Get ahead of the competition: Web3 and the metaverse redefine the omnichannel journey

From the?comfort of your sofa, you can buy a new dress in your favorite store, put it on right away in the digital space,?and look good in the next meeting or exciting game. But, of course, the physical version of the dress is also available. It's a perfect fit because your avatar has tried everything on beforehand.?That's how the story about Omnichannel journeys in retail and the Metaverse will go one day.

With the evolution of the Metaverse, physical and virtual reality merge.

AR solutions allow brands to reshape their experiential shopping experiences for the post-pandemic world through contactless, virtual try-ons that rival physical ones. Moving beyond extended realities by AR. The Metaverse reveals new opportunities for retailers and brands.

It's not where we are today, but where we could be tomorrow. Thanks to standardization and interoperability, Web3 users can already switch effortlessly between marketplaces as they trade digital assets.?New technologies help to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital. For example,?AR and other 3D representations enable a touchless try-on experience.?We can interact with each other in a new way as well as with any kind of object - be it real or just the latest invention in virtual space. And it's not only AR: take Distributed Ledger Technologies as an example of the possibility to organize a decentralized world.?What does the Metaverse mean for merchants?

From a retail perspective, the?Metaverse and its evolution revolutionize the way brands and retailers interact with their communities. Therefore, every brand and every retailer should start exploring how they can leverage it because its implications change the debates about customer experience and omnichannel in the most meaningful way.?

The future of shopping in Metaverse

Moving beyond extended realities by AR, brands can use the Metaverse for new franchising or selling virtual land; by doing so, they will radically extend their?customers' omnichannel journeys into a fourth dimension.?

Examples giving us an idea of how all this can happen already exist.?

1.?????3D object tracking for virtual try-on with GoSpooky

GoSpooky , a social-first marketing company, recently developed a concept for the luxury brand Cartier that builds on Snap's technology. With the prototype, pedestrians passing Cartier's boutique in London can?now dive into an immersive experience and virtually try-on and purchase?Cartier's rings while standing on the sidewalk.?

2.?????The next generation of merchant payments’ with Solana

Now you may wonder how to pay for the virtually tried-on diamond ring or other products like cool sneakers or shirts? How about?Solana? A blockchain protocol that's introducing the next generation of merchant payments'.?The merchant can accept digital Euro or digital Dollars. When leaving the virtual store, customers will find two tokens in their digital wallet: it's an NFT version of the bought product as well as an authenticated NFT receipt.

Here's the bridge - the way to the storefronts with the use of NFTs

You may ask: What's about the gap between the physical and digital world? Well, bridges are already built. More and more retailers will use NFTs to motivate IRL (in real life) transactions and leverage creators to drive traffic to physical storefronts.

Here are some use cases:?

Crown TV: The company?CrownTV released an app ?that allows retailers and other businesses to display NFTs on digital displays in their retail locations or points of business. Any NFT publicly available on?OpenSea , the largest NFT marketplace, can be displayed with additional information like the price, provenance, description, and even a QR code.?

Samsung: And Samsung, on the other hand,?launched an NFT marketplace for its smart TVs. Users can conveniently browse, shop, and display NFTs while sitting in their living room with the update.??

The British Museum: Here’s another example: the British Museum hosted a special exhibition called “Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything” and showed more than 100 rare drawings by the well-known Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Next to the physical pieces, the British Museum collaborated with?LaCollection.io ?to launch a range of online Hokusai NFT artworks.?NFTs were created for every one of the 103 masterpieces. And Fans were allowed to ?own‘ the digital works protected under copyright.?

Or let's have a look at another business. How about restaurants??

McDonald's plans on creating virtual versions of McDonald's restaurants and McCafés. Those digital locations will offer actual and virtual goods and home delivery. You'll be able?to purchase NFTs, which you could collect, trade, or sell in exchange for virtual goods.

All that ultimately means that the Metaverse connects digital and physical channels, overcoming the barriers of disconnected systems to create unique shopping experiences. Customers will no longer want to do without it in the future.?And merchants must be prepared for this.?

Are you interested in finding out more how the Metaverse will change our way of shopping? Then check out published articles on https://www.reframing-retail.com/ .???

Web3 and the Metaverse have only just began. In the immediate future we will see a period of questioning, learning, construction, and deconstruction in unprecedented speed. Where are you on that journey? Did you already start experimenting? If not, what is stopping you? What are your perspectives on the topic?

Tell your story in the comments. We are happy to discuss and reframe the future of retail together.