The Natural Iteration of our Shopping Experience

The metaverse has been a hot topic for many since the turn of the year and whilst we've seen some great brands already jump into this new market, the likes of Gucci, Nike, Samsung and others. For the rest, there are many still with question marks about the true value of what this can offer.

It is worth providing a little more information around what the metaverse is as a common misconception is that it is replacing the life we live today or that VR is only relevant in the gaming market. 

This is not the case.

With continued increased investments by all worldwide, the metaverse is hoped to be the next frontier in social connection, similar to when social networking was first launched in 2004. If we look back to the natural iterations of our online experience:

- Initially primarily focused on text

- As people got smartphones with cameras, it became a lot more digital

- As we’ve become more connected, video is now one of the primary ways to share experiences

The aim for the likes of Meta and others is to build digital platforms with a sense of presence, with the ultimate goal being to deliver an experience like you’re with another person and the natural progression is to deliver more immersive experiences. But what is this?

A good starting point is virtual & augmented reality. As the economic impact of AR/VR has already reached 60 billion people if you’re not exploring it, you could be missing out.

VR is already in mainstream use today, an example is Oculus Quest, a virtual reality gaming headset developed by Oculus, a division of Facebook which now makes up 50.32% of the majority of the headsets on the steam platform of over 120 million users & 1.89% being VR users. CREDIT https://www.roadtovr.com/meta-quest-2-majority-vr-headset-on-steam/)

Or the AR experiences including face filters and holograms that we continue to see as new & emerging trends on the likes of Snapchat & Instagram.

Meta are one of the heaviest investors into this new reality and for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, his views are ‘I've so much passion around bringing this next platform shift & accelerating it as the sooner we get to a virtual & augmented reality, the better. This is where the social experiences will become more magical & platforms should be designed around interacting with one another as that’s how we process the world as people’.

But what can brands and businesses do to tip their toes into this market?

Brands in footwear & apparel can explore virtual fitting. Providing the consumer with ‘exact fits’ & try before you buy opportunities, therefore enhancing the experience & reducing returns.

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Or use it to virtually to enable a consumer to demo the product at home before it's purchased

It doesn’t just have to be online though. As we said earlier these innovations aren’t replacing the current experience we have, the true goal is to incorporate these innovations into everyday life in a positive & beneficial way.

So how about an immersive product-finder app to guide a customer around the store & replace the paper shopping list, in the hope of enticing shoppers? This is what M&S has done.

The benefits for AR are clear, businesses can entertain & inspire their audience with branded content & engaging ways to enhance the whole shopping experience. Users can participate & experience the product virtually whilst taking parting in immersive gamified campaigns. There are endless opportunities, however, the commonality is that they alter the real world in a way that enhances a user's experience with the brand.

We hope you enjoyed this article and if you'd like to learn more from providers that might be able to support your queries, or you'd just like to hear what could be done in your space, please do reach out.