With $1.6 billion in daily sales revenue on average and a share of 37.6% of the total U.S. ecommerce market in 2023, it’s no wonder getting their products on Amazon appeals to merchants. There are clear benefits for those who can sell their products on the mammoth marketplace.
For those who harness the platform’s 3D capabilities, there’s even greater advantage. Augmented Reality (AR) functionality is in high demand. Between 2018 and 2022 alone, Amazon saw the customers who viewed a product in AR increase eightfold. Offering virtual try-on or view in room not only increases engagement but also boosts ecommerce conversions.
While the pros of Amazon’s 3D experiences are clear, a bit of planning at the beginning to understand the eligibility of your product type/category will go a long way in ensuring a smooth production process.
Is your product eligible for Amazon 3D?
The first step to developing your Amazon strategy is understanding whether or not your product is eligible for 3D on the marketplace.
Wait, what? If 3D is so popular with buyers, why would the site limit who can use it? Part of the reason Amazon leads to greater conversions is its ability to instill confidence in shoppers. Seeing a product up close from every angle is as close to real life as an online shopper can get. It gives consumers assurance about what will show up on their doorstep. If the 3D experience is poor quality, however, the customer will walk away with the opposite impression — and leave the marketplace without a sale.
With that logic in mind, Amazon has imposed certain restrictions to protect the quality of its 3D offerings and uphold buyers’ trust. The current limitations of real-time rendering are the biggest factor determining which products make the grade and which don’t. Translucent materials like glass, bristles, furs and hair-like textures require high poly counts that exceed the threshold of polys that can render efficiently on Amazon storefronts. When we say render efficiently, we mean ensure that your product page loads correctly with any sluggish latency. Higher polys and bigger file sizes can cause this sluggishness which is why Amazon has these limits in place.
So, how do you know whether your product is eligible? Product categories such as home, furniture, consumer electronics, shoes, and eyewear categories are currently eligible for 3D content. For everything else, Amazon lists what isn’t compatible broken down by 3D experiences:
View in 3D
- Most products are eligible for View in 3D, but not on every single marketplace (i.e. in certain countries). We can help you verify if you are unsure based on the latest info posted by Amazon.
View in Your Room
- Only supports products that can sit on a floor or table or can be mounted to a vertical surface like a wall.
- Clothing, shoes, eyewear, or ceiling-mounted products are not supported.
AR virtual try-on for shoes & eyewear
- Certain shoe styles are supported (but not all)
- Certain eyewear (we can help you double check if you are unsure)
Product ineligible? Explore other ways of harnessing 3D
If your product doesn’t make the cut, you don’t have to miss out on all the benefits of 3D. Partnering with a 3D content provider like Loft3Di can help you leverage 3D for rendering.
We’ll take your existing 3D models and render them into photorealistic 2D lifestyle images with all the detail of a 360 degree view. Or, if you’re starting from scratch, we can work with you to stock up your 3D model arsenal with all the texture and intricacy of your products in real-life.
Reach out to us today to find out how our vast expert workforce and bespoke AI-driven production technology can meet your 3D modeling needs at scale.