Smart Garden Rooms, members of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, had a business which relied on face-to-face contact with their customers to design dream garden rooms. This was a key USP for the business as that face-to-face Interaction was vital in creating relationships.​

When Covid-19 struck, face-to-face consultations came to an end. The business had to adapt quickly to ensure that sales were not badly affected. ​

They rapidly invested in the UK’s first ever ‘Garden Room Configurator’ with an Augmented Reality app. This was the first time a customer could experience a complete immersive experience and using it allowed them to create their dream garden room and place the product into their garden. ​

However, this was a risk, as there was no guarantee that the significant investment into this software would lead to the replacement of the face-to-face consultation that they had relied upon so heavily as a business in the past. ​

It was cutting-edge new technology; very few businesses had incorporated an augmented reality into their business sales strategy. As such, there was little evidence to go on, and very few examples that could demonstrate success. However, they felt they had no choice but to dive in at the deep end try to be different to their competitors.​

As it turned out, their customers loved the idea of being able to create their own garden room with their Configurator, and then place that garden room into their desired space. They could walk round the building, walk into the building, and look out and see what they would really see. This fully immersive programme allowed for those people to turn their dreams into a reality at the touch of a button, using their mobile phone or tablet.​

The new software revolutionised their sales process and significantly increased conversion rates. Their business has increased by more than 200% in terms of sales and outputs.​

Today, they combine this technology with the return of face-to-face consultations, combining the best of both worlds. Customers can create their desired garden houses themselves and then the business can build the relationship, and make it happen.

Smart Garden Rooms are still the only UK manufacturer and installation garden room supplier that has a fully immersive, Augmented Reality configurator. A few competitors have created lesser versions of this, but they still lead the market in both customer service and creativity.​

This has also created greater opportunities for the business to develop their own products, as customers come up with their own original designs by using the software to configure their own unique building. This has created a unique opportunity for the business to supply bespoke buildings to customers based on their needs, their desires and what they want their building to be, rather than an off-the-shelf product.​

For Smart Gardens, the development of the Configurator and the Augmented Reality app has been an absolute game changer, and they are still the market leader in this industry.​