Shopping in the Metaverse
Building the bridge between the Metaverse and the Universe
The ability to buy something in the Metaverse and then take ownership of it in the real world is one of the most exciting possibilities of dCommerce. A world in which we move seamlessly between the virtual and the physical realm is now within touching distance — not a theoretical goal only found in science fiction.
We believe strongly that online shopping will move from a 2-D interaction into a fully immersive virtual experience.
At Boson Protocol we believe that experiencing a concept for yourself is the only true way to discover its potential. With this in mind, we are building a full shopping experience in the Metaverse, demonstrating the capabilities of Boson Protocol.
Web 2.0 shopping is counterintuitive and repetitive. Clicking two-dimensional images on a flat web page does not replicate the real-life shopping experience. In the case of fashion items, one can only guess how the real item looks and feels, and has to purchase it to find out. This results in a high percentage of returns and a large amount of waste.
But, slowly, digital shopping is changing. The days of clicking on a two-dimensional image and adding it to an icon of an old-fashioned shopping basket are coming to an end, to be replaced by a virtual shopping experience that is far more immersive and thrilling.
So, what does the future of retail look like? Our take is that while some physical premises will remain, more or less as showcases for particular brands, the majority of our retail therapy will take place in the comfort of our own homes, but with an experience that is so seamless and immersive that we will barely notice the distinction between the Metaverse and the Universe.
Many brands already understand this and are working towards the Metaverse vision. Nike’s collaboration with Fortnite meant that players could wear branded merchandise within the game. Topshop’s VR catwalk enabled fashionistas to grab their front-row seats and see their potential purchases modelled on a digital runway.
The shoppers of the future will wander through virtual malls with their friends, trying on clothes and getting a far better 360-degree view of how they will look, rather than the limited facilities of a crowded changing room. Clothes, shoes, make-up, sunglasses and accessories will all be tried and worn by our avatar so we can see how it feels to inhabit a particular look.
The Metaverse of the future is not binary. Our physical selves and our digital selves will merge into one representation of our taste, our aesthetics, and our creativity. With the advent of decentralized identity for avatars (our Digital Soul, as Crucible describe it) so we can prove who we say we are, combined with the powerful idea of decentralized commerce (dCommerce) that allows in-game or in-world transactions to happen peer-to-peer, we are rapidly entering a world where our digital self is simply an extension of the body we inhabit in the physical realm.
To showcase this vision we worked with Crucible to pioneer real-world dCommerce in the Metaverse
In collaboration with Crucible, we built a demo showing how game developers can enable players to buy physical items in their virtual world.
In the demo, a player goes into a virtual store and discovers a digital fashion item, in this case, a parka by Adidas and Karlie Kloss in collaboration with The Fabricant.
We can walk around the parka in the virtual store and see what it looks like from all angles.
Unreal Engine’s Metahumans and their competitors will soon provide the means for us to create avatars that allow us to inhabit a virtual world as ourselves — and this means the ability to try on clothes or accessories and see exactly how they will look in the physical world.
Boson’s commitment NFTs enable the physical product to arrive on our doorstep with the same certainty as if we had walked into a shop on the high street. This works via an escrow mechanism that facilitates the exchange of digital value for real-world goods and services.
By tokenizing a commitment to transact, rather than the physical item itself, Boson Protocol offers an entirely new path for commerce, free of the boundaries and monopolistic behaviour of the current incumbents.
In this click and collect example, the player can redeem their Commitment NFT Voucher by going to a physical store
This transaction is facilitated by a smart contract, without the involvement of a human intermediary — “direct to avatar”
Recent developments in the gaming world, such as the lawsuit against Apple by Epic games, show that game developers are looking for better ways to enable commerce transactions inside their virtual worlds. Ways that do not involve an integration with the platform’s preferred payment provider, which extracts a percentage of the fees from the developer.
At Boson we’re building the commerce infrastructure to power the Metaverse. So creatives can focus on their art instead of worrying about fees.
With our recent launch of Project Multiverse, we extend the capabilities of Boson Protocol to facilitate the exchange of any physical, digital, or on-chain thing. This will not only allow the sale of in-game items but enables brands and games to sell physical objects that have a digital and physical life — “phygitals”.
For example, this will enable a real-world fashion item to have a digital life as an NFT, allowing the owner to use it as a skin in their favorite video game or granting them exclusive access to online communities.
In all of this, we see the lines between the physical and digital world merging into one experience.
Our Tech Lead Holly Atkinson presented this demo at the Blockchain Game Alliance demo day, showing game developers a way to enable real-world commerce transactions in their product without relying on a centralized intermediary.
The Blockchain Game Alliance bridges the gap between the gaming & blockchain industry, connecting game studios, and blockchain projects. We’re quite happy with the response to this demonstration and are continuing conversations with important players in the gaming world.
