Experiential shopping
in the Metaverse

The Metaverse presents a new interactive way to browse and buy products with 7% of survey respondents stating they preferred the Metaverse over traditional channels for product browsing. Converting these potential buyers needs creative thinking and compelling experiences, and that is precisely what some brands are doing.

One such example is the Spanish clothing retailer Mango, which has invested in Union Avatars, a digital avatar creation startup. This investment enhances the customer experience by allowing shoppers to dress their avatars in Mango products before making a purchase, ensuring better style and fit accuracy. This initiative aims to reduce online return rates, a concern for many retailers facing margin pressures.

Not only does this demonstrate how such technologies can enhance profitability, but it also enables brands to establish a stronger presence and capture attention in a competitive online landscape.

This trend follows a rising number of consumers embracing avatar creation. Once again, younger demographics exhibit a stronger inclination towards this trend, with 39% of Gen Zs having created a Bitmoji on Snapchat. Snapchat now boasts a virtual wardrobe featuring apparel from both its own collection and renowned fashion brands like New Balance, Nike, The North Face, Ugg, Carhartt, and Crocs, among others.

Snapchat has successfully capitalised on monetising virtual clothing for users eager to keep up with the latest fashion trends in the virtual realm. Remarkably, 68% of Gen Zs have created an avatar, in contrast to the 41% average across all age groups. The persistent demand among younger consumers for brand access underscores the significance of their digital personas, which hold equal importance in both the physical and virtual realms.

68%

of Gen Zs have created an avatar, in contrast to the 41% average across all age groups.

Key takeouts for brands:

The current gap between browsing and purchasing presents a significant opportunity for brands across industries to educate consumers about the advantages of virtual shopping, ultimately increasing conversion rates and setting themselves apart.
Examples like Mango's investment in Union Avatars illustrate how brands can elevate the customer experience. It's essential for brands to link virtual shopping with physical products, as this remains crucial for most shoppers.
Virtual shopping transcends the physical constraints of brick-and-mortar stores and disrupts the repetitive user interfaces of brand websites, enabling brands to showcase and sell products in new and innovative ways.

Key takeouts for brands:

The current gap between browsing and purchasing presents a significant opportunity for brands across industries to educate consumers about the advantages of virtual shopping, ultimately increasing conversion rates and setting themselves apart.

Examples like Mango's investment in Union Avatars illustrate how brands can elevate the customer experience. It's essential for brands to link virtual shopping with physical products, as this remains crucial for most shoppers.

Virtual shopping transcends the physical constraints of brick-and-mortar stores and disrupts the repetitive user interfaces of brand websites, enabling brands to showcase and sell products in new and innovative ways.

Could the Metaverse be the next disruptor in food and beverage?

It has been over a decade since Deliveroo revolutionised the restaurant market and latterly the grocery market, introducing a disruptive business model meeting the need for instant purchase and delivery. While other food delivery apps have followed Deliveroo's lead, none have managed to innovate beyond their original model. However, this assumption overlooks a significant trend.

In the last three months of 2023, Roblox boasted over 70 million daily active users². This presents a big opportunity to capture spend from these users who may wish to order groceries or meals from their favourite restaurants while immersed in the virtual world. McDonald's has already recognised this potential and in 2022, filed trademarks to operate virtually in the Metaverse.

Imagine encountering the iconic golden arches seamlessly integrated into your virtual experiences, allowing you to explore, place an order and have it delivered to your physical doorstep. While this may seem unconventional, it parallels the ease of transitioning between apps on your smartphone, such as switching from Facebook to ordering food on Deliveroo with a simple swipe. By taking advantage of this new area, brands not only access a potentially untapped audience but also allows them to predispose more people to their brand and carve new paths to incremental revenue growth.

² Statistica

The Metaverse also provides an environment where consumers can seamlessly engage with multiple brands within larger portfolios and make direct purchases. P&G has already explored this through its P&G LifeLab, which showcases immersive experiences and explores the future of commerce. An example of this was demonstrated during the global COVID-19 pandemic when P&G allowed consumers to visit a virtual home to understand how P&G products such as Dawn, Cascade, and Febreze were reinventing home cleaning hygiene during a time of heightened importance.

Key Takeaway for Brands:

Brands should seek opportunities to seamlessly integrate into virtual platforms, offering users an additional channel to explore and purchase physical products.
For FMCG manufacturers facing barriers in direct-to-consumer sales, the Metaverse presents an environment where consumers can interact with multiple brands simultaneously and purchase physical products directly to their homes through the virtual environment.

Do any of these use cases resonate with your business?

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Key Takeout for Brands:

Brands should seek opportunities to seamlessly integrate into virtual platforms, offering users an additional channel to explore and purchase physical products.

For FMCG manufacturers facing barriers in direct-to-consumer sales, the Metaverse presents an environment where consumers can interact with multiple brands simultaneously and purchase physical products directly to their homes through the virtual environment.

The Metaverse meets DIY

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools serve as the cornerstone to the Metaverse, enriching immersive experiences by blurring the lines between physical and virtual worlds. This offers a practical function for tasks such as home renovation, allowing consumers to visualise and experiment with design ideas in a virtual space, and 10% of survey respondents said the Metaverse would be their preferred way to do this.

Homeowners and interior designers can use VR and AR tools to simulate spaces, and experiment with different layouts, colours, materials, and furniture placements, providing a more realistic preview before investing in changes in their physical homes. In Great Britain, IKEA leads the homeware industry, boasting the highest spending levels across both 18–26-year-olds and the 26+ demographic.

IKEA’s AR app, IKEA Place, aims to redefine how people conceptualise and personalise spaces, offering a diverse array of 3D true-to-scale furniture items. The app allows effortless exploration and experimentation of design choices within real-life settings, scaling products to fit room dimensions while considering textures, lighting, and shadows for a realistic experience. IKEA’s vision highlights the potential for a harmonious phygital shopping experience, seamlessly blending physical and digital elements to create immersive customer experiences, which resonate well with younger demographics already engaged with both the Metaverse and IKEA.

Key Takeaway for Brands:

Brands should explore virtual reality and augmented reality tools to provide users with the ability to simulate spaces and experiment with physical products in virtual settings that mimic their real life.
Offering realistic previews can empower shoppers to make informed decisions, which potentially minimises returns in the process.

Key Takeaway for Brands:

Brands should explore virtual reality and augmented reality tools to provide users with the ability to simulate spaces and experiment with physical products in virtual settings that mimic their real life.

Offering realistic previews can empower shoppers to make informed decisions, which reduces the uncertainty involved with buying products online.