Strategies for Success in the Metaverse
RL Pro Tip: Understanding how consumer behavior differs in the metaverse will help build a successful strategy for this new channel within retail. Retailers and brands have much more creative license and fewer limitations in this new virtual world, but with endless possibilities comes the need to edit and remain focused on the end users’ preferences.
In a recent article, Retail Leader Pro (RL Pro) laid out the foundation of what the metaverse is, why brands should care about the platform as a new revenue stream and how to retail in Web3. In this article, RL Pro dives into how you can track your consumers’ behaviors in Web3 and strategies for success that every retailer should have in their playbook.
What Are My Consumer’s Doing in the Metaverse?
Since virtual stores are no longer a one-time stunt and are being incorporated into retailers’ overall e-commerce strategy, the need to track user behavior and keep optimizing those spaces is a prominent one.
“Emperia sees high user engagement, which amounts for an average of 14 minutes, far exceeding any 2D, traditional website out there, and with that comes the need for more dissection of user behavior, from movement around the store, to product discovery, purchase trends, clicks, etc.,” says Olga Dogadkina, CEO of Emperia. “What retailers have developed into science within their brick-and-mortar spaces is now being transferred into the virtual world, where we leverage the ability to really track every movement and behavior, directly improving retailers’ bottom-line.”
In terms of understanding consumer behavior, one of the most illuminating aspects of the metaverse is the potential for consumers to maintain a singular identity across digital spaces, explains Tyler Moebius, CEO of SmartMedia Technologies. (Dive deeper into Web3 with our Q&A with Moebius here.)
“In order to maintain consistent identities and ensure correct ownership of digital properties, we’re seeing lots of companies turn to NFT [non-fungible tokens] and blockchain technology, which enables them to track and verify the authenticity, ownership and provenance of digital objects across different digital spaces,” Moebius explains. “This technology offers businesses a unique chance to see how their products perform not just on initial purchase, but also on the secondary market. The technology not only provides businesses with a first-of-its-kind means to open additional streams of revenue on the secondary markets, but also enables the opportunity for retailers to receive regular updates on how consumers use their products and services, enabling them to better understand how their product is used over the course of its lifecycle.”
Time will tell if consumers’ digital behavior and purchase preferences match with their physical counterparts.
“Our gut tells us that unbridled from a physical form, people tend to be far more expressive through their digital personas,” Moebius says.
How Do I Win in the Metaverse?
One winning mindset to accept is the fact that what works in the physical world wouldn't necessarily work in the virtual store.
“User behavior is different, the movement around the space is different and the expectation for an added-value, on top of one’s conventional user experience, are there,” Emperia’s Dogadkina says.
Also top of mind for many retailers is the choice of platform, land, location, etc.
“It is important to do your homework, learn the user pool for each platform and the structure of each one of them,” Dogadkina says. “Land comes at a premium cost today, but not all brands have to purchase their parcel. There is an option to rent it, too.”
To that end, Emperia has partnered with the Metaverse Group, the world’s largest virtual real estate agency, which provides its clients with advice regarding real estate placement and allows them to rent coveted spaces, across all networks.
The metaverse also amplifies creative possibilities. “Remember that the sky's the limit,” Dogadkina says. “Virtual spaces have no constraints of physical construction, store hours, etc. You can have a boutique in the sky or one underwater, where walls are optional and clothes don’t really require any mannequin for display. This is your opportunity to surprise your loyal users with a new take on tradition.”
Given that the metaverse continuum encapsulates such a massive range of opportunities, each retailer needs to find the right fit for their business and target market. For example:
- Some customers will come to the metaverse to buy digital products.
- Others will want to buy physical products via a virtual store.
- Some will be looking for innovative personalized experiences, such as livestream shopping events where they can virtually meet brand ambassadors and try on clothes in virtual dressing rooms.
- Some are looking for entertainment. For instance, in Nike’s Nikeland metaverse, visitors can get lessons from basketball icon LeBron James.
“The key is keeping an open mind, and being ready to experiment with lots of different possibilities,” says Lori Zumwinkle, Accenture’s senior managing director and North America retail lead. “This is vital to working out which approach delivers the greatest value to your customers.”
Retail brands also should be figuring out their NFT strategy now, if they haven’t already done so.
“NFTs are the bridge to the metaverse,” explains Rob Crumpler, IZEA’s head of blockchain, NFTs and the metaverse. “When you buy land in the metaverse, you’re buying an NFT, but NFTs are also smart. They can dynamically trigger VIP-style services that retail brands may want to offer their customers. This is step-one: figuring out your NFT strategy. Once that’s done, brands will be able to chart their path to the metaverse and build on the NFT experiences their customers enjoy most.”
What’s clear is that retailers, who are approaching the metaverse with original ideas, long-term visions and creative uses of their intellectual property, are the ones that are winning big in the space. Ultimately, the great thing about the metaverse is that anything is possible — and retailers that embrace this philosophy wholeheartedly are being rewarded by consumers.