Developments in E-commerce After Metaverse Technology
Metaverse, which includes many dynamics from Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and NFT-based artworks, continues to appear with exciting innovations every day. The Metaverse, which has taken the first steps with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Etherium and is described as the digital life of the future, continues to change the algorithm of many sectors today. In the scope of the developments experienced day by day, many fields from e-commerce to finance, from art to online games, from real estate to fashion sector are being reshaped in this new universe. In this article, we will be sharing with you our foresights about how the Metaverse will change the e-commerce ecosystem and examples from sectors that have the potential to take a big share of the cake in this change process. Let's continue to explore this virtual universe together!
How Will the E-Commerce Sector Reshap After the Metaverse?
Technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality, which allow the products to be purchased to be experienced in seconds, were only the first steps of the innovations expected in the Metaverse field. Metaverse, which gained great momentum and started to change the dynamics in different areas, changed the perspective of most brands as biggest tech companies increased their investments in this field. Although the infrastructure is not fully ready at the moment for Metaverse, which is expected to take a large place in our lives in the coming years, has also caused brands to change their digital strategies. Due to the still developing Metaverse technology, the annual growth rate of the global augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) industry is expected to reach 54% by 2026. The market volume of this sector is expected to reach 372 billion dollars.
Brands, especially global companies, have already started to open stores in this new virtual universe and to concentrate their investments on augmented reality and virtual reality areas. The aim of the companies here is to reduce the steps in the buying process and to offer different experiences that will increase customer satisfaction. In addition to local brands in Turkey such as Turkcell, İşbank, Doğtaş, global companies such as Adidas, Nike, Clinique, McDonald's, and Coca Cola are just a few of the brands that stepped into this world.
Companies that do not want to miss the change and want to invest in the future are preparing to offer their customers a personalized experience at a high level thanks to the stores they have created in the digital environment. In the near future, the number of companies that turn their physical stores into virtual stores will increase considerably. Customers, who can examine the products as they wish and make a purchase decision within seconds, will increase their satisfaction rate, while the rate of conversion of visits to sales will accelerate. In particular, sectors such as real estate, tourism, fashion, clothing, retail and decoration will be reshape with Metaverse. Let's examine these sectors in detail…
Which Sectors Will Change After the Metaverse Technology?
After the Metaverse, augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, as well as sectors such as fashion and beauty, especially the purchasing processes are long and laborious; aims to provide great convenience in areas such as real estate, decoration and furniture. These sectors, dominated by e-commerce, are expected to be reshape after virtual technologies.
Real Estate Sector in the Metaverse
It is expected that there will be a great change in the real estate sector, especially after the purchase and sale of virtual lands accelerated. Although the issues such as how virtual lands will create value and gains are not yet clear, this trend is expected to accelerate in the coming period. Experts in the purchase and sale of virtual land, which are currently on approximately 900 different platforms, underline the need to be careful against fraudsters. So what awaits us after the developments in the metaverse field?
As a result of the developments in the real estate sector, thanks to Metaverse technology, the real estates that are desired to be bought and sold will be examined in 3D. Customers in real estate buying and selling; by viewing the buildings in 360°, they will be able to examine all the details from the rooms of the house to the view. In this way, people will be able to make a virtual house tour practically and even decide how to position the furniture they want to use. Virtual house tours, which will offer a comfortable and practical method, will remove obstacles in real estate visits, especially at long distances. By saving time, all the buildings in the portfolio can be examined with the finest details at any time. According to statistics, virtual real estate sales are expected to be around 10 million in 2022 and 2023.
Furniture Sector in the Metaverse
In the purchasing process of furniture, which is the most important part of the decoration, in addition to the decision-making processes of the customers, the delivery and installation of the purchased products can create problems at many stages. Along with the developments in the field of metaverse, we have encountered many different examples in the past days, especially on the experience of products. One of the prominent brands was IKEA with its successful e-commerce store. With AR (Augmented Reality) oriented layout, IKEA allowed you to examine in 3D how the products you want to buy will be positioned in your home. If you want to learn more about the IKEA example and AR (Augmented Reality) technology, you can check out our blog post.
