Why we should care about VR?
Virtual Reality has become a popular topic for a few years. I always want to have a try. There are a lot of stores in China for customers to have a VR experience, somehow I didn’t get a chance. Big companies like Sony, Samsung, and Apple are developing VR-related products. My concern is that why we should care about VR? How would it change the digital marketing?
What is VR?
Virtual reality is the experience of a world that doesn’t exist. It is generated by computers that allow you to experience and interact with a 3D world by putting on a head-mounted display and some form of input tracking. With the advanced technology of VR, customers can have a real 3D experience.
Chances VR brings to digital marketing
The trend is that VR will spread out and open a new channel of digital media. First of all, users need a head-mounted display to have the experience. That is a barrier for us to attract more customers, but it is also a chance for customer retention. Nobody wants to waste money buying something they only use once or twice. Business can provide users with a variety of content to make them interested, and finally to generate sales. Users use VR to experience a virtual 3D world, it means there is unlimited innovation we can make. Plant an advertisement in it is just one kind of application we can use in VR. VR advertising let our customers have a chance to feel the product, in 360-degree. Alibaba has tried applying VR to its online shopping business. Chinese customers could shop for Macy’s New York store and make a real-time purchase. This was the largest attempt that blended online and offline shopping together. E-commerce can make VR become one of its ecosystem. Digital marketers should be watching this trend. VR allows us to have a creative way to distinguish our brand from others.
COVID-19 boosts VR’s future
COVID lockdown made people work remotely. People get extra time to reflect on things and reconsider what they do. Work-from-home policy inspires some businesses to consider the feasibility of applying this kind of mode in a post-COVID-19 world. However, the channels of this idea are not ideal. Zoom meeting is not engaging, and group members don’t interact much. VR can be one solution. It would be incredible if real-time VR comes out. Users can interact with, and feel each other in such a virtual 3D world.
Although there are some challenges of VR, and it takes time for this trend to be mature, VR trend will be a new solution for digital markers to provide to their customers. That’s why we should care about VR.
