You’ll Never Shop the Same Way Again
How virtual reality could revolutionize online shopping and retail.
NOTE: This week’s guest contribution from Holly Cardew, CEO and Founder of Pixc.
If there’s one thing we can be certain about, it’s that creating predictions is hard. But I’d like to make one anyway:
Virtual reality (VR) will revolutionize online shopping and retail as we know it — and the result will be glorious.
On the face of it, it seems like blasphemy. How can this new technology — normally applied to video games — change the face of eCommerce?
The answer is simple: Because, just like it’s doing with video games, virtual reality will transform shopping into an increasingly immersive experience.When you let your customers see for themselves how your products can be their own, they’ll be highly engaged… and you’ll sell more.
Consider this quote from Gary Ambrosino, CEO of TimeTrade:
“Customers value the personal experience of the physical store. We found that shoppers have done their shopping or discovery online, then go into the store to get help with their final purchase decision.”
What if you could bring a lifelike shopping experience straight to your customer’s home? Or further personalize your customer’s experience in your store? Would that delight your customers, increase your sales?
In the coming years, virtual reality will make all of that possible.
It’s not that far away
In his book Physics of the Future, renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku mentions how to be correct with your predictions.
Specifically, he references Jules Verne (famed author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), who created many uncanny predictions about the future. The secret to Verne’s success, wrote Kaku, came in part due to the author’s making predictions based on nascent technology.
Yes, that’s right: Verne was correct so often because he already saw proof that the future was possible.
And so it goes with virtual reality and commerce (or vCommerce). We know virtual reality will eventually be integrated with online shopping and retail. Why? Because some companies have already created the technology to do it.
Just look at a company like Matterport, which lets firms create virtual reality spaces for real estate. Potential leasees can look at properties as if they were actually there.
See how IKEA lets customers use augmented reality (AR) — virtual reality’s cousin — to see how furniture will look inside their homes.
There’s technology that lets customers buy products completely virtually…
… and even technology that lets customers see how clothing and accessories will look on them in-store.
It’s easy to see why virtual reality enhances the buying experience. The technology makes shopping easier. More fun. More immersive.
Retailers everywhere can add AR technology to their stores. Customers will come for the novelty and stay for the seamless buying experience.
Online stores can use VR to take the confusion out of the buying process. Customers can get up close and personal to products, almost like they’re browsing in real life.
Personally, my mind races with the possibilities. Imagine if you could:
- Be whisked away to a virtual yoga studio to buy your yoga apparel and equipment — or visit a virtual Tour de France to buy your cycling gear.
- Use nothing but your eyes to purchase products in VR headsets (eye-tracking technology is a growing trend in the VR world).
- Summon a virtual sales assistant to help you with any issues you might have about your potential purchase. (No more abandoned carts because you couldn’t get your questions answered.)
The amazing thing is those possibilities don’t have to rest in the realm of the imagination. Virtual reality, surprisingly, can create them in real life.
But will it take off?
We can dream about the possibilities. But will vCommerce actually get big anytime soon?
It’s still early, but signs are pointing to “yes.”
Take a look at a statistic from WalkerSands Communications’ Reinventing Retail 2015 report:
More than a third of consumers (35 percent) say they would shop more online if they were able to try on a product virtually … and 63 percent said they expect it to impact their shopping experience in the future.
The numbers imply that the tide is swelling in favor of VR- and AR-infused shopping experiences. And that’s on top of projections that AR and VR will be a $150 billion market by 2020.
If you think VR and AR will be big, you’re in good company. Google, for example, made forays into AR with Google Glass and released Cardboard, a VR viewer. Facebook acquired Oculus VR in 2014 and is now using VR for immersive video and advertising.
Companies may soon be integrating VR into their sales efforts as well. eCommerce giant Alibaba, for instance, recently invested in AR company Magic Leap at an incredible $4.5 billion valuation. TechCrunch speculates that Alibaba could have its sights set on vCommerce:
The Alibaba participation, apart from being financial, seems to me that it could potentially have strategic elements, too: one of the larger barriers for more growth in e-commerce is the disconnect between buying physical items but being unable to see them with your own eyes.
Lastly, we’re seeing incredible institutional support for VR in the form of accelerators like River of Rothenberg Ventures and conferences like Silicon Valley Virtual Reality. Clearly, extremely smart people expect to make money in the virtual realm, implying that it’s only a matter of time before VR is ubiquitous in the buying and selling of products around the world.
As with anything else, it’s impossible to tell exactly where vCommerce will be in the coming future. But there are signs pointing to its impending success — and you definitely don’t want to be one to miss the wave.
My advice? Keep VR on your radar, and be prepared to upgrade your business for the virtual world when the time is right.
Conclusion: As always, it’s about the customer
Just like it’s essential nowadays to have a mobile-optimized shopping experience ready for customers, in several years we may need to have VR capabilities prepared for our stores, too.
In fact, if VR takes off, customers may not just like to see virtual shopping, but expect it.
We don’t have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the VR world, though. VR can be among the most exciting additions to our businesses we’ve ever seen. It can dazzle our customers, let them see the full value of our products, and keep them engaged.
How can we make the customer experience better, more immediate, more personal? These days, customers increasingly expect convenient and special experiences around products and services.
With virtual reality, we’ll soon have new opportunities to supply those experiences. In a time when customers expect a lot, we’ll be better prepared to give them everything they asked for — and more.
About the Author:
Holly is Co-Founder and CEO of Pixc. She loves selling online, pretty pictures and a great typeface. When she’s not working, she is traveling the globe. You can find her on Twitter here.
