Jostein Pedersen, VP product – 3D Commerce, Chaos, covers how advanced tools, including AI, AR and VR, can enable retailers and furniture brands to showcase their products in an immersive way.
Q:Can you tell us about Chaos and how Cylindo fits into your product suite?
Chaos is a global leader in visualisation technology, offering cutting-edge software solutions for a wide range of industries, including architecture, entertainment, and retail.
One of our solutions, Cylindo, is a 3D product visualisation platform for ecommerce that provides advanced tools that allow retailers, manufacturers, and furniture brands to showcase their products in an immersive, interactive way. The platform offers photorealistic 3D images, 360-degree product views, augmented reality (AR) experiences, and product configuration capabilities, making it easier for customers to visualise furniture in their own spaces and customise options to fit their preferences.
Hundreds of furniture companies partner with Chaos Cylindo to get superior product visuals across the entire furniture buyer journey. The platform goes beyond high-quality product visualisation and gives furniture businesses versatile assets they can leverage across multiple touchpoints. Using the Cylindo platform, companies have increased conversion rates by over 36% and average order value by 88% while reducing visualisation costs by 58% on average.
Q: What challenges are you solving for online and in-store retailers?
Cylindo addresses several challenges that online and in-store retailers face, particularly around product visualisation, customer engagement, and operational efficiency. One key issue is inconsistent product representation across different channels, which Cylindo solves by providing high-quality, consistent imagery that can be used across e-commerce sites, marketing campaigns, and in-store displays.
The platform also tackles the time-consuming and costly process of creating images for large, configurable product catalogs. Cylindo’s scalable solution allows retailers to quickly generate vast amounts of imagery, ensuring that all product variations are accurately represented.
On the customer engagement front, Cylindo offers interactive 3D and AR experiences that help retailers create more immersive and personalized shopping experiences. This enhances customer confidence and improves conversion rates by addressing common barriers like the inability to see or try the product in person. Additionally, by providing a more accurate and engaging visualization experience, Cylindo helps reduce product return rates, a common challenge for online retailers.
Finally, Cylindo supports an omnichannel approach, allowing retailers to deliver a seamless, consistent experience across both online and in-store environments. Retailers often struggle with limited physical inventory and showroom space, making it difficult to showcase the full range of product options. Cylindo solves this by providing interactive 3D configurators on kiosks or tablets, enabling customers to explore different product variations in real-time. This reduces the need for excessive stock while still giving customers a rich, immersive experience. Additionally, in-store sales teams can use Cylindo’s tools to guide customers through personalized configurations, making the shopping experience more engaging and informed.
This combination of enhanced customer engagement, improved operational efficiency, and omnichannel support helps retailers drive sales and build stronger customer relationships.
Q: How would you describe your vision?
For Cylindo, our vision is to revolutionise the way products are visualised and experienced, both online and in-store. We aim to empower retailers by providing cutting-edge 3D visualisation tools that deliver immersive, personalised, and seamless shopping experiences. Our goal is to bridge the gap between the physical and digital retail worlds, enabling customers to interact with products in innovative ways that enhance their confidence and satisfaction. Ultimately, we envision a future where every retailer, from large enterprises to small businesses, can leverage scalable 3D and AR solutions to create engaging, frictionless shopping journeys that drive growth, efficiency, and customer loyalty.
Q: Which retailers do you work with?
We work with a wide range of retailers, from large enterprises to mid-market brands across various industries, but we specialise in helping furniture and home goods retailers optimise their product visualisation. Some of the notable retailers we’ve partnered with include Riverside Furniture, EQ3, and Yardistry. These brands leverage Cylindo’s 3D visualisation and AR capabilities to enhance the customer experience, improve engagement, and drive sales. By providing scalable solutions, we help retailers offer personalized, interactive product experiences that meet the growing expectations of modern consumers.
Q: What is the current state of the furniture retail market, and how has the demand for 3D product visualisation evolved?
The furniture retail market is stabilising post-COVID, with companies investing in future growth after overcoming significant supply chain challenges. Competition remains fierce, especially with traditional retailers contending with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Wayfair. Shoppers today increasingly prioritise convenience, customisation, and value, driving the shift to online furniture shopping. This shift has accelerated the adoption of new technologies, particularly 3D product visualisation, AR, and AI-generated content.
The demand for 3D product visualisation has grown significantly as consumer expectations evolve. Today’s shoppers want immersive experiences that allow them to visualize products in their real-world environments before purchasing. The pandemic further accelerated this shift as online shopping became a necessity, and consumers grew more comfortable making large purchases online. Retailers have responded by enhancing their digital capabilities to meet these expectations, integrating 3D configurators and AR tools that allow customers to see how products look, feel, and fit in their homes. This evolution of demand has positioned 3D product visualisation as a key driver for conversion and customer satisfaction in the furniture retail space
Q: How do you see 3D visualisation tools impacting online furniture sales in the next few years?
