Aussie consumer tech firm Immertia has launched an augmented reality app for breweries to promote their beverage products to their customers using customers’ handheld devices.

The app, known as “Swigr”, is activated when shoppers scan a label with their phone. The app provides an interactive experience enabling shoppers to connect, engage and buy from the bottle or can, anywhere, anytime through augmented reality.

Swigr was developed for breweries during Covid and has already garnered interest among breweries in different parts of the world.

“At Immertia, we use augmented reality to transform regular packaging into stunning showcases and interactive experiences,” Immertia’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Dave Chaffey, said. “I have been a huge fan of the power of augmented reality for some time and with further research and development I decided to put together a team to create the world’s best solutions for consumer products.”

A serial entrepreneur, Chaffey previously built a business from scratch to a 25 store franchise and co-founded a digital agency. He is proud to share that Immertia is an Australian-based business, powered by Aussie-based experts.

Over 50 breweries across the US, New Zealand, Germany and Canada have already come on board, subscribing to the app on a monthly basis, including Maui Brewing Company in Hawaii, FKN Beer in Canada, Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia, and Paulaner Brewing in Germany.

“We are now receiving enquiries from all over the world from beverage manufacturers wanting to adopt Swigr to take their brands and products to a new level,” Chaffey said.

Immertia is targeting millennials and Generation Z who Chaffey said is now the largest cohort of cashed-up brand-aware consumers on the planet.

“They were born with a mobile device in their hand. They are visual, digitally engaged and adept at exploring and researching their own information and content. Buying is about the experience, not the process,” Chaffey explained. “We know that younger consumers are more likely to buy products on the go. Generation Z are the most impulsive and spontaneous of all, with nearly 50 per cent buying products on the go. They are optimists, impulsive and nearly 40 percent of Gen Z tend to overspend.

“The world needs to understand who the largest consumer and highest spending cohort is,” Chaffey added. “We do, and we are building augmented reality products for brands that will enable them to not only connect with this cohort, the world’s largest body of consumers but appeal to them in a way that enables them to shop on the go – which is how they shop.

This story is originally published in our sister’s publication, Inside Small Business.