creating a virtual storefront with AVA by Obsess, a self-serve CMS enabling brands to easily build their own virtual store experiences
Industry Insights

How to Create a Virtual Store Using AVA, A Virtual Store Editor and Builder

Introducing AVA, A Virtual Store Editor and Builder

After 2+ years of development, Obsess has launched a self-service tool to empower our brand partners to easily create and manage Obsess-powered virtual stores, which include elements of virtual and augmented reality, gamification and interactive shopping. The forward-thinking, innovative addition to Obsess’ virtual store technology platform enables brands to create smarter, more dynamic stores that match consumers’ ever-evolving needs and align to brands’ marketing and merchandising calendars. 

Virtual shopping experiences drive greater consumer engagement and e-commerce results, and with AVA by Obsess, brands can expedite content management and merchandising of fully branded, immersive, 3D virtual stores—simplifying how to create a virtual store. The powerful, first-to-market virtual store editor enables brands and retailers to make their virtual storefronts dynamic and easily implement optimizations to merchandising and content. 

How to Create a Virtual Store with AVA

The AVA platform enables brands to customize an entire 3D virtual store without additional assets or 3D design experience—the virtual store editor was developed to provide 3D editing and merchandising technology to brands in a “no-code” format.
To get started, AVA users simply have to upload a standard 3D media file into the content management system (CMS). Obsess’ patented rendering technology then converts it into a proprietary, web-compatible format for large-scale 3D environments. Brands can also easily integrate SKU-level data and product imagery from their E-commerce stores and dynamically place products throughout the virtual retail store.

Managing Dynamic Virtual Storefronts

brands and retailers are able to manage dynamic virtual storefronts and customize their merchandising and styling in AVA, a virtual store editor

In the words of Obsess Founder and CEO, Neha Singh: “In the same way that platforms like Shopify and Squarespace revolutionized digital presence enablement for brands, AVA by Obsess democratizes building for the next generation of the web—which is 3D, interactive, and experiential.”

Shopify enabled brands to seamlessly create storefronts for the traditional web grid interface; likewise, Obsess enables brands to seamlessly create shoppable virtual storefronts in 3D. 
Teams of all experiences can easily customize merchandising and styling in the virtual store editor, and are able to quickly add content hotspots to showcase immersive offerings such as in-scene videos, games, educational content, and avatars. Regardless of expertise, anyone on your team can make updates to your virtual store’s display through the CMS.

Expediting Optimizations with the Virtual Store Editor

brands and retailers are able to expedite optimizations to their virtual store by making changes as frequently as they wish

“Brands need to keep their virtual experiences fresh, just like their websites,” says Singh. Virtual stores are an always-on, year-round sales channel that needs to be optimized regularly, and adapt to ongoing learnings about shoppers. As an immersive extension of the brand’s own website, Obsess-powered virtual store experiences offer more control compared to external platforms. 

As an owned channel, virtual stores grant brands access to first-party customer behavioral data and 3D spatial insights, which can be used to optimize the experience for later iterations. 

First-party data allows brands to increase the efficacy of their promotional content, and strategically highlight their products to increase engagement and conversion. From product placement to embedded media content, the AVA virtual store editor allows brands to make optimizations quickly and frequently.

AVA access is included as part of every managed service contract with Obsess. Every Obsess partner is able to use the tool as part of their annual subscription—they can choose to use the virtual store editor independently or work with their dedicated team to manage their virtual store. Get connected at contact@obsessvr.com to talk to the Obsess team about building a virtual store. 

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© 2024 Obsess, Inc. all rights reserved.

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Obsess is the leading experiential e-commerce platform enabling brands and retailers to serve immersive and highly interactive 3D virtual experiences that drive conversion, customer engagement, and brand loyalty amongst a new generation of gaming-fluent consumers. Obsess uses its proprietary virtual shopping platform and VR/AR technology to enable brands and retailers to set up 3D 360 digital storefronts on their websites.

© 2024 Obsess, Inc. all rights reserved.