E-commerce is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, with one in four people on the planet online shopping now. With this in mind, and the metaverse twinkling on our horizon, e-commerce is about to enter a transformative period.
The rise of e-commerce, with its inherent ease and convenience, is steadily outpacing the brick and mortar shopping we once loved.
Sure, it’s great to go shopping with friends and be greeted with a genuine smile and a human touch. But how often do we actually experience genuine smiles and high quality customer service?
The reality is that buying something can be a strenuous, inconvenient activity, takes up a large chunk of your precious time, and is often quite unpleasant, especially if you get caught up in the chaos of weekend shopping.
Therefore, the era of e-commerce has removed much of this burden. Enter a virtual store and a few clicks later, on a highly optimized website or application, you’re done. Your groceries are on their way and you didn’t bother with them.
Enter the metaverse, which arrives at the perfect time when a convergence of technology innovations, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), is revolutionizing our customer experience.
As we reach new boundaries of immersion in our digital shopping journey, the metaverse will bridge the gap between the physical and virtual experiences we enjoy.
Indeed, the human touch will be addressed in the metaverse. We are greeted with personalized experiences in an immersive 3D virtual environment, with friendly avatars helping us and we can do our shopping online with friends.
From the comfort of our seats, we navigate through various virtual islands, looking for products in a sea of calm, surrounded by an ocean of possibilities.
You may be thinking, what a minute, the metaverse doesn’t exist yet! Indeed, we are not there yet. We’re a long way from achieving a seamless, interoperable virtual world that gives us the freedom to explore 3D environments without limits.
As of now, the metaverse is currently under construction. We know that many large companies are heavily invested in the metaverse, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. In addition, we know a little bit about what is being visualized, we’ve seen the video teasers from Meta and Microsoft.
It would be more realistic to say that we are in the metaverse stage of development. We are entering an era of increased presence and interaction with our favorite brands online. Therefore, in the coming months and years, we are going to experience an entirely new virtual world characterized by exponential technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Brands are starting to recognize the opportunities they have in the metaverse. If the age of the internet and social media has been profound for brands, imagine what brands can do in immersive 3D virtual worlds, with greater presence and realism.
Gucci built the Gucci garden on Roblox last year, a 14-day experience on the popular gaming platform, which was a brilliant insight into the future of e-commerce. The virtual garden replicated their Gucci garden in the real world, creating a visually stunning exhibit, which also featured a Gucci store, where you could purchase limited edition digital wearables for your avatar. A virtual Gucci bag sold for over $4,000 USD.
Similarly, last year Sephora achieved a virtual event called “SEPHORiA: House of Beauty,” which invited guests into their “virtual 3D game-like environment featuring an interactive beauty house” with multiple rooms to explore.” The “family room,” for example, enabled community interaction and discussions. with industry brand leaders.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg as we approach an unprecedented consumer experience in the digital world – enabled by breathtaking technological advancements.
E-commerce gamification
At the forefront of the metaverse, the e-commerce revolution will be built-in gaming experiences.
Charlotte Tilbury, a popular skincare and makeup brand, created an online VR store in 2020 and then built on this experience with “Shopping with friends” in 2021. Available on desktop and mobile, this new feature allowed users to invite their friends to the virtual store and enjoy an interactive 3D shopping experience together.
In addition, Charlotte Tilbury built in a game function that invited customers to search the store for hidden keys. This gave customers a reason to stay longer and hang out in the virtual store. As we have seen in popular games like Fortnite and Roblox, playing games is highly addictive and inspires players to spend money. Once brands can perfect this gamification in the metaverse and build meaningful experiences into their virtual stores, they will reap the rewards.
Games will be all around us in the metaverse as we traverse different platforms with our own, personalized 3D avatars. Shopkeepers will inevitably come up with tempting schemes or activities to keep us locked in their world. In the past, retailers have inspired us to return to their stores through loyalty points systems. Now imagine the possibilities when you can build your own virtual 3D experience for customers that is personalized.
Louis Vuitton entered the metaverse by creating “Louis: The Game.” In this experience, you will explore six different worlds with the protagonist, Vivienne, where she must collect 200 candles to commemorate Louis Vuitton’s birthday.
