Digital Marketing, Ecommerce

Metaverse And The Future Of Ecommerce: A Deep Study Of How The Industry Might Evolve

By: Lauren Petrullo
8 mins max
April 30, 2023

As a business owner in the ecommerce world, it is important to stay ahead of trends and anticipate what the future holds.

Metaverse is one such trend that could shape the future of ecommerce.

With its endless opportunities, this virtual world offers endless new ways for companies to take advantage of emerging trends and ecommerce innovations to grow their business on a massive scale.

But is metaverse the future of ecommerce? Possibly so.

In this blog post, we’re going to go over how the Metaverse will shape and potentially revolutionize the future of ecommerce – including what it is, what current platforms are available, and what we can expect in years to come.

But first, let’s start with how the industry is changing overall.

Factors Shaping Up The Ecommerce Industry

The industry is rapidly undergoing a transformation thanks to several factors, including:

1. Proliferation Of The Internet And Mobile Devices

The internet and mobile devices are playing an increasingly important role in global ecommerce, driving up the number of shoppers and allowing them to purchase goods from anywhere in the world.

In 2022, a whopping five billion individuals utilized mobile devices to access the internet – that’s more than 60% of global web users!

These mobile and internet users have access to mobile banking and digital wallets, making the customer journey easier than ever to shop online.

2. Fast Social Media Growth

Social media has also become an integral part of today’s ecommerce landscape, with social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter playing a major role in influencing customer behavior.

Online businesses and retailers have made shopping online simpler and more accessible through intelligent advertising campaigns. It’s now much easier to sell products through an online store, ecommerce store, or social commerce.

This is why the industry has seen a staggering rise in mobile commerce and online sales.

3. Global Ecommerce Adoption

Ecommerce websites are gaining popularity, and brick and mortar stores are no more the first priority.

According to Statista, global retail ecommerce sales amounted to $5.2 trillion in 2021 and are projected to surge to $6.3 trillion by 2023. This shows that ecommerce businesses are growing at an impressive rate, with countries from all over the world making moves to join the digital commerce landscape.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for Analysis and Optimization

AI and ML are playing increasingly important roles in the ecommerce industry.

Machine learning algorithms are being used to analyze large amounts of customer data and draw insights from it, while AI-driven chatbots are automating customer service tasks.

5. Digital Revolution: Metaverse

Finally, the emergence of the metaverse is another factor that’s shaping up the ecommerce industry.

What is metaverse? It’s a virtual world where people can interact with each other in real-time and transact money, goods, and services.

The metaverse is quickly becoming a popular destination for digital commerce, with leading brands like Amazon and Nike already offering users an experience of this amazing virtual world.

Although these metaverse applications are relatively new, virtual reality ecommerce is quickly gaining traction and will definitely play a major role in the future of online shopping.

These are some of the main factors that are reshaping the ecommerce industry.

But out of all these, Metaverse is expected to have the biggest impact and take ecommerce to the next developmental stage: Immersive Commerce.

Immersive Commerce (Metaverse Commerce)

Immersive commerce or metaverse commerce is the true future for every online business.

Metaverse commerce will be the combination of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and 3D Experiences with ecommerce. This new kind of shopping experience is expected to revolutionize online spending and create seamless shopping experiences.

In this virtual world, customers will be able to virtually visit a retailer and compare products with ease, get personalized recommendations, and even try on clothes and accessories before making a purchase.

This immersive shopping experience will be made possible with the help of AR and VR technologies, allowing customers to interact with products in a realistic virtual world.

And that is the true future of ecommerce.

Every ecommerce business will have to adopt this new technology or be prepared to stay behind.

Why Does Metaverse Make Sense?

1. Perfect Mixture Of Physical & Digital

Combining the physical and digital worlds, Metaverse creates a unique, customer friendly shopping experience where human interaction is almost non-existent.

Since everything is automated, customers can shop from the comfort of their homes, yet have a more personalized experience tailored to their needs.

2. Community Building

Through virtual events, competitions, and online meetups, metaverse provides an opportunity to build deeper connections with customers and promote community building.

3. Brands Are Moving There

Companies such as Amazon, Nike, and IKEA are all exploring this new form of ecommerce trend, meaning it is likely to take off in the near future.

