Adobe AIR Showcase

Allurent and Anthropologie

Software company adds Adobe® AIR™ application prototype to its suite of e-commerce solutions for consumers to enjoy immersive shopping experiences anytime, anywhere.

• Learn more about the Allurent Desktop Connection

Allurent is transforming e-shopping with an enticing and entertaining desktop shopping experience that is very different from browser-based shopping, much more ecologically friendly than catalog shopping and more targeted than a trip to the mall. The company's executives believe that immersive desktop shopping experiences can deliver increased customer satisfaction, stronger customer retention, and higher retailer profits than the traditional click-wait-load environments common today.

Having successfully marketed a suite of rich Internet shopping solutions developed in Adobe Flex™, Allurent is now extending its longstanding commitment to Adobe technology by providing next-generation, immersive shopping experiences in the form of Adobe AIR desktop applications. "Our e-commerce products are written in Adobe Flex™ and delivered in the browser using Adobe Flash® Player, so we can easily and quickly extend our core platform modules to Adobe AIR," says Doug McIver, director of product management at Allurent.

Branded Desktop Presence

"The idea underlying our Adobe AIR applications is to enable retailers to push relevant content to the consumer and let the consumer consider it from the comfort of their desktop," says Victoria Glickman Hodgkins, vice president of marketing at Allurent. "The retailer avoids mailing a circular or catalog to promote special items, and the consumer can interact with digital catalog information in highly engaging ways."

Allurent is deploying a desktop shopping application prototype for contemporary women's apparel and home goods retailer Anthropologie that takes advantage of a wide range of capabilities inside Adobe AIR. For example, customers can receive automatic updates as merchandise items are updated. In addition, shoppers can very quickly search the complete catalog, shop by key word and color, including finding new products to match the color of an imported image, make notations, and tag items for a registry or list.

According to Hodgkins, shopping widgets do not deliver the rich cinematic look, elegant transitions, and the quick, crisp refreshes that an Adobe AIR application does. "Our Adobe AIR application, Allurent Desktop Connection, gives merchants total creative control in how they present merchandise and interact with shoppers via their desktops, making the customer experience more compelling and highly personalized," says Hodgkins.