The Future of Shopping: Immersive Experiences and the Metaverse

The sector of Retail Designunderstood as that set of activities involving the design of spaces dedicated to the sale and distribution of goods and serviceshas been the subject of several revolutions during the 19th century that changed the way users interact with retailers and their products, and therefore, with brands.

The businessman Joseph Stigliano and the professor of international marketing, Philip Kotlerin the 2018 volume, Retail 4.0identify four moments that have marked the evolution of this sector: the birth of department storeswho introduced the format of the self service; the birth of the first shopping centers and the concept everything under one roof, which has contributed to increasing the number of users reachable by a company; the spread of the internet and the advent ofecommerce, which has eliminated any mediation between the end user and the product; and, finally, the affirmation of the smartphoneswhich made the border between trade online And onland increasingly labile, bringing customers closer to producers.

At the beginning of 2020, however, the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought about an unexpected turning point for the sector of the retail, forcing brands and retailers to once again revolutionize the way they relate to consumers. In particular, the decline in sales in-storethe sudden closure of factories, the blocking of borders and the decrease in tourism, caused a change in market behavior that forced brands to generate revenue from the only channel available at that time, theecommerce, and to adopt the digital as a primary tool to communicate themselves. This has therefore caused an exponential increase in the demand for technologies and design solutions that were able to communicate consumer products in the most engaging and precise way possible, leading to unprecedented experiments and collaborations between the world of industrial products and that of technology and permanently changing marketing strategies globally.

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One of the first design solutions adopted by brands to make up for the drop in sales and visibility was the implementation of the use of social networks

as a tool forecommerce. The so-called social commerce, in fact, in addition to guaranteeing a fluid and uninterrupted shopping experience, in line with consumers’ digital habits, it also allows users to enjoy a more sincere sharing of personal opinions, as well as companies to be able to use the inherent technologies in such platforms. The augmented reality filters, in fact, present on Instagram and Snapchat, have become one of the main marketing tools during the pandemic, arousing curiosity in users and creating new interaction dynamics.

Nikefor example, he created, together with the social network team Snapchatthe filter Nike by You which allows users, not only to customize and purchase the Nike Air Force One, but also to try them on your feet through the camera of your smartphone. Likewise, L’Oreal Parisstarting from 2020, thanks to the partnership with Half and the acquisition of the platform ModiFacegives its customers the opportunity to carry out the virtual try-on of beauty and makeup products through filters available on the Instagram profiles of its brands, including YSL Beauty, Lancôme, Mugler, Armani Beauty and NYX Professional Makeup.

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Furthermore, digital technologies, during the pandemic period, have proved to be essential not only for implementing sales strategies, but also for revolutionizing brand-related experiences. In October 2020, for example, the Italian streetwear brand GCDS extensionin collaboration with the US agency Emblematic, presented its Spring-Summer 2021 collection through a video fashion show set on a virtual fantasy planet. A solution that has not overshadowed the tailoring of the garments, but which, on the contrary, has been able to digitally restore every detail of reality, astonishing the brand’s target customers and involving them in an unprecedented experience. On that occasion, in fact, the designers, exploiting the possibilities inherent in the digital medium, did not want to animate the catwalk with models, but with humanoid creatures inspired by top models such as Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner.

Although the technologies of augmented reality and virtual reality have spread in the field of retail mainly starting from 2020, the aforementioned Stigliano and Kotler believe that these tools will represent the key elements for the next phase of the sector. The authors, in fact, in the 2022 essay, Metaverse and Retail 5.0argue that in the future, a large part of commerce will take place in hyper-realistic virtual environments where people will carry out many of the practices associated with the shopping experience and consumption in the form of avatarsinteracting with each other and with the brands in a more direct and natural way than what happens today on a website ecommerce.

To demonstrate the reliability of this thesis, there is the recent diffusion of platforms online shopping based precisely on virtual reality technology. The Italian website, Shop the Lookfor example, again during the pandemic, he inaugurated his own Shopping District

: a virtual neighborhood where users can access real three-dimensional boutiques that recall the shopping experience returned from reality in terms of appearance and methods of use.

On the contrary, the English fashion brand The Dematerialisedin the same period, developed, in collaboration with the Milanese communication agency Mono-grid, an innovative virtual showroom that bears no reference to reality: a structure with an organic shape, suspended in space, within which the clothes for sale float. A concept that, while reducing the elements present to a minimum, returns an engaging and interactive experience thanks to the use of sound effects and an easy-to-understand user interface.

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Furthermore, in the contemporary context, brands, by making full use of the technology of virtual realities and the Metaverse, also have the possibility of establishing a new type of relationship with their customers, much more direct and engaging. Digital environments, in fact, can be developed by taking up the principles of interactivity video games, so as to transform the experience that users have of a brand into a game. A solution that allows companies to communicate themselves and theirs valuesnot only through the quality of the products and services provided, but also through the design of experiences that are completely different from the traditional ones.

An example of this is the 2020 collaboration between Epic Games, the company that owns the platform FortniteAnd Balenciaga. Thanks to the intuition of the creative director Demna Gvasalia, in fact, the French brand presented its Fall-Winter 2021 collection on Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrowa video game open worldcreated especially for the event, in which users had the opportunity to explore the city of New York in 2031 in the form of an avatar, in search of the items from the brand’s latest collection.

Finally, this digitization process of the retail designaccording to Giuseppe Stigliano, in the near future it will also be emphasized by the progress in Natural Language Processing It is in the Machine Learning. The author, in fact, in the 2022 essay, Metaverse and Retail 5.0states that « very soon brands, within virtual realities, will take on the appearance of avatars animated by Artificial Intelligence, in order to allow increasingly fluid and realistic interactions with its customers and in order to implement new direct sales strategies ».

To corroborate this thesis, there is the research conducted by McKinsey Global Institute, according to which contemporary consumers have become much more demanding than in the past and want to feel at the center of the purchasing process. A dynamic that seems, therefore, to reverse what has been the process of evolution of retailor the elimination of any form of mediation between the user and the final product, in order to restore the relationship direct to costumer

typical of traditional commerce, albeit enriched with interactive and experiential solutions.

The future of shoppingtherefore, while obviously remaining linked to the quality of the products, it is also firmly linked to contemporary digital experiences. Just as happened with the adoption of the web and gods social mediabetween the end of the last century and the early 2000s, in fact, today it is anachronistic to think that a brand that wants to remain relevant can avoid some form of communication and sale involving the Metaverse for a long time.

At the same time, with the emergence of this new medium, even the traditional design of physical stores will have to adapt to the experience of online shopping. The installation curated by Louis Vuittonon the occasion of the worldwide launch of the collection involving the artist Yayoi Kusamain Milan, at the new store in via Bagutta, as well as the maxi installations that involved the historic headquarters of the maison on the Champs Elysee, in Paris, represent an exemplifying case of how digital experiences are also changing the design of store physical. In fact, the team of the French brand, using the works of the Japanese artist as covering of vertical and horizontal surfaces, as well as sculptural elements and intelligible robots, transport consumers into a fantastic world and make the store something more than just a place where go shopping: an environment capable of astonishing and providing an immersive and interactive experience.