Tesco has launched the world’s first cover-to-cover augmented reality food magazine after teaming up with AR specialist Aurasma.

Each page will feature augmented content, such as how-to videos or animations. Readers will also be able to scan recipes and go straight to the Tesco online store to buy the ingredients.

“This is our first test of this technology in Real Food magazine so we have used features that we feel our customers will find useful to help inspire them,” said Tesco.com marketing director Ian Crook.

“The augmented features are simply a fun and fantastic way to offer more functionality to the magazine. It’s a great technology and we have lots of other ideas.”

Crook said he was particularly excited by the magazine’s ability to bring the recipes to life. “There’s video of a chef making the dish and a click-to-buy option providing all the necessary ingredients. So there is a great wow factor for those who haven’t seen augmented reality before, but also lots of practical applications for this magazine to make our customers’ lives a little easier.”

Shoppers will be able to access the augmented reality features using the new Tesco Discover smartphone app, which uses the Aurasma platform to deliver augmented content. Tesco will gauge reaction to the new magazine by measuring how many customers interact with the recipe ideas, view the videos and buy groceries direct from the page.

Last November, Tesco became the first supermarket in the UK to launch augmented reality in-store to show 3D images of products contained in its Tesco Direct catalogue.

Tesco Real Food was launched in 2010 and is the biggest food magazine in the country.

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