced for you, [we avoid using Matterport](/why-do-we-try-to-avoid-using-matterport/ "we avoid using Matterport"). You get complete ownership and control over your hosting without any additional charge or monthly subscription fees to keep your VR Tours up and running.

By not using Matterport, you will receive:

- Complete ownership of the Virtual Reality Tours we produce
- No additional costs
- Ability to incorporate your logo onto the Virtual Reality Tour

### INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGY
With over 23+ years of experience in the industry, using cutting-edge technology in the smartest possible way to make your business safer, more efficient, and more profitable, we only use industry-specific technology to deliver you the very best immersive and interactive Virtual Reality Tours to enable you to take customer service to the next level.

Feel free to browse our website to gain extensive knowledge on how technology can give you a technological advantage over your competitors and learn all about [Virtual Reality](/blog/what-is-virtual-reality/ "Virtual Reality") technology and how our high-definition 360-degree cameras, for instance, can offer your business a fully enriched user experience and 2D and 3D capabilities.

### DATA-RICH EXPERIENCE
The more data-rich your Virtual Reality Tours are, the more immersive the experience will be for your customers helping you to maximise your sales, profits and efficiency, all while being fully compliant with social distancing.
We can provide your Virtual Reality tours with a range of additional data such as:
- **External links**: You may want to incorporate external links to products or services you have on offer or a video or image. We can embed external links into your VR Tour so your customers can interact with that content without leaving the VR experience.
- **Stunning Videography and Photography**: We are also one of very few companies in the world that can offer [4K anamorphic](/blog/what-is-anamorphic-video/ "4K anamorphic"), underwater filming, aerial filming, and 360-degree video with aerial drones to help your VR Tours provide your customers with stunning and unique footage helping you to stand out from the crowd
- **360-degree spatial sound**: We can insert background sound into your VR Tours, enhancing the personal experience your customers will receive as it will help them feel as if they are there in your store, in-person
- **CAD floor plans**: We can extract floor plans, enabling new employees and your customers to easily navigate around your store as they get to view the layout and space of your store

In this article, learn how Virtual Reality Tours can enhance your customers' online shopping experience and help you to never miss out on a sale again.

VR for Customers

Since incorporating [Virtual Reality Tours](/blog/what-is-virtual-reality/ "Virtual Reality Tours") into your business, information may have become outdated since trends, seasons, pricing, and so on can frequently change. In this article, we look at how you can maintain your Virtual Reality Tours by answering the following questions: **Why is it important to maintain your Virtual Reality Tours for Retail?** And **What support can we offer to help you maintain your Virtual Reality Tours?** Keep reading to find how to stay updated to help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN YOUR VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS FOR RETAIL?

When it comes to maintaining your Virtual Reality (VR) Tours, having helpful and up-to-date content is crucial. The products you sell, the pricing, even the layout of your store can change over time. Suppose you do not update your VR Tours. In that case, this could potentially reduce your customer's user experience as it can cause miscommunication and inconsistencies, which ultimately impacts your brand's reputation. Keeping your Virtual Reality Tours update provides you with the opportunity to make sales even when your store is closed. Therefore, it is a great marketing opportunity where correct, and high-quality information needs to be shared to offer a fantastic customer experience.

## WHAT SUPPORT CAN WE OFFER YOU TO HELP YOU MAINTAIN YOUR VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS?

You may be wondering then, how can you maintain your Virtual Reality Tours? It's pretty simple; with instant ease of access, you can keep the information updated and make updates whenever changes occur as you now own the intellectual property rights to your tours. The Virtual Reality solutions we provide are customisable to suit your needs whether you want to import additional data, remove, or update existing information.

### EASY OF ACCESS
You will have access to a secure client portal with the centralised billing and a library of all your VR tours available to download, providing you with an organised, more accessible access and convenient workflow.

### SUPPORT WITH UPDATING INFORMATION
We can support you in updating your information to avoid misleading customers as we can modify any material or information that is outdated in one single location.

### EXTRA ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
If you want to stand out even further against your competitors, adding additional data to your VR Tours offers an even more enriched data-driven experience to your customers as they virtually walk through your store.

For instance, floor plans can be a great addition as they can support online training, helping new employees navigate around your store and grasp the layout quickly and efficiently. And incorporating background music into your VR Tours is a great way to help customers feel that they're in-person in your store as it adds a personal touch. There's plenty of information we can overlay and attach to your existing Virtual Reality Tours to enhance and maintain a data-rich experience:

- External links
- Thermal energy efficiency reports
- CAD floor plans
- 360-degree spatial sound
- External links
- Documents
- Drone videography and photography

We take pride that we are one of the very few companies that can offer stunning drone operations such as [4K anamorphic](/blog/what-is-anamorphic-video/ "4K anamorphic"), aquatic filming, aerial filming, and 360-degree video to add uniqueness to your virtual tours.

Learn why it's important to maintain a data-rich experience and how you can keep your Retail Virtual Reality Tours up-to-date with our solutions.

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