What opportunities are now available for companies
A virtual world that will be the counterpart of an additional reality to our real world? This digital space currently exists as a metaverse on various platforms such as Decentraland, The Sandbox and Fortnite. In the three-dimensional extension, we can generate an avatar, use it to attend virtual concerts or art exhibitions and purchase digital goods. What we already know from interactive games such as Second Life now has completely different dimensions. Now that gamers and artists have already discovered the metaverse for themselves, it is time for brands and retailers to explore the potential here. At the moment, it is a promise – the promise of an online world that will soon exist and that is linked to our reality as a virtually permeable world.
Are we igniting the next stage of the Internet with Metaverse – and if so, what does it mean and what does it take for retailers to be part of this?
On October 10, the digital association Bitkom hosted the “Retail in the Metaverse” roundtable as an all-day event in Babelsberg. In addition to input from Dr. Sebastian Klöß, Head of Consumer Technology, AR/VR & Metaverse at Bitkom and Bianka Kokott, Consultant for Digital Transformation, other experts from the industry spoke, including MediaTech Hub members Eric Wolff from Halostage and Sven Bliedung from Volucap as well as Anna Franziska Michel from yoona.ai and Benjamin Heese from Feelbelt.
To kick off the event, Sebastian Klöß and Bianka Kokott gave an outline of the most important questions surrounding the topic: What about gaming? What about NFTs? What is the tax and legal situation? What defined standards already exist? And: How advanced is the technology? As far as retail is concerned, everyone on site quickly agrees that it’s worth being involved right from the start. Not only to avoid repeating the mistakes of bricks-and-mortar retail with regard to e-commerce, but also to help shape developments, explore new business models and generate lessons learned.
Products and business models for the third dimension
The digital-playful environment of the Metaverse makes creative product presentations possible, for example. Food retailer Kaufland had a store built there in the style of the Nintendo Switch game. At children’s bicycle manufacturer Puky, interested buyers can test the saddle height and desired model in digital showrooms using AR. Internationally, sporting goods giant Nike is experimenting with Nikeland. In addition to game and sports ideas, users can also find digital shoes, clothing and accessories for their avatars. All kinds of monetization and activation strategies are being tested. The momentum is increasing internationally – many people are already prepared to spend money on virtual items or exhibits. According to a Bitkom study this year, 67% of Germans say they have never heard or read about it, but among those who are familiar with Metaverse, 27% can already imagine shopping there – in the 16 to 29 age group it is even one in three.
Virtual goods are traded more frequently. For retail companies, this can have the advantage of setting up and testing new virtual products relatively cheaply and thus expanding their own portfolio. Nike has also cooperated in the Metaverse and launched a sneaker edition with an artistic character.
One consensus at the roundtable was not to fall into actionism. There needs to be a reason to be there – also for brick-and-mortar retailers. What incentive can be given to users? It must be clear, Sebastian Klöß also emphasized in the subsequent discussion, that the metaverse does not replace retail. It is another channel that is being added. It is not a new world replacing the old one – rather, it is an invitation to expand.
The design of digital, three-dimensional content elements is necessary for a presence in the metaverse. Media technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality are therefore at the heart of the metaverse. Even today, apps with AR show us what the sneaker we are interested in online looks like on our foot. And thanks to the technical development of 3D data, retailers can display their entire range online or replace it in the coming season much more easily and cost-effectively. The time-consuming, expensive extrapolation and scanning of products has long been a hurdle.
The future of shopping?
“If you ignore the hype character, it becomes clear that retail in the metaverse requires an experience, something complementary that not only reflects my need for consumption, but also manages to combine the whole thing with something entertaining,” says Bianka Kokott.
Avatars, for example, which allow us to slip into completely different roles, are a good way of illustrating this. The metaverse as an extension of my world also has a strong social aspect: interacting with each other is a basic need for us. “The metaverse gives us huge added value – we have the opportunity to make appointments with others and interact in groups or even change groups. This goes far beyond my life in front of a screen. Avatars and socializing give us a sense of presence that will become even more important in the coming years,” says Klöß.
Slow testing also applies to the target group. Interested parties can be slowly introduced to the metaverse with small steps or reality-enhancing offers such as AR. To do this, retailers need to understand their needs and think beyond the boundaries of the real everyday world.
At the end of the day, the conclusion was clear: It doesn’t take millions to put out the first feelers in the direction of the metaverse. Retail companies should look into the topic in the near future and enter into an exchange with experts from the film, games and digital sectors, who already offer many interfaces to the metaverse. The participants were then given a tour of the virtual production studio Halostage and the volumetric studio Volucap in Babelsberg. Scenes can be filmed realistically in front of LED technology backdrops at Halostage, with any setting projected in the background.
Thanks to the resolution of 32 cameras and a unique lighting system, the Volucap is one of the few studios in the world to offer the possibility of scanning people in motion in three dimensions. Both recording technologies were originally developed for the film industry and are perfect for the Metaverse and the new reality.
About the event series:
Bitkom organizes regular roundtables under the umbrella of the metaverse forum by bitkom and brings together the key players in the metaverse from its network and beyond. In this series of events, the metaverse is examined from the perspectives of AR & VR, blockchain, intellectual property & digital content, marketing as well as law and taxes. Participants can look forward to presentations by proven experts.
More about the MTH Blog
The media technologies of the future are already being used today – not only in the entertainment sector but in a wide variety of industries. For our MediaTech Hub Potsdam blog, we talk to tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and researchers once a month and tell the stories behind their innovative business models, ideas, projects or collaborations.
