Blog4 min read
What is a digital twin for? Uses in stores, homes and showrooms
A digital twin of a space lets customers understand it correctly before they visit. In a store it becomes a branch that is always open, in real estate an apartment that can be toured before construction ends, in a showroom an exhibition space that never closes. This article covers the uses and what a digital twin needs in order to work.
VinionaPublished:
In short
- A digital twin is an exact digital counterpart of a space, built with its real dimensions, light and materials.
- In a store it becomes a branch that is always open, in real estate an apartment toured before construction ends, in a showroom an exhibition space that never closes.
- For it to work it needs four things: true scale, accurate light and materials, free movement and easy access.
In this article
- What is a digital twin, in short?
- In a store: a branch that is always open
- In real estate: an apartment toured before construction ends
- In showrooms, exhibitions and trade shows: a space that never closes
- What does a digital twin need in order to work?
- Don’t confuse it with an industrial digital twin
- Your next step
Your customers know your space from photos: a few frames taken from the best angle, maybe a floor plan. But they don’t know how it will feel inside, how wide the aisles are, or how the living room looks in daylight. What’s often missing when they decide is that feeling.
A digital twin fills that gap. When an exact counterpart of your space is online, customers understand it correctly before they come. So what does that actually do in a store, a home and a showroom?
What is a digital twin, in short?
A digital twin is an exact digital counterpart of a physical space, built with its real dimensions, light and materials. At Viniona this counterpart is an interactive 3D space that can be explored online at true scale. The details of the definition and how it differs from a virtual tour are on our digital twin page.
In a store: a branch that is always open
A store’s digital twin never closes and can be visited from anywhere in the world. Customers walk the shelves, get close to products and shop through the official Shopify integration.
Blackbörk virtual store
In the virtual store we built for Blackbörk, lighting, material textures and scale were kept true to the original space; visitors can walk around, shop and take part in a range of interactions.
In real estate: an apartment toured before construction ends
A home’s digital twin is built from the floor plan alone. Buyers walk the rooms, get a feel for the distances and change furniture, lighting, wall colour and flooring options as they go.
In viHome, the demo home we designed ourselves, room dimensions, ceiling heights, daylight and material textures were built at their real values. A live map shows visitors where they are on the apartment’s plan. You can walk through the demo apartment here.
In showrooms, exhibitions and trade shows: a space that never closes
The digital twin of a showroom or trade-show space presents products on a whole new stage. When visitors click a product its information opens, and they try variants such as colour and model on the spot. Any kind of showroom, from cars to furniture and from cafés to stores, can be built this way.
More on our virtual exhibition page.
What does a digital twin need in order to work?
Whether a digital twin really helps customers depends on four things:
True scale
Customers should get a true feel for the product, the distances and the space.
Light and material
Daylight, surface textures and reflections should be built to behave as they really do.
Free movement
Visitors should be able to walk anywhere instead of jumping between fixed points.
Easy access
It should open in the browser from a single link, with no app or installation.
Don’t confuse it with an industrial digital twin
Your next step
Think about what your space fails to tell customers most: the size, the atmosphere or the options? The priorities of the digital twin follow from that answer.
Before deciding, walk through the Blackbörk virtual store or the viHome demo apartment, then get in touch through the Quote Wizard.
