As consumer behaviors and expectations evolve, the e-commerce interface also evolves. Virtual stores are a new type of digital shopping experience that provides more engagement and immersion for a brand’s customers. These immersive retail experiences live on a brand’s e-commerce site and are available to access via mobile or desktop. Customers can navigate around the 3D space, similar to how they would browse a real-life store.
Why do brands need VR shopping experiences?
Amazon created the traditional e-commerce interface 25 years ago to sell books and it has not changed since. The traditional interface is primed for infinite scrolling of the brand’s database, but is identical across verticals and product category. Most e-commerce sites continue to use the monotonous grid of thumbnails on a white background, lacking brand identity.
However, with virtual stores, brands are able to offer consumers a 360-degree online experience that is highly visual, immersive and creative. Featuring a curated selection of products, everything in a virtual store is intentional and custom to the brand. Brands are able to showcase products in contextual environments that enable consumers to visualize their usage and functionality. Using CGI technology, products are merchandised in a virtual store, allowing customers to interact with both products and content embedded into the environment as they move around. The immersive 3D environment is intuitive and offers a shopping experience akin to the real-life experience, plus ultra-engaging features and animations not possible in brick-and-mortar locations. They are easy to access with a web link, and don’t require an app download or a virtual reality (VR) headset.
Virtual stores enable brands to connect with younger consumers—a valuable target for many brands. Through engaging features such as custom gamification and 3D multimedia content, virtual stores are able to cater to today’s consumer that expects an enhanced level of immersion due to social media and the popularity of gaming.
They also provide brands with valuable analytical data and insights into consumer behavior. Obsess provides robust, detailed, anonymized first-party data on every consumer interaction that occurs within a brands’ virtual store.
How are brands using virtual stores?
Today, brands and retailers globally are using virtual stores for a variety of different purposes on a variety of different platforms. From web and gaming platforms to spatial computers and VR headsets, virtual stores provide brands with a unique branding opportunity to reach their audience where they are.
Brands are creating unique and memorable brand experiences for their customers, increasing engagement, sales and brand loyalty. See below for some examples of how brands are using virtual stores:
Ralph Lauren Virtual Stores
Ralph Lauren offered their global audience a unique online experience by virtualizing their physical retail storefronts. Through their virtual stores, they created a hybrid experience combining brick-and-mortar and online shopping on their own e-commerce website. This allows consumers to virtually step into the elegant world of Ralph Lauren’s iconic retail spaces around the world from their own home, and browse their collections. For some of the virtual stores in the Ralph Lauren repertoire, the virtual store is the only e-commerce option—they are not available on the brand’s traditional e-commerce site and can only be found in physical locations around the United States and Canada.
Read more about The RL Virtual Experiences.
Elizabeth Arden Virtual Store
Revlon’s Elizabeth Arden used their virtual store to advance their digital engagement strategy and their AI strategy, utilizing generative AI technology to create content. The historic beauty brand used AI to complete archival photos featured throughout their experience, and optimized it to fit the modern context of a virtual store. The brand sought to showcase their legacy and reach a new generation of shoppers through their virtual flagship store, engaging visitors with immersive storytelling, gamification and personalization.
Virtual Store Spotlight
Obsess has created 350+ AI-powered virtual stores and experiences for brands and retailers across verticals, hosted on their e-commerce sites, Roblox, Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest. Discover how leading brands in fashion, beauty, CPG, home and beyond are leveraging virtual stores in their digital engagement and brand marketing strategy. Read more about some of the virtual experiences Obsess has launched with our brand partners by clicking here.
How to create a virtual store?
The Obsess experiential e-commerce platform enables brands to create photorealistic 3D virtual experiences with full cart functionality. Whether you are looking to create a holiday pop-up shop, a visionOS shopping app or a virtual showroom, the Obsess team is ready to help.
To create a virtual store or experience for your brand, book a demo or email us at contact@obsessvr.com.
