Walmart has broadened the shopping experience for its customers in the metaverse as it merges shopping in the physical and virtual worlds.
American multinational retail corporation walmart inc (NYSE:WMT) is planning to expand its metaverse strategy by allowing its customers to purchase physical versions of items available for virtual home shopping.
Users can now purchase items for their physical homes just as they can for their virtual homes in House Flip, a game where players can renovate and sell virtual homes. Additionally, customers can purchase virtual clothes in Zepetto, a mobile world where people create and customize favorite avatars.
Speaking to VentureBeatThe vice president and general manager of Metaverse Commerce at Walmart’s incubation division – Store No. 8 – said Walmart plans to connect the virtual world with the physical one. According to Thomas Kang:
“We are not trying to replace or separate reality from virtual, but rather make it better for the customer by connecting it. We want to make sure everything we do is relevant and authentic to the customer. We want to enhance the experience and convenience.”
Kang said Walmart is best positioned to connect the physical and virtual worlds of the average customer, noting that nearly 90% of all U.S. residents live within 10 miles of a Walmart store. According to Kang, Walmart will later allow customers to purchase physical items in House Flip while completing the purchase in the metaverse. This means that using one account customers will be able to purchase any virtual or physical item.
“We have an opportunity to reshape and reinvent retail in ways that are good for customers. We may use our physical locations as places to engage customers, for example, if you buy something physical, we may be able to give you something free virtually.
Walmart has big plans for the metaverse
Walmart believes it is best positioned to take advantage of the metaverse environment, particularly as a commerce company. He also said that Walmart can very easily help businesses to sell their products and services in the virtual world.
Walmart plans to test more experiences in the coming months. Kang said the emerging metaverse technology is limitless and he assured Walmart’s enthusiasm to do more. The company now competes strongly with other e-commerce companies, including Alibaba and Amazon. Both the giants have also made progress in using metaverse technology like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to improve the experiences of their shopping customers.
Last year, Walmart launched New experiences for children on the Metaverse platform roblox, The retail corporation launched Walmart Universe of Play and Walmart Land to entertain children with interactive content. Walmart Land is a platform that offers immersive experiences dedicated to beauty, style, fashion and entertainment. Children will be able to compete in dance challenges, participate in fashion contests, play trivia games and even attend live concerts.
On the other hand, Universe of Play platform is for gaming and toys. Players can explore different worlds to earn coins for items and even complete challenges like unlocking secret codes for rewards and creating personalized trophy cases.
Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to strip down the secrets of crypto stories to the basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge. When Tolu is not deeply immersed in crypto stories, he enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid film buff.
Bitcoin Crypto Related Post
