How Will Retail Brands Line Up Now That Metaverse Is Officially Mainstream?

The announcement of Facebook rebranding into Meta by Mark Zuckerberg was nothing short of a next-step revolution in technology. The world has already been warming up to virtual reality and augmented reality for years and the metaverse was all but known to come around. And it did, in quite a spectacular way.

Brands across verticals are trying to leverage their way and are planning in advance for the upcoming metaverse integration. The retail industry and brands, in particular, are already staking claims in creative ways. Guess they’re already on board the early bird gets the worm band.

Here’s a take at different ways how retail brands will line up with metaverse becoming officially mainstream.

5 ways how Retail Brands will line up in the Metaverse Era

1. Increased Fashion Appeal: One of the major iterations of the metaverse is people creating digital avatars that can move freely in the virtual world. This presents a great opportunity to accessorize and entice digital clothing for avatars. People are already eager to customize their avatars and stand out in the virtual world. Brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton have already created a line of virtual handbags and accessories for digital avatars. We are likely to witness retail brands increase their virtual clothing offering with the expansion of metaverse.
2. Streamlining Online Gaming for Branding: Online games are at an all-time rage and multiple brands are trying to build their tech stack for integration with metaverse. The craze of online gaming presents a great opportunity for brands to leverage the audience and gain visible outreach. Companies like Microsoft have already announced their very own metaverse tech stack while Epic Games, one of the leaders of game development, has already pledged their support of metaverse. Retail brands can incorporate this into marketing campaigns in the form of various virtual gaming scenarios in the metaverse. For example, Hellmann has already developed a branded island where players can visit and drop off turnips and in turn, exchange that for donations to food rescue charities.
3. Integrating Virtual Reality: Retail industry has been trying to tap into the potential of virtual reality to give them an upper hand when it comes to brand visibility and scalability. But oftentimes, this had been a story of two steps forward, one step back. The major discretion was the lack of adoption of virtual reality by end consumers. That is set to change with the metaverse. Brands like Sephora have already created a completely immersive digital experience with the integration of virtual and augmented reality giving users the opportunity to try products at home using facial recognition. With Meta’s VR usage, brands can develop a next-level experience for users.
4. Brand NFT’s: NFT’s are a present-day rave among the users. The way forward for NFT is lined up to an ascending curve and brands can actually leverage it to generate awareness among metaverse users. NFT not only gives the brand opportunity to gain in terms of brand outreach but also in terms of financial growth for the value of NFT image is going to be quite high.
5. Upscaling Augmented Reality: With metaverse, it is well known that the usage of virtual reality is going to increase multifold. But the thing with VR usage is that you can’t actually get the hands-on feel that you can get with in-person shopping. This is where Augmented Reality can bridge the gap with an immersive experience for the buyers. This can inspire trust and allow brands to build a reputation with the customers. The use of augmented reality is going to increase multifold with the rise of the metaverse.

Metaverse presents a great opportunity for brands and industries alike to get creative and connect with potential customers on a deeper level. It also sets up a nice immersive experience that will not just improve brand awareness but also imbibe the sense of recall and brand retention in the mind of the customer. The use of virtual reality and augmented reality will see a lot of growth over this time and it’s something I’m pretty excited about.