Virtual Commerce - Providing a More Realistic Shopping Experience
It’s no secret that the global e-commerce industry is booming every year. However, behind this exponential growth, there’s an underlying threat that almost every e-commerce business encounters - a high cart abandonment rate.
Due to poor shopping experience, nearly 70% of customers abandon their carts, causing e-commerce businesses to lose millions of dollars of potential sales. That’s why online retailers are actively searching for ways to persuade the right customers and provide a seamless shopping experience.
Enters: Virtual Commerce.
By incorporating technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), retailers can devise a more interactive shopping environment for their customers. The results? Higher sales and better customer retention.
Let’s dive deeper into the world of virtual commerce and understand how it holds the potential to completely transform the future of online shopping.
What is Virtual Commerce?
Virtual Commerce refers to an online shopping experience where customers have the liberty to walk through a virtual shopping room, virtually try products, and make smarter shopping decisions.
At its core, Virtual Commerce bridges the gap between in-store and online shopping. With these virtual storefronts, customers can browse products just like they’d do in a physical store, but from the comfort of their homes.
Virtual Commerce combines different technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to curate a more personalized and immersive experience for customers.
How Does Virtual Commerce Work?
Virtual Commerce primarily follows the same principles of a Metaverse. Retailers can set up virtual showrooms and display products to create a more realistic 3D space in the virtual realm.
Customers, on the other hand, can utilize technologies like AR and VR to interact within this virtual environment and try products before they make any decisions. With virtual stores, retailers also have the power to curate personalized experiences for each customer, based on their search queries and previous shopping patterns.
For instance, a customer searching for “casual footwear” can only be provided with similar items in the virtual space, helping them shop wisely.
Benefits of Virtual Commerce
Since each customer can be provided with a tailored experience, virtual commerce can help retailers reduce the cart abandonment rate. But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With Virtual Commerce, retailers can also tackle other common challenges that affect their online sales.
1. Increased Conversions
One thing that virtual stores guarantee is higher conversions. With virtual shopping rooms, customers get the same real-time engagement they’d experience in a physical store.
Moreover, since the entire setup is online, retailers can offer the same products at comparatively lower prices. This right balance between cost and personalization will encourage shoppers to complete their purchases and become long-term customers.
2. Virtual Try-On
In addition to helping customers better visualize a product, V-commerce also allows them to virtually try a product before they move towards the checkout process.
Virtual try-on can be a life savior for e-commerce businesses as they can promote the ‘try before you buy’ novelty more effectively. As a result, companies can save millions of dollars they were earlier losing due to unexpected returns/exchanges.
3. A Widespread Reach
Opening a physical store is not a practical option for all retail businesses, especially when they fall under the mid-sized bracket.
Virtual Stores can help such businesses expand their operations, gauge global customers, and establish a strong brand presence. All this without having to bear the overhead costs of running and managing physical stores.
4. Personalized Shopping Experiences
As we mentioned earlier, virtual commerce offers a more personalized shopping experience that results in better customer retention.
Both retailers and marketing experts can interact with shoppers in a real-time environment, understand their shopping patterns, and gather relevant data. With this vast information in their arsenal, they can curate personalized marketing campaigns to re-target shoppers more effectively.
What is the Future of Virtual Reality in E-commerce
Both Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have the potential to completely transform the way customers shop online.
Instead of looking at 2-D images of a product on an e-commerce website, customers can tap into a virtual realm and explore virtual storefronts to enjoy a more immersive experience.
As of today, many e-commerce giants including IKEA, Nike, Target, and Warby Parker have already stepped into virtual commerce and established their own versions of virtual commerce solutions. These companies may not have released fully flourished virtual stores, but they are utilizing different fragments of virtual commerce to entice customers.
However, in the coming years, customers will most likely see more optimized versions of virtual stores where they’ll be able to interact with other customers in a digital space and witness hyperrealistic experiences while shopping online.
Top Retailers Using Virtual Commerce in 2023
Here are some examples of real-world companies using nuances of virtual commerce to expand their reach and provide an immersive shopping experience.
1. IKEA
Back in 2018, IKEA was among the first businesses to incorporate Augmented Reality into its shopping app to help customers decide better by virtually testing pieces of furniture in a physical space.
Now, the company has also launched a dedicated virtual storefront where customers can explore IKEA’s diverse range of products and even plan a physical space for their home/office using the built-in 3D room planner.
2. Wayfair
Following IKEA’s footsteps, Wayfair has also launched an exclusive AR-powered shopping app that allows customers to virtually place different pieces of furniture in their homes and decides if they look good or not.
3. Amazon
The e-commerce giant also made headlines when it partnered with L’oreal to offer virtual try-on for its lip shade series. The app lets shoppers virtually try different shades of lip colors to pick the best shade.
They can even play with the color’s intensity to decide which shade will go best for a particular occasion. Consequently, this allows customers to choose the most accurate lip color and avoid the hassle of returns/exchanges.
Conclusion
Virtual Commerce is on the verge to become a prominent trend in digital commerce. By precisely bridging the gap between online shopping and in-store experience, V-commerce can eliminate the loopholes of traditional online shopping setup and benefit both retailers and shoppers.
