Nextech AR Solutions Corp. (CSE:NTAR, OTCQB:NEXCF, NEO:NTAR) has announced that multiple Asian e-commerce aggregators have signed up to use its augmented reality (AR) for e-commerce solution, Threedy.ai.
Collectively, the company said the 13 e-commerce aggregators using Threedy.ai represent around 400,000 e-commerce sites and will act as referral partners in Asia for Threedy.ai.
It said it is focused on the continued expansion of its e-commerce aggregator customer base and believes this strategy of onboarding referral partners will act as a major catalyst in expanding its three-dimensional (3D) AR model creation in the region, already the world’s largest e-commerce business-to-consumer (B2C) market.
READ: Nextech AR Solutions says its AR for e-commerce offering will be available as a self-service SaaS offering in early October 2021
Asia is expected to represent over 61% of the worldwide e-commerce market by 2024, Nextech noted, citing marketing and consumer data company Statista. While Chinese consumers alone make more than a third of the purchases on the world’s retail sites, Nextech said it is Southeast Asia (SEA) specifically, that will carry the growth forward in Asia over the next five years, with an estimation of 380 million online shoppers by 2026.
The growth in SEA outpaces the likes of China (5%), Brazil (14%) and India (10%), according to Facebook and Bain & company’s annual SYNC Southeast Asia report.
“Nextech recognizes this growth and has already signed multiple e-commerce aggregators in SEA, including Shopline (SEA), Sirclo (Indonesia), Visolab (Japan) and Innolab (Australia) to name a few,” the company said.
When it acquired Threedy.ai in June, Nextech said it provided it with groundbreaking patent-pending technology. This technology leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the building of quality 3D models from simple 2D photos at scale for e-commerce websites. Using Threedy’s proprietary AI and computer vision innovations, it said the production of 3D models can be scaled to 1,000s of 3D models per week.
“Nextech believes these new referral partners along with its existing and rapidly growing North American customers could translate into significant revenue opportunities for the company moving forward,” it added.
The current referral agreements signed to date involve the creation of 3D models, hosting the models, and supplying the AR for e-commerce shopping experience in Asia. With these partnerships in place, it said it is positioning itself to rapidly expand the reach of its 3D AR Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform into countries across Asia.
“These partnerships in Asia are setting us up for what we are seeing as the rapid global adoption of 3D models and AR in e-commerce and the metaverse,” CEO Evan Gappelberg said.
“We are seeing growing demand for our 3D model creation capabilities and we are driving very hard toward a self-service platform, which when launched we believe will create additional demand, especially in e-commerce."
Nextech develops and operates AR platforms that transport 3D product visualizations, human holograms and 360° portals to its audiences altering e-commerce, digital advertising, hybrid virtual events - events held in a digital format blended with in-person attendance - and learning and training experiences.
The company focuses on developing AR solutions, however, most of its revenues are derived from three e-Commerce platforms: vacuumcleanermarket.com (VCM), infinitepetlife.com (IPL) and Trulyfesupplements.com (Trulyfe). VCM and product sales of residential vacuums, supplies and parts, and small home appliances sold on Amazon.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com