It’s technical, complicated and largely untested, yet retailers shouldn’t be averse to the metaverse.

“The massive query retailers have been attempting to answer is whether or not or not an investment in prolonged reality technologies will tangibly grow a brand’s fan base and create real business opportunities that don’t exist already in-store or through a typical online website presence. The short answer is yes,” said Mike Riggs, managing principal of IA Interior Architects, a world firm of architects, designers, strategists and environmental specialists.

“Like most things in life, a moderated approach to adoption and consumption would work best for retailers, as the actual and virtual worlds proceed their convergence. Retailers shouldn’t ignore the inevitability of at-home XR (prolonged reality) technologies influencing in-store experiences.”

Riggs co-authored a research report, titled “The Case for Retail within the Metaverse,” based on an IA survey last September that achieved a response rate from 1,012 of three,500 U.S. adults. The concept was to explore the long run for prolonged reality in retail environments, and understand how it could appeal to different demographics across various income levels, ages and ethnicities.

Twenty-five percent of the respondents were 35 to 44 years old; 23 percent were 25 to 34; 49 percent were white; 25 percent were Black or African American; 15 percent were Latino or LatinX.

Eighty-three percent of the respondents resided in urban or suburban environments; 17 percent lived in rural locations. Fifty-six percent had a bachelor’s or higher degree, while about 1 in 4 attained a highschool diploma or equivalent.

Essentially the most represented average household income was the $100,000 to $150,000 bracket, at 19 percent, followed by $50,000 to $75,000 at 18 percent, and $35,000 to $50,000, 13 percent.

Amongst the important thing findings:

For people who never made a purchase order in XR, the important thing deterrents were security concerns, lack of access to appropriate technology and the precise form of products being unavailable.

Greater than half of the respondents reported previous experiences using prolonged reality experiences in a physical retail environment; 95 percent reported having positive experiences using in-store prolonged reality, largely on account of sufficient support and guidance and the flexibility to make use of cutting-edge technology.

“Considered one of the most important takeaways for retailers, IA initially found, was that there was not an in depth understanding inside the marketplace that was supported by research — one which took stock of who, when, where, and the way consumers were engaging with prolonged reality technology that might impact each a retailer’s and consumer’s in-store experience. These initiatives require substantial financial backing, and retailers could stand to make use of this ‘pause’ within the metaverse frenzy to turn into more strategic in positioning themselves for the very best, best XR impact,” said Riggs, in an email exchange with WWD.

“Fairly than the tech-savvy teen male — typically the fundamental consumer of those technologies — in accordance with our survey, female consumers 55 years and older seem like a key driver of future adoption in XR. Retailers ought to be aware that this segment is desperate to learn and willing to spend since they’re an element of the very best income group. Brands that develop XR strategies to boost this segment’s education and improve their accessibility to services and products that may improve their health and wellness, will create a future competitive advantage.”  

To encourage consumers to make use of prolonged reality devices in a retail environment or purchase them, Riggs advises retailers to:

He concluded that “on account of the dearth of evidence-based strategies based on real consumer opinions, the adoption of widespread XR from each firms and consumers has been lacking.”

Asked which retail sectors are best suited for the metaverse, Riggs replied: “The opportunities and suitability for various retail sectors are varied yet all are still of their nascent stages of proof-of-concept. Essentially the most visible and widely discussed (although not necessarily most successful) points of entry into the metaverse to this point have been through experiential retail events, similar to live shows and fashion shows. These have generated slightly mixed reviews.  

“That said, IA’s research has shown that those retailers whose services or products will be customized are motivators for each the novice and veteran XR consumer to have interaction with the metaverse.   

“Automotive brands have successfully brought XR into their design centers, allowing customers to customize interiors, while physically sitting in a mockup of their luxury seating with virtual reality goggles. Home goods, furnishing stores and design centers selling each larger or complements of products for rooms can lean into XR each in-store in addition to the metaverse to help within the design, visualization, sales and delivery of products right to your front door,” Riggs added.

However, Riggs said that soft goods have some time before the metaverse is greater than a brand awareness vehicle. “There may be untapped development needed before the following iterations of the metaverse come around,” he said.

Guy Messick, IA Interior Architect’s senior director for digital technologies, also responding to WWD via emails, wrote: “Our firm has been utilizing virtual reality (VR) over the past eight years for a wide range of use cases. We’ve found that VR allows our designers and clients to higher understand the built environment. Three years ago, we integrated prolonged reality (XR) into our practice. A notable discovery is that our clients who’re engaging IA in virtual environments are asking for bespoke “Metaverses,” secure spaces not yet connected to a wider metaverse. The need for security is the fundamental reason why, and the deal with the client’s brands and the way they’re portrayed is one other.” He said that his firm has been “actively collaborating with clients, like CBRE in Dallas, to develop cutting-edge XR workplace environments.”

The research highlights 4 modes to experience prolonged reality — headsets; monitors; the pc assisted virtual environment or “CAVE,” which is a room for virtual reality that will be shared by a bunch of individuals, and powerwalls, that are large 3D displays of products. Asked to cite some examples of outlets offering these XR experiences, IA executives pointed to Ikea and its proprietary app called The Place for augmented reality via the iPhone and iPad; Lucid Automotive, which provides virtual reality headsets in its stores with seating mockups, and Canada Goose, with its interactive boot fit, 3D apparel displays, monitors and powerwalls.

In its research, IA characterised CAVE-based rooms as the best opportunity for stores to increase merchandise offerings. The virtual reality environment consists of a cube-shaped room where the partitions, floors and ceilings are projection screens and participants wear VR headsets and interact through input devices similar to wands, joysticks or data gloves.

IA concluded that the highest barriers to XR purchases in stores and online are:

The highest motivators to make an XR purchase include:

In accordance with the survey’s findings, the kinds of services and products best suited to an XR experience are virtual tours of museums, watching comedy movies and music festivals.

Responses from the survey also suggested concerns about dizziness and motion sickness but that XR can be good for people coping with anxiety and don’t enjoy going out and still wish to shop.

For suburban women around 45, with little or no experience using XR, marketing strategies should deal with showcasing nurturing and health-conscious elements. For girls under 55 and living in suburbia, marketing should deal with promoting cost-conscious and practical benefits of using XR.

For urban, highly educated men who’re “explorative and hedonistic” and fascinating in XR day by day or weekly, and making purchases beyond games, marketing should deal with cutting-edge XR technology, with “fun-seeking and liberating elements.”

In a bit of the research report IA advises, “Specifically, when developing XR platforms, retailers should consider how one can higher reach, connect with and include ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities within the dialogue about technology after which higher align that technology with their needs. Current and future XR respondents spoke clearly and almost uniformly about their concern and want to develop reliably protected, secure environments in any way forward for prolonged reality.”