Digitally Bridging The Try-Before-You-Buy Home Decor Gap

Selecting the right piece of furniture or framed piece of art can be a daunting task. What if it doesn’t go with what’s already in place? What if the color clashes with other pieces of furniture?

Now, there’s an easy way to remedy the sometimes hesitant nature to make home decor purchases for the home. DigitalBridge, a U.K.-based startup looking to break into the home decor market, has a unique solution for retailers in the space. It offers retailers the option to integrate the DigitalBridge software into their website as a try-before-you-buy home decor tool. Some would categorize this as a way for retailers to proactively conduct new business development via automation.

Essentially, upon integration into their existing website, retailers will be able to allow customers to custom design rooms through the use of computer vision and machine learning. Those visiting retailers’ websites will upload pictures of the desired redesign room and digitally remove all furniture, wallpaper and home decor. Then, customers will have the option to style the space with pieces from the retailer’s online array of furniture and home decor.

Interestingly enough, the DigitalBridge team purposefully chose not to incorporate augmented reality (AR) into its software like many of its competitors. “AR is a great technology but requires a dedicated mobile app, which all retailers dislike,” said David Levine, founder of DigitalBridge. “Apps are expensive to build, maintain and are disruptive to the buying journey. Our platform natively integrates to a retailer’s responsive website so can be used on mobile, tablet and desktop.”

This try-before-you-buy approach brings digital shopping and staging homes for open houses to a whole new level. With this unique software plugin, retailers can now effectively expand their business through a hands-off automated approach to selling. Rather than have a window pop up asking the customer for assistance with an item or sending reminder emails about abandoned online shopping carts, retailers can give each customer a unique and uninterrupted shopping experience.