How shopping in the metaverse is changing commerce
Leading brands are beginning to embrace the metaverse by offering their customers revolutionary new experiences. Technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) and making shopping in the metaverse immersive, engaging and fun.
What is the metaverse?
The metaverse brings together the physical and virtual worlds, allowing users to access virtual environments through cutting-edge digital technology.
In substance, the metaverse is an online 3D space where users can interact with computer-generated objects and avatars. It adds a layer of immersiveness to everyday digital experiences through VR, AR and mixed reality (MR) technologies. In practice, this could involve watching a soccer game in a virtual stadium, shopping in the metaverse through digital storefronts and virtual showrooms, or attending a music concert remotely using a VR headset.
In its current form, the metaverse is analogous to earlier versions of the internet. The key difference is that instead of simply being a connected hub of computer networks and websites, the metaverse is a collection of independent, immersive experiences created directly by metaverse companies.
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Which companies are shaping the metaverse?
Metaverse companies create immersive experiences for their customers. They build the virtual infrastructure, human interface, discovery and interoperability tools, and creator economy systems to create and facilitate lifelike virtual experiences. Brands can then use these tools to create their own environments within the virtual world (metaverse) of the company. This unlocks a whole new world of immersive experiences, from shopping in the metaverse right through to hosting work meetings on mountaintops or Mars.
Meta, Microsoft, and Roblox are among the global brands building the infrastructure and tools for creating immersive experiences in the metaverse.
In October 2021, Facebook rebranded to Meta, symbolizing the tech giant’s pivot to prioritizing the metaverse in its strategic direction going forward. The company now aims to transform how users interact, play, and shop through its virtual-reality vision of the future.
Since the announcement, Meta has focused on developing affordable VR headsets and investing in content creation. It is also in the process of advancing hardware to make interactions in its metaverse more immersive. It has also been a prominent voice in enabling the development of large-scale metaverses.
Microsoft was another early innovator in the metaverse space, focusing on creating MR experiences through Microsoft HoloLens and developing applications for headsets such as the Meta Quest. The software giant also acquired the video game publisher Activision Blizzard to help expand its metaverse possibilities.
Meanwhile, the popular gaming platform Roblox allows users to create their own fully-immersive virtual gaming spaces and generate unique player avatars. The company has already partnered with brands like Nike to build metaverses on its platform, demonstrating the importance of shopping in the metaverse even for companies oriented towards games and entertainment.
Going further, Roblox is now working on developing unique shopping and commerce experiences in its own metaverse, including those that use its proprietary in-game currency, Robux.
Why are brands shifting focus to the metaverse?
Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2026, 25% of people will spend an hour every day in the metaverse. Many brands that staked an early foothold in this nascent virtual space are working to develop their presence, particularly for the activities that have started to gain traction, such as shopping in the metaverse and entertainment.
The COVID pandemic brought about a notable shift in consumer behavior. Worldwide lockdowns drove millions of shoppers online, with ecommerce growing by a third, according to research by McKinsey. Post-pandemic, while consumers have returned to in-store shopping, digital buying has stuck too, with 75% saying they now use both channels. It’s against this backdrop that we see a rise of shopping in the metaverse, with 33% of users having already purchased a physical product in the virtual space.
Customers want the experience of buying products digitally to be immersive and personalized. And brands can cater to these demands by building a virtual presence in the metaverse.
Shopping in the metaverse allows brands to provide engaging experiences to their buyers, no matter where they are physically located. Iconic department store Bloomingdale’s marked its 150th anniversary by launching its own virtual store, enabling customers to experience an immersive, cutting-edge brand environment, and interact with virtual products, from wherever they were in the world.
Bloomingdale's virtual store also engaged potential buyers by incorporating gamification into the shopping experience. For example, buyers were invited to play a virtual game to travel to different stores on their website, taking advantage of one of the new consumer dynamics that shopping in the metaverse enables.
The metaverse also allows brands to be creative with marketing and sales campaigns in order to reach out to and engage with potential buyers. It is also helping brands sell products in novel ways. Companies can market not just physical or digital products, but also customer experiences like live concerts. Roblox currently does all of this through its own metaverse.
One of the advantages for early-adopting brands is that, with the concept still in its infancy, there are no rules. Smaller brands could start with integrating WebAR technology on their websites to improve the customer experience. Companies like Enhance XR specialize in helping brands integrate and deploy 3D product models and create interactive, immersive experiences for their customers. The future of business is likely to be conducted more and more in these virtual spaces, and the ecommerce sector is already gearing up for it.
How Web 3.0 changes shopping in the metaverse
Web 3.0 will make shopping in the metaverse more accessible as decentralized technology allows brands to experiment with new ways of connecting and interacting with customers.
Brands that partner with metaverse companies currently rely on the tools created by them to build immersive experiences. This limits the ways they are able to interact with customers.
With Web 3.0 decentralizing digital technology, metaverse brands have access to all the technology needed to create unique virtual experiences. So, a brand that used Roblox's digital tools to create its virtual platform can theoretically use Meta’s tech to create more immersive customer journeys.
Web 3.0 will also make the existing internet more accessible. This means shoppers will not have to log into specific platforms to access a brand’s virtual universe. They can simply log into the metaverse, search for their desired brand and interact directly with them, no matter the time or location.
If your brand is looking to establish its virtual presence or stake out vital commercial real estate in the metaverse, industry specialists like Enhance can help you get started quickly and simply by creating high-quality 3D and AR experiences that elevate the customer experience. No-code, web-based solutions allow brands to reap the benefits of immersive commerce and stay future-facing, while offering the widest distribution possible. With 77% of shoppers already looking to use 3D and AR to interact with products before buying, can your brand afford to wait?