All of this means that the global ecommerce market is ready to be hit with a wave of new technologies and immersive experiences. And this could be the future of retail.

However, ecommerce businesses need to be ready to brace for the impact of future ecommerce trends.

How?

Let’s walk you through four tips about how e commerce owners can use modern tools and ecommerce innovations to stay ahead of the competition.

8 Actionable Business Strategies For Online Retailers

1. Invest In Learning:

Metaverse is still a relatively new concept, even for people in the technology industry.

So, the first thing you must do is to invest in clearly and deeply understanding Metaverse concepts.

And this learning shouldn’t just be limited to you – get your team members up to speed with the latest Metaverse advancements and how this could affect your ecommerce business.

Take a proactive approach and dedicate a group to learn key metaverse concepts like decentralized identities, smart contracts, and virtual reality, and see how you can implement those learnings.

2. Be Omnipresent:

Since the metaverse doesn’t yet have a single access point or platform, you should become omnipresent in the metaverse.

This means developing your presence across multiple metaverse platforms and interacting with users there. This will help create your brand presence and attract more customers.

3. Strengthen Your Social Presence:

While you focus on the metaverse, don’t forget that customers still hang out on social media platforms the most. So, make sure you have an active presence there and leverage social commerce.

Social commerce is the use of social media platforms to market and sell products. Businesses can leverage social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to reach out to their target audience.

However, it’s important that you:

Know your potential customers
Create relevant content
Get their feedback

4. Step Into Metaverse Commerce:

Don’t be afraid. Test the waters and step into the metaverse.

How?

Set up a Metaverse shop. Create an avatar to represent your business and invite customers to explore your virtual shop.

You can also create a 3D shopping environment with realistic graphics and sounds, mimicking a physical store.

Plus, you can enable users to interact with items in the virtual shop and make purchases using digital currencies – the possibilities are endless. Just go out and explore.

Fun Fact: Did you know that Wendy’s has opened up their outlet “Wendyverse” in Meta’s Horizon World where they cook up burgers in the virtual world?

And it’s not all virtual – users can play interactive games to win discounts & prizes redeemable IRL!

A genius move indeed!

5. Build Metaverse Characters & Holograms:

Make sure your Metaverse shop stands out by creating avatars and holograms of your staff to represent your business. This will enable customers to have a more personalized experience when shopping, as they can interact with characters that represent the business.

6. Use AI Chatbots:

As you prepare for Metaverse shopping, don’t forget to integrate AI chatbots into your store.

AI chatbots can provide customers with personalized shopping recommendations and assist them throughout their journey.

You can also use text-based chatbots to answer customer queries and provide support while shopping.

7. Voice Search

Voice searches are becoming increasingly popular simply because they’re more convenient for searching & shopping online.

Therefore, along with ecommerce SEO, businesses need to focus on voice search optimization. This means that your ecommerce site should incorporate natural language processing into its websites to make them more responsive to voice queries.

Here are a few tips for that:

Target long-tail keywords because users are likely to ask long questions.
Focus on the local language if you’re selling in specific regions
Improve your website speed to retain users on the website.

8. Leverage Non-intrusive Ads:

Ads can be intrusive, but you can use non-intrusive banner ads and videos in Metaverse games to promote your products. You can also offer coupons and discounts to customers who interact with your ads.

This will help increase your reach in the Metaverse while still providing a great user experience.

These are some of the business strategies that online retailers should consider as they prepare for Metaverse shopping.

Remember, metaverse commerce is the future of ecommerce businesses. You just can’t afford to ignore it if you want your ecommerce business to stay ahead of the competition.

Use these tips to prepare your ecommerce business for the future and make sure that you’re not left behind in this exciting new market.

Supercharge Your Business Growth With Metaverse

Virtual reality ecommerce is still in its early stages, but it shows great potential to become the next big ecommerce trend.

No matter what marketing channels you use, it’s important to have a dedicated metaverse commerce strategy in place.

However, if it sounds too complex or tricky, it’s best to seek professional help from a professional ecommerce agency. Mongoose Media can help you to devise and implement a comprehensive ecommerce strategy that will take your online store to the next level.

Get in touch to devise a foolproof game plan for your online store.

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