Alibaba taps VR to enhance shopping experience

The global virtual reality market to grow at a rate of 96% by 2019, according to a new report made available by Research and Markets.

VR is being adopted in a wide variety of applications ranging from healthcare, gaming devices, public entertainment, prototype creation to military exercises.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has now set up a research lab as it looks to use VR to enhance the shopping experience for its 400 million users.

The company is also exploring how VR technology can be applied to its other services, including online games and video streaming, according to reports.

Head-mounted displays have created opportunities for VR in a number of applications. A head-mounted display consists of an image source, collimating optics, and a mechanism to mount the device on the head.

The device is wearable, and projects images and information relative to the user’s line of sight in front of the user. A report on the HMD market predicts growth of 49% over the next five years.

Virtual reality devices, which are compatible with smartphones, can help users by providing specific information about their requirement on-the-go, without pulling out their portable devices. This technology is expected to commercialize in 2016 and could be worth $2.30 million in 2016.

Alibaba has already created three-dimensional visuals for hundreds of products and will issue standards for merchants to create VR-enabled shopping options. It is also said to be working on creating music and videos.