What Is Augmented Reality's True Potential in Retail?

News stories abound about physical retail stores closing across the United States. Yet, according to data the Commerce Department released earlier this year, online sales only accounted for 8.1 percent of total retail sales in 2016, meaning shoppers still spend the vast majority of their money in stores. And those stores could be getting a jolt, thanks to augmented reality. Augmented reality -- digital information brought into a user's field of view and overlaid onto the real world, which they usually observe through a smartphone or tablet's camera -- has the potential to reshape the retail environment. Not only can AR let customers see digital representations of products before they commit to a purchase, but it also can remove products from store shelves, highlight certain merchandise and provide more information about it.