Shopping in the Metaverse

Shopping is a necessity for every person. From buying a 50 Cent pencil to buying an expensive car from a dealership everything counts as shopping. In addition to this, we have seen a rise in the different kinds of shopping mediums. Over the decades, we have seen that Amazon and eBay become one of the biggest players in the online shopping sector. So, what will be the next big thing in the shopping industry? What do we believe will be the next level of shopping? Will we go beyond this, or will we just improve the current systems? In this article, I will be talking about the next level of shopping or what I believe will be the next big achievement or level in the shopping space.

Last summer Facebook introduced everyone to the concept of Metaverse. They also change the name from Facebook to meta, so they can emphasize the new concept of Metaverse. Looking at all the hype and the rumors around Metaverse, I believe that shopping in the Metaverse is going to be the next big upgrade for the shopping space. I also read a few articles about how shopping can be used in Metaverse. I have come across various articles discussing the recent changes the new start-ups are bringing in. One of these start-ups is Delesi, the company is too young and operates under a sub-brand because of low funding and is yet to go public. Delesi is a start-up with software developers from companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Uber. They are trying to make an app where people will be able to shop for anything online in the Metaverse.

For the very initial stage, they have decided on using virtual reality headsets to help the currently existing users transition from the normal mode of buying things online to buying them with the feel of virtual reality. As the concept of Metaverse is very new, the map of what we can call a layout is yet to be defined. Because of this reason no space links all the concepts involving Metaverse, that is, unlike the Internet which is a common playground for all the different companies to host a website or to build an application on the Internet that can be found using a URL or just typing in the name, there is no common space for Metaverse with different creators and different companies, who are working on Metaverse, don’t have any kind of linkage to link it.

As Delesi is the only app working in this space, let’s talk about their role and motivation for developing this app. Going back to why they started working on this concept, it all started when the founders of the app decided to go to local stores to buy some clothes. Unfortunately, they saw that their favorite shop was going to be closed because of the existing market crisis, pandemic, and the already existing online giants like Amazon. Amazon initially started as a company that would help other small businesses. But unfortunately, they decided on selling everything on their own and left behind all the small local businesses. This led to the closing of a lot of small businesses. Closing of the small businesses means that a lot of people got unemployed, and a lot of small craftsmen were now not able to sell their goods. This also led to ruining the cultural goods and local delicacies being completely wiped out from existence in many parts of the world. This gives them the idea to make an app that would help all the small grocery stores, pharmacies, small restaurants, craftsmen, and many other small businesses to grow in a manner that would help them continue running the stores but also bring them online. They initially started with an idea, where they decided to build something relatively closer to Instacart.

Now, having talked about the only company working in this space, let’s talk about the potential of this idea. Implemented properly, this will help all the small businesses whose business was ruined by bigger online giants like Amazon. So, let’s talk about how the user will be using this service. Have you ever imagined how you look at some items on Amazon, but always wished that you could feel it, see the size, and how does this look in person? With Metaverse, this will be possible, because now the user will have the flexibility to just wear a virtual reality headset and sense or try to feel it virtually. This will give the user a new experience and will also be beneficial for them to make a better judgment of the item they are about to purchase.

Now, let’s talk from a business owner’s perspective. More users will not connect with these owners because of the connectivity that is being provided to them by the medium of Metaverse. Just imagine the stores that you used to go to when you were a child. Do you remember the old stores that were left behind because you move to a new city for maybe your career or to pursue a new job? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could go back to those stores where you used to buy your favorite item? I still remember going to a store where I used to buy CDs for my PSP. I would walk around the whole store, look for the games I wanted, and buy them. It was a tougher task compared to how we can easily search it online, but looking back to those days, I would enjoy the fun and excitement that I used to have to bring home a new game with me.

The concept of Metaverse is relatively new and we have no idea how successful it will be in the future. For now, everything is just a hoax and all the start-ups and companies working on this concept are nothing but a prototype that is still far from reality. This may be a new beginning for a lot of new things in online business or online shopping. But keeping hopes high will just lead us to disappointment. As this concept is new, I hope that by the end of next year, they should be more companies or startups working on the same idea. More competition will help the users get the right price for the item they want to purchase. This kind of competition is always a win-win for the consumers so I hope that more companies work on the idea of shopping in the Metaverse so that more people can get benefit from that and the small businesses and local craftsmen and businesses can go back to normal pre-pandemic sales and also gain new customers from all across the world.