There are moments that I wish would last forever. Fishing with my kids on a summer day, for instance. Or enjoying my wife’s famous paella. Shopping for furniture isn’t one of these moments. Pretty much nobody wants to bottle the time and frustration that comes with making that kind of major purchase. Finding the right furniture and living with it is rewarding, but the process itself is exhausting — and it’s something I’ve always avoided doing myself (thanks, Camelia!).

Emerging technologies are changing things for the better. Apps that use augmented reality — think Wayfair or IKEA Place — have shoppers previewing furniture in their living rooms. They can see how a couch or loveseat fits and decide whether it goes with what’s already in the space. When they’re ready, the customer can push a button and new furniture will be delivered to their door in as little as a day or two. It’s so easy that customers find themselves messing around and placing Billy bookcases that they don’t even want all around their homes. Or do they?

Digital transformations in retail aren’t new. Businesses have long experimented with new techniques and technology to better find and keep customers. Augmented and virtual reality are the latest in a long line of innovations that include everything from the cash register to the website, with each becoming a powerful new addition to the retailer’s toolbox.

The ability to consistently reuse and manage 3-D content across channels is new, but the reliability of cloud services has made these technologies ready for commercial use. This long-sought maturity is already bringing to life fun and engaging shopping experiences and changing not just what customers see in-store or online but also how retailers and brands think about the ways they sell.

The power to deliver an endless aisle of products to shoppers without the need for thousands of square feet of retail space is a gamechanger for everybody. This includes small to medium-size retailers that will benefit from consistency across channels, localization of far-flung international markets and the ability to deliver a personalized shopping experience to consumers. Amazon, Macy’s, Target and others are hard at work building this new retail landscape, but today’s 3-D solutions come with a price tag that makes them affordable for those without the R&D budget of, say, Walmart.

With a bundled 3-D solution within reach for thousands of businesses, the shift to 3-D products will be akin to when e-commerce moved out of its infancy and it seemed like every brand had a website overnight. Flatfooted retailers will be left behind, but those willing to change to meet their customers will find a more level playing field than ever before.

Here are two key ways 3-D product strategy will change retail:

1. Manufacturers Will Own The Customer Relationship Like Never Before