It is not uncommon for malls to decorate themselves heavily for the holiday season. Some even pride themselves for winning competitions for having the best decorations, and for this year’s holidays, the Mall of America has teamed up with VNTANA to debut a holographic elf that can be interacted with by the mall’s shoppers.
According to Ashley Crowder, CEO and Co-Founder of VNTANA, “Consumer engagement is a key component in the madness of holiday shopping, it is essential for retail outlets to curate personal and engaging experiences for shoppers. Our collaboration is a great example of how tech-forward companies like Mall of America are optimizing sales with mixed reality to capture consumer’s interactions, while providing amazing customer service.”
VNTANA’s software allows users to connect to a variety of chatbot services, and use a 3D avatar to help put a face to the bot, and in the spirit of the holidays they have chose to use an elf. Dubbed “Ellie”, this holographic elf will help provide shoppers with a personalized shopping experience and will ask questions to shoppers to help narrow their choices down.
The idea of using robots/chatbots in malls isn’t completely new. Japan has long had such robots where these robots are used to greet customers and to also help answer some basic questions they might have. For those interested in checking out Ellie the Elf, she can be found located at Mall of America’s Holiday Cottage on North.
Filed in . Read more about Augmented Reality (AR).