How Fibbl is Redefining Online Shopping Through 3D and XR Technology
As online shopping continues to be a dominant driver across the retail industry — and with consumers’ expectations for the brands they shop higher than ever before — brands are constantly looking for new ways to mesh together the worlds of the digital and physical to provide the best customer experience.
Enter Fibbl, a Stockholm-based technology company created the world’s first plug-and-play platform to integrate 3D and augmented reality (AR) into e-commerce. Fibbl’s scalable 3D and extended reality XR technologies allow brands to create immersive experiences for customers to rival in-store interactions and address major retail challenges such as high return rates and costly marketing processes.
The 3D models create an improved e-commerce visualization and replace product images and videos — the company reported an 80 percent increased time spent on product pages after integrating Fibbl’s 3D solutions, leading to higher conversions and lower returns rates.
The platform delivers increased time spent on pages through its features such as 3D viewers, virtual try-ons and augmented reality solutions, while also providing content creators with industry-standard 3D files for marketing teams to create additional marketing content and CGI experiences.
On Feb. 26, the company secured three million euros in additional funding to accelerate its expansion and further develop its technology, led by existing lead investors Industrifonden. The company said this investment will enable Fibbl to scale production capacity, enhance platform capabilities and support brands looking to transform their consumers’ online shopping experiences. Most notably, monthly user interactions with Fibbl technology grew from 160,000 in January 2024 to 2.3 million in January 2025 end-to-end interactions.
“Fibbl has built strong momentum, and we continue to support them as they scale their technology and expand their reach,” said Caroline Wadstein, investor at Industrifonden. “The growing adoption by leading brands underscores the shift towards more interactive online shopping experiences and we look forward to seeing Fibbl take the next step in their journey.”
Here, Henrik Arlestig, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fibbl, chatted with Footwear News about the company’s inception, democratizing digital commerce with its customizable 3D and XR solutions, how the technology is giving customers a more immersive product experience and more.
What is Fibbl? What was the impetus behind its inception?
Henrik Arlestig: One of the best parts about Fibbl is that the company is more than a product offering or set of technologies. For us, it is much more about finding effective ways to materially improve the experience of online shopping. We want to fundamentally change how the world experiences products online, using 3D and XR technologies that empower consumer purchase decisions.
When you are shopping online (especially within fashion), the likelihood that you will end up returning a product you purchase is up to 7,000 percent greater than if you looked at the same product in a physical store. All the waste that is generated and the cost incurred for merchants, for shoppers and for the planet.
However, there are technologies on the market, specifically 3D and XR features can bridge the gap between physically experiencing by touching and trying on a product — and the far less tactile digital product experience that has become so familiar. The amazing part is that these technologies can significantly reduce online return rates.
Previously, 3D and XR technologies were simply not accessible to most brands because they required turning a brand’s physical products into 3D models. This has proven to be a massively complex and traditionally expensive problem until Fibbl appeared. There just hasn’t been an easy way for brands to produce browser-friendly, high-quality 3D models at scale. This is the core problem that Fibbl has solved by industrializing the 3D production process.
What gap are you looking to fill in the e-commerce space?
H.A.: We want to democratize 3D and XR technology for consumer brands. We do this by making the technologies accessible and affordable. More importantly, we do it at scale in a way that is seamless for our customers to integrate.
Brands or retailers send us shoes or bags — sometimes thousands of items all at the same time — and then within a few days we send them back a complete package of 3D models, XR extensions, product images, marketing resources and the APIs that enable them to integrate all of these things easily into their digital commerce systems. This is how we narrow that gap between the physical product experience and the digital one.
What sets Fibbl’s technology apart in the market and how does it enhance a customer’s online shopping experience?
H.A.: The few other viable 3D production solutions on the market are pretty generic, usually trying to serve too many product types and industries simultaneously. As a result, they just don’t quite hit the necessary mark with the speed, quality, cost and ease of integration needed for fashion brands to scale.
Not only does Fibbl’s tech scale easily meet just about any size need, within the categories we serve – but we also use a subscription-based model which largely eliminates the need for brands to make huge up-front investments in 3D model production.
At Fibbl, we focus on a specific industry and specific categories such as shoes and bags — allowing us to develop the technology and streamline the process further than anyone else who tries to serve the same customers. This not only makes 3D accessible and affordable, but it also makes it truly scalable. We are starting to see orders for thousands, even tens of thousands of 3D models, very strong evidence that the ecommerce landscape is shifting from 2D to 3D and this transition will happen this decade.
Fibbl models enable shoppers to interact with our customer’s products in a similar way they would in a physical store. Instead of just looking at static images that are predetermined by the brand or the retailer, the consumer can twist, turn, zoom and inspect every aspect of the product on their own terms — just like they would do in a physical store. And, if the consumer likes the product, they can try it on in XR to see if they like the way it looks with their other outfit or how it would fit in their homes.
Which major brands have used Fibbl’s technology?
H.A.: We are lucky to work with a variety of incredible brands, including famous names such as Samsonite, Rains, Gant, Løci, Björn Borg, Nø Name, Hoff, Alohas and more.
What impact have Fibbl’s 3D models had on various customer engagement metrics that brands are looking for when getting consumers to make a purchase?
H.A.: Using 3D and XR technologies can make a massive difference in the shopper experience. Probably the most impressive metric we see across all our customers is that shoppers typically spend 60-100 percent more time on the product page when it features a 3D model.
After integrating Fibbl 3D models, one footwear brand decreased its return rate by up to 29 percent. Another improved conversion rate by up to 16 percent. Even marketing costs are reduced; the average time and cost related to a regular photoshoot to get store images are reduced by 50 percent.
How does Fibbl cater to the diverse needs of brands by creating customized 3D and AR solutions?
H.A.: On top of enhancing the product experience for the end consumer, we also try to unlock a wide variety of options for the brand. Things like reducing the cost of traditional photoshoots can enable all sorts of new creative marketing campaigns — and give our customers way more options for A/B testing.
Our technology also lets brands easily create CGI videos, or product videos/GIFs on emails for engagement. We enable “try before you buy” features for virtual try-ons in abandoned cart text messages and more. Not to mention the largest consumer-facing platforms are all investing heavily in technologies and features that require 3D — just take Meta’s new PLV advertising format as an example.
What are the long-term goals for Fibbl? How do you see 3D imagery and AR’s role evolving in the e-commerce space in the future?
H.A.: We want to lead the charge to pull digital commerce into the future — and make 3D & XR accessible, affordable and scalable for all of the industries and categories we serve. We will enable a digital product experience that exceeds the physical one.
Everyone is excited about the future, especially now that AI has become a prominent and reliable force. But instead of hyping up brands about future technologies, I always try to help brands think of ways to utilize the untapped technologies that all of their consumers already are using such as their smartphones. In my opinion, it’s kind of foolish to look into the Metaverse or Apple Vision Pro if your brand hasn’t already maximized the potential that the smartphone provides.
You may also like