Launching a special NFT furniture collection with innovative ideas, 4SPACE announced that they aim to provide users with access to design services in both the virtual and physical world. 4SPACE founder and design director Firas Alsahin said that; "“Once the client purchases the NFT, they will be entitled to the ownership of the chair design, blueprints, 3D model, and detailed drawings, that will allow him to execute the chair to use in a physical space, whether it’s a cafe, retail or commercial space.” In the future, they plan to include commercial areas such as digital furniture showrooms, workspaces and meeting centers where users can attend events, and cultural areas such as art galleries.
Fashion Industry in the Metaverse
With the acceleration of the transition to virtual technologies in the fashion and clothing sector, many companies started to announce their innovations in the Metaverse field. The general goal of brands is to open virtual stores and sell both virtual and physical products to people. Thanks to augmented reality technologies, users will be able to experience the products they want to buy in a virtual environment. They will even be able to create their own body structures on the created virtual mannequins and experience the clothes they want to buy in the virtual environment on these virtual mannequins. With such virtual solutions, factors that increase return rates, such as choosing the wrong size and not having the colors as desired, will also be eliminated.
Purchasing processes will also accelerate, thanks to virtual technologies that offer personalized experience in every aspect and save time. In this new virtual world to be established, customers will be able to browse virtual stores as if they were on the surfing the Internet. In this way, traditional structures and virtual structures will meet. Products purchased in the virtual universe will be delivered to customers from physical stores. Thus, multiple channels will expand in the field of e-commerce and the opportunities offered to customers will increase. Thanks to virtual trial solutions, more freedom will be defined for customers at all stages of e-commerce.
Successful metaverse initiatives of brands such as Adidas, Zara and H&M have attracted a lot of attention recently. H&M, which created a virtual store called CEEK City, announced that users could visit this virtual store just like in the real world and use the products they bought in the virtual environment. He even announced that these clothes will be available to order from the physical stores of the companies through various cryptocurrencies.
Another leader brand in the field of Metaverse was Nike. It has reached an agreement with the video game platform Roblox for the sale of virtual shoes and clothes. The brand, which brought Nikeland to life, developed a system that allows users to collect points for the purchase of virtual products. Although this platform, which also allows users to play games, seems to be intented towards younger age groups, Nike has thus created a bridge between the real and virtual worlds. In Nikeland, it is possible to play various games, create their own mini-games or equip avatars with Nike products. With this digital experience area, users will be able to dress the brand's products on the characters and have the opportunity to examine the latest products.
After the developments in the field of Metaverse, where we can count more examples; It seems that the dynamics of many sectors, from tourism to organization, from decoration to health, will change. Many more innovations await us in the near future, from NFT concert tickets to hotel rooms that can be visited with virtual reality glasses. The days when different experiments will be made in therapy and meditation areas thanks to virtual reality glasses, when we can quickly decide on wall colors in home decoration thanks to augmented reality, and when companies' advertisements are displayed on virtual bulletin boards, do not seem far away. Finally, we will talk about the meditation application Tripp, which received an investment of 11.2 million dollars.
Using a combination of virtual and augmented reality for meditation, Tripp aims to personalize meditation experiences and enable individuals to meet other people. Aiming to enter the Metaverse universe with a game where individuals can interact, the company plans to offer a digital meditation experience in this way.
“We’re grateful that more and more investors are recognizing the need for innovative wellness tools that expand beyond traditional meditation apps,” said Nanea Reeves, founder and CEO of TRIPP. “Through our acquisition of Eden, we’re one step closer to truly building a mindful metaverse and establishing a safe space for transformative experiences in digital realities while also empowering creators to join us in our mission.”
Virtual reality technologies-oriented applications seem to open the doors of many different worlds in the near future. Although the infrastructures of these technologies are not fully ready, we can say that the constantly evolving Metaverse universe will create a domino effect. It is foreseen that virtual technologies will not only be limited to potential applications, but will develop much more in the light of digital developments that will be completed step by step. Together, we will see what kind of changes our habits and lifestyle will undergo thanks to new technologies, and what will be the benefits of these technologies while making our lives easier. Don't forget to stay tuned to be aware of developments in mixed reality, the focus of the near future, and innovations in the digital world...