How AR and VR could leverage brands to reach a wider audience
By Shrey Mishra
Most people we know, when they need to buy supplies, will take a few hours or
more in order to: a) go to the shops, b) search for the desired shop, c) go to the
relevant section in the desired shop, and so on and so forth, you get the picture.
The internet has made ecommerce faster and more convenient than ever before,
but there are still things that we hesitate to buy online. We want to try on glasses,
try on clothes, see how everything fits before we click that button. And for that,
you have to take a few hours to go to the shops.
The advent of the metaverse, and technology like 5G, will make e‑commerce even
more intuitive and convenient for customers. Now, you can scan your body or
enter your measurements and try on all sorts of clothes and accessories on your
virtual avatar.
Last year, Gucci made a big splash selling NFTs of digital clothes and accessories
for millions of dollars. As we transition to a predominantly digital presence, we
can expect to see a big uptick in our Direct-to-Avatar (D2A) purchases. For an
appearance-conscious generation, digital avatars will need to exhibit personal
flourishes via clothes and accessories. We know what makes us unique in real-life,
but what will that be in the metaverse?
Like we’ve seen with H&M’s new virtual store, it will be possible to have cross-
platform flexibility and access to major brands in a virtual setting. Users will be
able to access retail stores on their tablet, smartphones, laptops or by using VR
enabled headsets or glasses. Having stores at a ‘virtual’ address will offer brands a
chance to be hyper-local in a truly global setting, and to gain access to a wider
audience and secure cutting-edge brand equity.
For brands which don’t want to go all out on digital products, there is an
opportunity to have hybrid showcases – where real-world creations are matched
with virtual accessories to be sold as NFT collectibles. NFT collectibles are custom
digitised tokens which, by definition, are truly exclusive. They cannot be
exchanged with each other. And it’s low-cost, without raw materials, fittings,
export duties, and comparable workers’ fees. Users can have their NFTs digitally
rendered into Instagram or Snapchat filters, Zoom filters, QR codes, and
seamlessly project an extension of their personality into the digital realm.
The author is Founder and director of XR Central