Real-Time 3D
and the Metaverse
“The global Metaverse revenue opportunity could approach $800 billion in 2024 vs about $500 billion in 2020.”
Bloomberg Intelligence
“Now’s the time to level up. Similar to the early days of mobile, if you don’t move now your brand will be trapped in a constant state of “catch up.” It’s time to stop talking about the metaverse. Start making use of this new consumer ecosystem.”
As technology matures and consumer interest grows, brands are feeling major fear of missing out (FOMO) about the metaverse. Now is the time to get ahead of that fear by creating forward-looking strategies that ensure brands can meet shifting consumer expectations, be ready for a dynamic device ecosystem, and adopt an agile attitude to implementation.
Here we explore three ways retailers are preparing to thrive in this emerging virtual space. For more detail, check out our e-book "Retail’s Big Shift: Real-time 3D and the metaverse".
1. Creating meaningful brand experiences
E-commerce accelerated as companies pushed to keep up with customer demand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlighted conventional digital marketing’s lack of customization and engagement possibilities. Brands quickly realized that they needed to do more to attract new customers and retain existing ones, sparking a digital revolution where many retailers upgraded their technological infrastructure and laid down frameworks for metaverse use cases.
Metaverse experiences can provide consumers with an all-access pass to their favorite brands. From participating in product design and R&D to exploring products virtually – just as they would in person – the options for creating interactive, engaging shopping experiences are endless. Going forward, retailers must continue to build upon the foundations they’ve laid and merge the digital and physical into consistent and meaningful brand experiences if they are to excel in the metaverse.
Here are some examples of how retailers are using metaverse tech to accelerate consumer engagement, boost conversion, and strengthen their brands:
Virtual try-on
Though many retail locations are open again, consumer spending in online channels continues to grow. With a virtual try-on experience, consumers can use a digital avatar based on their own measurements to select clothing and accessories, enabling them to purchase appropriate sizing and avoid having to return items.
Product configurators
Video courtesy of SmartPixels and Globe-Trotter
3D product configurators allow retailers to provide their customers with the ability to interactively explore and customize products.
When searching for a more engaging way to turn shoppers into buyers, luxury travel and lifestyle brand Globe-Trotter delivered a 3D web configurator that boosts customers’ confidence in purchasing custom luggage that they haven’t seen in person.
Virtual retail spaces
Digital twins of retail spaces and showrooms recreate the in-store experience on mobile devices and in virtual reality (VR), offering retail customers new, immersive ways to shop. Using metaverse tech, consumers can participate in runway shows from their game consoles, and even get the latest fashion collections delivered directly to their smart mirrors.
2. Increasing customer trust
As we move toward a decentralized Web 3.0, retailers are realizing the importance of building authentic relationships with the self-made communities that make up the newly formed, dispersed internet.
Gaining access to these communities isn’t always easy. Customer-brand relationships are becoming more personalized, and expectations are on retailers to use the interaction and interconnectivity of the metaverse to create a defined path between themselves and their customers.
Image courtesy of SmartPixel
With this change, the demand for personalized content – especially 3D content – is growing rapidly, and many retailers looking to keep up are automating the production of photorealistic 3D assets using virtual photography infrastructure. To streamline this process, Unity offers an easy-to-use tool that generates 3D assets at scale for use in marketing and sales content.
3. Becoming data rich
By leveraging more connected and dynamic digital twins, retailers can unleash the full power of their data to quickly make informed decisions through sales and marketing insights and to produce increasingly better products, services, and metaverse experiences for customers.
Digital twins are the building blocks of the metaverse – their power comes from connecting real-world assets with extensive amounts of real-world data. They help companies understand the past, view present conditions, and prevent future problems.
How do brands navigate the challenges of filtering the extensive data collected from digital twins and transforming it into information that makes sense? They use real-time 3D. A digital twin that’s powered by real-time 3D can curate, organize, and instantly present consumer data as lifelike, interactive visualizations.
In this e-book discover expert insight on:
- How brand-customer relations are shifting because of the metaverse, and how to adapt to that.
- The positive impact of metaverse tech on marketing content production workflows
- Getting your brand involved in the metaverse consumer ecosystem, and why you should start now.
Looking for assistance to progress your retail metaverse strategy? Check out our 3D Marketing Starter Package, and get the benefit of our Accelerate Solutions team of world-class designers, developers and industry experts, to help you start your retail metaverse journey.
Check out Unity Industry to transform your CAD and 3D data into immersive apps and experiences.
