Shopping in traditional brick-and-mortar businesses allows customers to physically touch and try on products before making an actual purchase. Whereas, eCommerce enables shopping on the other side of the internet store eliminates the physical part of traditional brick-and-mortar shopping while providing unrivaled ease, speed, and accessibility.
And that’s where Metaverse enters in the gap. It bridges the gap where these two previously independent worlds of retail commerce collide to produce an experience that will permanently change the way people shop online.
So, in this writeup, let’s dive deeper into the concept of Metaverse in eCommerce and how it is reshaping the eCommerce Industry.
What is Metaverse?
The metaverse is a mixture of several technology advancements that work in tandem. The metaverse moves technology out of the digital realm and into the physical realm, from NFTs to social commerce to augmented and virtual reality.
Metaverse Evolving Ecommerce
Brand strategies are already being influenced by metaverse technologies such as social commerce, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), cryptocurrency, and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Several companies, for example, have developed AR and VR applications to assist buyers in testing and shopping their products. As the metaverse becomes a reality, these technologies open up a world of possibilities for new digital and physical services. Let’s look at how brands can prepare themselves to enter the new eCommerce realm in the Metaverse.
- Community Building: In the metaverse, the gap between social media and e-commerce will continue to shrink. Brands will be able to go beyond a star rating in the metaverse by creating engaging communities that allow customers to interact with the brand and other followers of the brand. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will be the metaverse’s most important component. NFTs would be used by brands for a variety of purposes to improve the purchasing experience. They’ll be used as receipts, passes to special events, and even early access to new product launches.
- AR and VR Innovations: Augmented reality and virtual reality are the latest innovations which offer two- way interaction when it comes to experiencing any services or products. A customer will be offered more than just a normal experience when they will shop online through digital eCommerce stores of brands. It is also predicted that total global augmented and mixed reality market is expected to reach $103.9 billion growing at 79.2% CAGR. The newest innovations done by brands using AR and VR in the market for example include Amazon, Charlotte Tilbury, H&M etc. Amazon has started offering a virtual furniture placement tool which lets customers visualize furniture in their spaces. H&M and Tilbury on the other hand have created a virtual store for their loyal customers to experience the products at their own convenience.
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- Expanded Social Media Commerce Market: Social media marketplace is not hidden anymore from the customers as buying products on social platforms is becoming popular. Even the popular brands are selling their products on Facebook and Instagram by utilizing their marketplace tools.
Although, it’s not yet final what these platforms may look like in future but metaverse tools would definitely demand the brands to keep their shops up-to-date. - Hyper-personalization of Products and Services: Hyper-personalization is the technique of displaying highly tailored products and content to customers using AI and real-time data. It regards customers as distinct individuals with diverse tastes and preferences, allowing brands and merchants to create a personalized shopping experience for each customer. The metaverse will raise the bar for tailored client experiences. Consumers can interact with brands inside a digital realm without the constraints of the physical world, such as time, gravity, or geography. They can go to virtual stores wherever and whenever they want.
Metaverse will almost subjectively shift numerous times over the next decade. And hence, brands can start investing in AR and VR, social commerce, and other solutions that enable seamless, multichannel, and personalized experiences now to prepare for this next era of online interaction.
In this way, during the next frontier of eCommerce, the companies who start their metaverse adventures today will be ahead of the herd.
