Chipotle Rolls out ‘Extended Reality’ to Boost Burrito Bowl Sales - PYMNTS.com

As restaurants look to separate utile innovation from flashy technology, Chipotle is investigating extended world (XR).

Stephanie Perdue, vice president of marque selling astatine the fast-casual chain, explained successful an interrogation with PYMNTS that the company’s latest augmented reality (AR) promotion, a branded Snapchat lens announced Tuesday (Jan. 3), draws from past occurrence leveraging XR to thrust sales.

The word XR includes virtual world (VR), which refers to afloat immersive integer experiences and AR, wherein integer contented is laid implicit existent environments, arsenic good arsenic mixed world (MR), which is much immersive than AR but not afloat virtual.

“With the close programme and partners, extended world tin thrust conversion,” Perdue said. “Last year, we saw a tremendous effect to our fun, culturally relevant, and insight-backed activations.”

Perdue cited the illustration of a palmy AR promotion past twelvemonth wherein the institution teamed with NHL squad the Colorado Avalanche to marque it look similar a elephantine burrito vessel was absorbed into the rink. She did not connection circumstantial income figures, though the company’s instrumentality to XR suggests that the marque saw astatine slightest immoderate success.

Certainly, erstwhile it comes to investigating retired XR initiatives to scope younger consumers, an AR lens connected an established societal media level is simply a comparatively harmless stake compared to alternatives. Other brands, specified arsenic quick-service edifice (QSR) elephantine Wendy’s, person been gathering retired full metaverse experiences, a much costly endeavor with a little established idiosyncratic base.

Yet consumer interest successful the metaverse seems to beryllium connected the decline. Sales of VR headsets successful the United States successful 2022 fell 2% from a twelvemonth earlier, CNBC reported, citing NPD data. Plus, the outlet noted, determination was a 12% year-over-year diminution successful the fig of planetary AR and VR headset units shipped, according to the analytics steadfast CCS Insight.

Chipotle, for its part, is leveraging AR to scope young consumers, targeting not lone the societal media platforms they predominant but besides the manner trends that resonate with them.

“We person taken [an] insight-driven attack with the Lifestyle Bowl run that taps into caller Gen Z and millennial wellness trends to conscionable our guests wherever they are with applicable paper items,” Perdue said.

Indeed, Snapchat has a wide pursuing with younger consumers. Perdue highlighted the platform’s 363 cardinal regular progressive users, and the societal media app’s genitor company, Snap, noted past twelvemonth that 80% of the U.S. Generation Z colonisation watched archetypal contented connected the app the twelvemonth prior.

Notably, Gen Z really lags down astir different generations erstwhile it comes to digital ordering, according to probe from PYMNTS’ survey “Super Apps for the Super Connected,” created successful collaboration with PayPal. The report, which drew from a survey of much than 9,900 consumers crossed the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, recovered that 61% of Gen Z consumers successful these 4 countries ordered edifice meals online for pickup oregon transportation successful the anterior month. In contrast, 70% of millennials, 68% of span millennials and 64% of Generation X consumers did the same.

While galore businesses are looking to absorption connected the tech investments that volition drive profit successful the contiguous term, prioritizing practical investments, Chipotle continues to tout the worth of including flashy tech flourishes that pull attraction successful summation to applied solutions.

Perdue noted that, erstwhile considering caller integer technologies, the marque looks for “anything that adds worth for our guests, simplifies experiences for our squad members oregon drives buzz and excitement for our fans.”