In January 2019, Coolblue, a leading Dutch electronics e-commerce retailer headquartered in Rotterdam, became the first e-commerce company to apply augmented reality to the purchase of consumer electronics. The feature was integrated directly into the existing Coolblue Android and iOS apps, allowing customers browsing for televisions to visualise how a chosen screen size would look in their own living space before completing a purchase.

Using their smartphone camera, shoppers could project a virtual TV onto their wall or TV cabinet, switch between different screen sizes, and view the placement from multiple angles within the room. On Android, the feature required Android 8.0 Oreo or higher with ARCore support; on iOS it required iOS 11.3 or higher. Once satisfied with the size and placement, customers could immediately add the product to their basket and complete the order without leaving the app. The feature launched in Dutch, French, and English.

At launch the AR visualiser used a single reference television model rendered across multiple sizes as a proxy for all available stock. Coolblue announced plans to expand the feature to display the specific appearance of individual models, giving customers not just size guidance but also a sense of the product aesthetic in their room.

The business motivation was clear: Coolblue data showed that approximately 15% of televisions were being returned because the size differed from what the customer had anticipated. By giving customers an accurate spatial reference before purchase, the company aimed to reduce these avoidable returns.

Pieter Zwart, founder and CEO, cited the particular challenge posed by the Dutch market's unfamiliarity with the inch measurement unit used for TV diagonal sizes, making it harder for consumers to judge screen size from a product listing alone. The AR feature directly addressed this gap.

Coolblue operates across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and at the time of launch had 17 physical stores and a Net Promoter Score of 68.