Managing The Metaverse Continuum In Smart Retail

Life is increasingly migrating into the digital realm. Over the past ten years, the retail sector has chosen an omnichannel retail strategy in which businesses are attempting to combine physical and online retail. It is now vital for businesses to concentrate on structuring their way into the virtual world. A world where they can create an emotionally engaging immersive experience for their audience.

A range of digitally augmented realities, business models, and worlds make up the metaverse continuum.

Brands are investigating the usage of the metaverse continuum to give their customers an immersive and multimodal experience to close the gap between physical and digital shopping experiences. The metaverse holds great potential. When combined with AR/VR technology, it has the potential to significantly change the next-generation retail sector.

Growth Jockey can offer the greatest cutting-edge digital innovation solutions for retail enterprises. We help them securely create their digital presence with the help of our expertise in the field of 3D and immersive experiences.

If you want to know more about the metaverse continuum, and how retailers can manage it in the coming future, dive right into the article.

How Can the Next Generation Retail Evolve with the Metaverse?

By establishing an avatar, users can interact, play, and work in the metaverse, a virtual world within a virtual universe. In a report on the metaverse industry, Verified Market Research predicts that the market will grow to $825 billion in value by 2030. In contrast, the metaverse market was estimated to be around $27 billion in USD in 2020.

Immersive technology and experiences are the foundation of the metaverse. By this, we mean 3D and photorealistic digital settings, people, and other objects that users may interact with in real-time and perceive as a whole universe.

According to Gartner, by 2026, 30% of global businesses will be selling goods and services in the metaverse, and 25% of people will spend at least an hour each day working or shopping there.

Additionally, according to McKinsey, 95% of company executives anticipate the metaverse to have a favorable impact on their sector over the coming ten years; 31% believe it will alter how their sector is run.

Retail in the real world can be summed up as a platform or marketplace where companies can interact with their target market. Like this, retail in the metaverse can be a digital space where customers can browse, purchase, or swap out the products or services offered by the companies. Companies can make virtual sales in this type of retail marketing.

Growth Jockey helps retailers embrace this digitalization, innovate, and provide the best user and customer experience in both the physical and digital worlds. We help them make seamless transitions between these two worlds and help them succeed in the quickly expanding digital world.

The Future of Retail

Spending on the underlying technologies of the metaverse, VR/AR, is expected to rise from $12 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion in 2024. The businesses that advance through this wave of technological upheaval will probably be those that are best positioned for the future, much like at the start of the digital era. The good news is that retailers can start investing and trying right away because they are better aware of what is to come.

Following are some cases, where retailers can try to evolve with the help of the metaverse.

1. Immersive Shopping

When it comes to shopping, customers are now more informed about their wants and needs. Now they can learn more about the goods or services, try them out, and decide on whether to buy them or not.

The meaning of retail began to change with the entry of e-commerce and online purchasing. Online shopping transformed a situation where consumers had to travel to find products and instead provided them the freedom to purchase the goods/services they wanted from where they were.

Despite their success, online retail operations and e-commerce couldn't replace the culture of the shopping mall. This happened because they couldn't offer the same real-time user experience that people were used to. The metaverse is the ideal way to close this gap.

By efficiently eliminating this gap, retail management can provide customers with enhanced interaction and a 3D visual experience through the metaverse.

Due to a spike in interest during the pandemic, the value of the metaverse may reach $1.528 billion by 2029. From $47 billion in 2020, that is a significant increase.

Many companies that have embraced the idea of the metaverse have given their customers access to an online shopping experience. With no need to leave their homes, customers may explore all the store's floors, try things on, and make purchases.

2. Shopping with Avatars

The utilization of customized digital avatars is a key feature of the metaverse. Online gamers and chat room users have known for a long time that a digital avatar is a picture or graphical representation of a person used in the virtual world.

Online users will be able to utilize a digital avatar to shop and interact with things in the Metaverse. This gives brands deeper, real-time insights into the preferences of their customers. These insights can be used by brands to enhance their offerings and increase client loyalty.

To merge the real and virtual worlds, physical product suppliers could also add digital accessories for avatars with qualified orders.

3. Integrating Retail Marketing with Metaverse

From anywhere in the world, people can access a metaverse store. The metaverse can therefore aid businesses in growing their consumer base and visibility. Within online games, there is a significant opportunity for branding and ad placement.

Creating co-branded virtual spaces where gamers may connect and selling clothing to digital avatars are examples of this. For instance, a recent collaboration between a gaming platform and a multinational conglomerate in the consumer goods industry resulted in the development of realistic skin tones and facial features for player avatars. Considering this, retail marketing and branding in the metaverse have the potential to be revolutionary.

What’s Next for Metaverse and How Can Growth Jockey Help You?

36% of people expressed interest in adopting the metaverse in a March 2022 Statista study, with 12% reporting they were very interested.

In an increasingly digital environment, marketers must focus on creating emotionally compelling retail experiences. This involves using sight and sound to make a place feel as authentic as possible in the metaverse.

The incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into retail technology is one way the metaverse is likely to develop. With virtual assistants and avatars that can communicate and engage with people more realistically, AI has the potential to make the metaverse more engaging and create interactive retail.

Growth Jockey has been collaborating with companies as their strategic and advisory partner. We have a solid framework in place to make it easier for you to comprehend how the metaverse affects various business sectors.

We provide a thorough plan for how retailers can seamlessly expand their operations into the metaverse and progressively build relationships with their target audiences.

To Sum Up

One of the major e-commerce developments that are expected to emerge is the metaverse, and many companies are already looking into ways to incorporate it into their business plans. According to a McKinsey estimate on value creation in the metaverse, growth will reach $5 trillion by 2030, with e-commerce accounting for most of that increase at $2.6 trillion.

More than just improving retail technology and innovative skills will be needed to compete in the coming decade.

The technique you choose to start your enterprises is just as crucial as building the retail sector of the metaverse. Even though it seems like a straightforward process, it involves considerable preparation and strategy. With so many little steps in the process, retailers may feel overwhelmed or confused.

However, all these difficulties can be addressed with the help of knowledgeable partners who can direct your company into the virtual world. Growth Jockey develops a solid approach to assist businesses in successfully expanding their operations into the metaverse.

At Growth Jockey, we are fully committed to crafting personalized solutions that effectively address the crucial challenges faced by our clients across diverse industries. Regardless of the size of your company, whether it's a small-scale enterprise or a large corporation, you can now explore the potential of the metaverse. Take the decisive step towards unlocking the next level of growth for your brand by contacting us today!