Over the next few years, 3D visualisation tools will have a profound impact on online furniture sales by making the shopping experience more immersive, personalised, and engaging. As customers increasingly demand the ability to visualise products in real-world contexts, 3D product configurators, high-quality renders, and augmented reality experiences will become essential for retailers. These tools help customers see products from multiple angles, customise configurations, and even place virtual furniture in their homes using AR, which significantly enhances buying confidence and reduces return rates.
Retailers that invest in 3D visualisation will also gain a competitive edge by offering dynamic and interactive shopping experiences. AI-powered tools will automate the generation of these visuals, making it easier to keep product catalogs up-to-date with accurate imagery. As this technology continues to evolve, we can expect it to drive higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction while also helping retailers streamline their operations.
Q: What role do AI (artificial intelligence), AR (augmented reality), and VR (virtual reality) play in enhancing the online furniture shopping experience?
AI, AR, and VR play crucial roles in transforming the online furniture shopping experience by making it more immersive, personalised, and interactive.
In furniture ecommerce, AI is primarily leveraged for image generation, automating and accelerating the creation of 3D visuals that showcase products in various lifestyle settings. This use of generative AI allows retailers to efficiently produce a wide range of product images without the need for manual processes, drastically reducing costs and time. By keeping product galleries up-to-date and personalised, AI-generated images enhance the customer experience, drive engagement, and improve conversion rates.
Augmented reality is especially valuable for allowing customers to visualize furniture in their real-world environments. Through AR, shoppers can “place” virtual furniture in their homes using their mobile devices, which helps them understand the product’s dimensions and aesthetic, reducing uncertainty and lowering return rates. Cylindo’s platform heavily leverages AR to enhance customer confidence, making it a critical tool for ecommerce success.
Virtual reality, while less common than AR, provides fully immersive shopping experiences by enabling customers to explore virtual showrooms or interact with products in a 3D space. This technology is particularly useful in high-value purchases, offering a new level of product engagement for customers. Together, these technologies help retailers offer a seamless, engaging, and customer-centric shopping experience, which is key to driving sales and building customer loyalty in today’s digital retail landscape.
Q: What can retailers do to help customers convert at the different points of the customer journey?
Retailers can implement several strategies to help customers convert at different points in their journey. Providing detailed product information, including clear descriptions, dimensions, and care instructions, can address consumer questions and build confidence. Offering advanced visualisation tools, such as photorealistic product configurations and AR, helps shoppers see how products will fit into their spaces, reducing hesitation. Streamlining the purchase process with fast loading times, user-friendly interfaces, and multiple payment options makes buying easier. Ensuring reliable delivery and straightforward return policies can further boost customer trust and satisfaction.
Q: What steps should furniture retailers be taking now to future-proof their businesses in terms of visualisation and customer experience?
At this point, advanced 3D visualisation and AR tools have become essential in the furniture retail industry, and the shopping experience continues to evolve rapidly. Retailers who haven’t fully embraced these technologies need to act quickly, as 3D product configurators and AR visualisation tools are now expected by customers who want to customise and visualise products in their own spaces before committing to a purchase. Implementing these technologies across both online and in-store channels ensures a seamless, immersive shopping experience that meets customer expectations.
Looking ahead, AI-powered visualisation is already transforming the market, enabling retailers to automate the creation of high-quality 3D imagery at scale. With the simplified and enhanced content production provided by generative AI, retailers can personalise the shopping experience by tailoring their shopping experience with visuals relevant to them. As AI continues to advance, it will continue to unlock deeper personalisation and dynamic visualisations that adapt to each shopper’s preferences and behaviours.
This shift toward AI-driven solutions is no longer on the horizon—it’s happening now. To remain competitive, retailers must adopt these tools quickly to meet rising customer expectations for personalised, real-time shopping experiences. The future of furniture retail hinges on delivering immersive, individualised experiences, and businesses that are not investing in AI and 3D visualisation technology now will risk falling behind in a fast-evolving market.
If you had to summarise Cylindo in one sentence, what would be your elevator pitch?
Cylindo helps retailers bring their products to life with stunning 3D visualisation at scale, enabling seamless omnichannel experiences that boost customer engagement and drive sales.
Company information:
Cylindo – a 3D product visualisation platform for ecommerce: https://www.cylindo.com/how-it-works/
Company name: Chaos
Founding year: 1997
HQ location: Karlsruhe, Germany
No of employees: 700+
Website: www.chaos.com
https://www.chaos.com/about