They recently added two new expansion levels to the game, allowing players to collect ten new NFTs (non-fungible tokens) while traveling through a virtual world and learning about the rich history of Louis Vuitton. This brand’s indulgence in gaming is very calculated and allows the brand to tap into a previously untapped demographic: the Gen Z consumers.
Moreover, this experimentation with NFTs is just the beginning for big brands.
Ecommerce with NFTs
NFTs will pave the way for the metaverse economy and e-commerce will benefit significantly from this technology. The NFT craze started last year with digital art collectibles, but now we’re starting to get a glimpse of the possibilities as brands get more into it.
First of all, NFTs are very dynamic and can be used versatilely in the real world and the digital world. As digital tokens stored on a transparent blockchain, with an underlying, irreversible code, creators can build in any utility their imagination desires.
This must be a dream from a trader’s point of view. They can create hype around a product with an NFT launch, assign rarity levels to create rising demand, and collaborate with trendy, cool artists who have their own following.
What’s more, as the creator of an NFT, you can write in the “smart contract” (underlying code) physical world and virtual world advantages, building a bridge between the two spheres.
Retail brands that recognize NFTs
Nike recognized the potential of this technology when they bought RTFKT Studios last year, who are creators of stylish virtual sneakers and wearables for the metaverse.
RTFKT Studios famously launched an NFT collection that merged realities, allowing customers to redeem both real, physical sneakers and digital sneakers. As of this launch, RTFKT Studios made $3.1 million USD as the collection sold out in seven minutes.
Nike’s debut collaboration with RTFKT Studios entitled ‘RTFKT x Nike Dunk Genesis CRYPTOKICKS’, was a big hit with the community and one couple astounding sold for $160,000.
Adidas also released their debut NFT collection “In the Metaverse” in partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club in December. Holders can claim physical products, such as iconic Adidas tracksuits and hoodies, as well as “open metaverse land experiences created in collaboration with the community.” Therein lies the future of e-commerce, with your favorite brands offering benefits in real life and virtual worlds.
The future for brands in this space is incredible when you consider the scope of what is possible. Indeed, Gap did something similar to Adidas back in January of this year when they teamed up with artist Brandon Sines to launch an NFT collection on the Tezos blockchain.
Their NFTs had varying levels of rarity, with the ‘Epic’ NFT containing a limited edition physical hoodie along with digital art by Sines – the creator of cartoon character Frank Ape.
Therefore, brands are becoming more and more creative and this will usher in a new era for e-commerce.
Ownership and empowerment
What makes all of this possible is the instant verification of an NFT, with everything stored on a decentralized, public blockchain. This makes everything seamless for sellers and they can tap into huge new market segments as they embrace the new technology.
Crucially, NFTs empower consumers with more power and a sense of ownership than ever before. NFTs are not just collectibles, they are assets and can increase in value over time. Indeed, as the absolute owner of an NFT, you have a choice: you can hold it, sell it, trade it, or perhaps even give it away as a meaningful gift.
Therefore, NFTs are going to support the metaverse economy and future digital societies. They have opened up a new world where creators suddenly rise to the forefront, empowered and able to interact with their communities like never before. Indeed, the decentralized blockchain is a haven for creators, who can keep all of their profits from NFTs – cutting out the middlemen.
For the consumer and e-commerce, going out for a virtual shopping experience with your favorite avatar, exploring immersive 3D environments and buying NFTs will become more common in the next 5-10 years.
The future of ecommerce
Consumers, your online shopping experience will never be the same again! The birth of the metaverse is upon us and in the years to come we will see all our favorite brands interact with their customers in 3D virtual environments.
Gamification of our experience in these virtual worlds is inevitable, and brands engaged in NFTs will proliferate as cryptocurrency adoption increases.
In addition, the emerging market for fashionable digital products for use in the metaverse will continue to grow as brands follow the lead of Nike, Adidas, Gap and countless others who have invested in this area.
We are slowly saying “bon voyage” to the Web2 Internet era and “bonjour” to Web3 technology. Staring at a screen and clicking to buy products online will soon be obsolete. Instead, brands will invest in the metaverse and create immersive worlds for us to enjoy, play and interact with – and ultimately spend our money. The metaverse needs a safe, secure, transparent method to verify transactions and prove ownership and that’s where the decentralized blockchain and NFTs can begin to take over traditional, more centralized forms of payment.