Furniture firm Ikea has revealed a raft of impressive updates to its smartphone app which will provide customers who want to carry out safe shopping online with a number of new capabilities that should dramatically improve the experience.

Although the app has been around for the past couple of years, boasting impressively high-tech capabilities based on augmented reality to allow users to virtually ‘preview’ products in their own homes, Ikea is hoping that the integration of artificial intelligence will further fuel the appeal of this service.

The idea is that the app will automatically be able to recommend interior design choices to customers according not only to their past purchasing decisions but also to the context in which potential products are being considered.

This emulates the kinds of interactions that customers might usually expect to have with trained professionals but bundles it up in an easily accessible application that can be used on the go, with no appointment needed.

Furthermore, the app now has an impressive image search function which can be used to compare furniture that customers encounter while out and about against the line-up of Ikea products. This means that if a user sees something they like at a friend’s house, the app can point them towards an equivalent that looks very similar.

Company spokesperson Gerry Rogers said that the updated app would allow users to get inspired by the world around them and generate new ideas for their next interior design overhaul without all of the usual hassle that is involved in this process.

He also said that that although the inclusion of AR and AI functionality certainly made the app cutting edge, at its heart this technology was only being used because it simplifies the shopping experience for the customer.