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THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS THE RUSH TO THE METAVERSE Retailers and consumer goods manufacturers alike are scrambling to stake their claims in the Metaverse. Metaverses are immersive virtual worlds that allow users to interact through avatars. Examples of metaverses include Fortnite, Roblox, Decentraland, The Sandbox and Horizon Worlds. In November 2021, Mark Zuckerberg boldly placed a big bet on the future of the Internet, renaming Facebook as Meta. At the time of the announcement, he predicted that “a lot of this will be mainstream in the next five to 10 years.” Gartner predicts that by 2026, 30% of organizations will have products and services ready for the metaverse. Others are less sure about how much consumer behavior will change and what the opportunity for consumer goods will be. After all, this has been tried before. Second Life garnered considerable attention in the 2000s and brands began advertising on the platform beginning in 2006, but many abandoned their investments in Second Life just a few years later. But the difference this time is the size and investment of the companies getting involved.
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GLOBAL RETAIL BRANDS / MAY 2022
As Mark Schauer, Director of the R&D Studio at Kroger’s 84.51˚ subsidiary, wrote in a blog post, “The difference here is Facebook is big; they are already the leader of the pack, and they’ve committed big money and headcount to bringing their vision to life. … In this omnichannel world we live in, retailers must go to where the customers are, and if a large number of customers dive into the metaverse, retailers will need to be there, too – certainly with advertising, but also with rich commerce experiences.” Retailers and brands are already jumping in feet first. Here’s how several are becoming versed in the Metaverse.
Expanding Retail Footprint Virtually In July 2021, Carrefour opened up a virtual supermarket in the Fortnite world called The Healthy Map. In the game, players could gain strength and an extra life by eating more fruit and vegetables. Carrefour partnered with top streamers in Europe and Brazil to play the game. The company also interacted with players eating junk food on Twitch, the video game live streaming service. The junkfood-eating gamers were invited to eat healthily on The Healthy Map. The promotion reached more than 10 million gamers and generated over a million interactions.
