Photo Room Preview vs AR Furniture Apps: What to Install on Your Store

Retail blogs still treat “AR,” “3D,” and “room visualization” as one product. On a furniture Shopify store they are different installs with different costs and drop-off curves.

We ship photo room preview: a shopper uploads a still of their room; we composite your catalog JPEG into that image in the browser. Below is how that compares to phone AR apps — written for CTOs and ecommerce leads choosing what to put on the PDP.

Job-to-be-done, not acronyms

• Walk around a piece in empty space → live AR can feel better.
• Match product to my real walls, floor, and existing sofa → a photo of that room is often more honest.
• Convert a cold paid click on mobile web → minimize installs and permissions.

Decision table (PDP reality)

Question	Photo preview (AI Furniture)	Phone AR
Works in mobile Safari/Chrome without an app?	Yes	Often no
Uses shopper’s actual room surfaces?	Yes (from their photo)	Live camera / scan
Catalog input	Existing product photos	Usually 3D assets
Merchant setup	Shopify app or one script (~5 minutes)	Often custom app work
Billing model we offer	10p per preview, £0 setup	Varies widely

Where AR still wins

Staffed showrooms, empty new-build rooms, and PR demos where novelty is the point. Do not make AR the only online path if your analytics show mobile web dominates.

Where photo preview wins

PDPs fed by Meta/Google shopping traffic; catalogs without a 3D pipeline; merchants who need a measurable cost per preview. Try the Mirage demo or /custom-furniture.

What we refuse to claim

We will not publish “IKEA grew 60% because of visualization” as our result. Public brands run their own stacks. Mid-market stores should copy mechanisms (reduce fit anxiety on the PDP), not invented case-study numbers. Deeper retail AR context: AR in retail. Build-vs-buy: outsource vs build.

Frequently asked questions

Should furniture stores choose AR or photo preview?

If most sales start on mobile web PDPs, start with browser photo preview. Use AR for showroom tablets or flagship SKUs once the PDP path converts.

Do I need 3D models for photo preview?

Not with AI Furniture’s model: we work from existing catalog photos. Full 3D libraries are typically required for polished live AR.

Is this an IKEA case study?

No. Large retailers publish their own AR programs publicly. We reference industry patterns only — IKEA is not an AI Furniture customer claim.