Although we are yet to reach the level that Mark Zuckerberg envisions, the metaverse vision is here with us. And while the metaverse economy is still in its early years, several eCommerce business opportunities in Metaverse have already been developed. Major retailers and fashion brands have found new ways to design virtual platforms.
As predicted by some experts, this new technology is expected to be worth $400 Billion by 2025 in new concepts of video games, virtual goods, social commerce, and digital commerce. Consumers are already accepting this new trend of online store selling, while some notable fashion brands have already opened virtual stores where shoppers can buy customized clothes.
Please stick with us as we explore deeply the Metaverse and the different eCommerce business opportunities presented by this new frontier.
What is the Metaverse, Exactly?
The Metaverse is a collaborative virtual space created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space where people play, work, socialize, and do shopping.
It is categorized into three categories:
- Augmented Reality.
- Virtual Reality.
- Virtual Worlds.
Three Categories of Metaverse.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a system that incorporates three features: a combination of natural and virtual worlds, real time interaction, and accurate 3D registration. Without the limitations of our physical world, augmented realities will be all inclusive with a wide variety of objects that can move seamlessly through space, providing us with a limitless amount of research content.
According to analysts, Augmented Reality will attract 3.5 Billion users globally by 2025 who will spend at least $198 Billion on AR.
- Involving the whole world, Pokemon GO (created by Niantic) was a success in 2016 with nearly 288 million downloads. Pokemon Go took the world by storm and reached 232 million users at its peak; it involved augmented reality, which allowed players to move about the real/physical world to capture Pokemon featured within the app on their phones, which could appear anywhere at any time.
- Snapchat, famous for its augmented filters and application, has taken a bold move away from AR-augmented glasses and towards AR software. They currently house the world’s largest AR developer community with over 200 million DAUs and 2 million lenses through their platform.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive and personal experience that places you into a simulated virtual environment. It’s an immersive experience that transports users into other worlds without leaving their physical location, creating unique metaverse experiences for people who can’t make it to the arcade. Not only does VR come with limitless possibilities for content, but the market is becoming cheaper and more accessible, too, enabling it to enter more aspects of our lives.
Without the limitations of our physical world, augmented reality will be all inclusive with a wide variety of objects that can move seamlessly through space, providing us with a limitless amount of research content. AR creates new health care, learning, entertainment, and manufacturing possibilities.
- Facebook was renamed “Meta” in October 2021 via the Facebook connect Metaverse to create their version, dictating $10 billion to bring it to life. Their core play is in virtual reality “Horizon Worlds” a social world-building playground that you can access Meta’s Oculus headset. It expanded out of invites only beta in December 2021.
- It may not be long before we get our hand on Apple’s augmented reality initiative. This year, Apple will introduce AR or VR into iOS devices or new hardware.
Virtual Worlds
In a virtual world, individuals interact with users by using avatars. Unlike simply using a text based approach as in an online chat, this appears as a graphical rendered model created through computer graphics imaging or other rendering technique. You can find popular virtual worlds for entertainment or educational purposes.
When you enter a virtual world, your screen displays “information” from the server. Your computer works in parallel with multiple data streams, including video and audio, which are streamed to your graphical processing units (GPUs) through dedicated network channels, similar to high metaverses.
- Roblox is the darling of the Metaverse for the everyday mainstream consumer. Half of the children in America supposedly play on Roblox, where users can play millions of 3D games, customize their avatars with skins, and earn/spend Robux. As of Jan 2022, 43% of its daily active users are under 18 years old, which is more than double what Pixonic currently has. Moreover, that doesn’t cover all the hours they are logged into this immersive experience where they are actively building and playing games.
- To break into the mainstream with cryptocurrency, Axie Infinity creates a blockchain based game where players buy and trade rare NFTs called Axis. Players can breed their Axies for even more NFTs, exploiting the implementation of the QRL Platform. Currently, it has become the most successful project in this space based on both trading volume and adoption, making it a significant force in the world of crypto games ($300 mn in the last 30 days, as of January 14).
So, Why Join Now?
If you are looking to Metaverse your fashion eCommerce, I believe the best time to join is now. We’ve seen the evolution of immersive technology throughout recent decades, with virtual reality headsets coming in, older adults donning VR visors for the first time, and the dawning realization happening in their minds that this is it, these are the kids that get it.
Here are my reasons why you join now: best market timing, technology, better payment systems (crypto), and overall business sustainability. I think it’s safe to say that this will be one of the biggest industries in not just 20 years but a potential 100 years. You can seriously make some serious bank here by getting into and investing early (ideally on projects with vertical solid applications or otherwise better accessibility).
Best Market Time
Users from all age groups have been re-learning how to live a digital lifestyle, interacting with friends and family on devices such as Zoom and FaceTime. This growth happened due to the social collapse in 2020 after the pandemic. I previously never used Twitter, but it now plays a significant role in establishing friendships with people from the Metaverse world, even outside of work.
The Metaverse has profited from the pandemic. It’s not just that we need to invest in many new technologies; we also need to adopt new ways of behaving and doing things while we wait for the economy to recover. We only need to crank this up by another 5-10x before you see some serious upward momentum. Trust me; this is the best time to launch your fashion business on the Metaverse.
Chances are you won’t have the first mover advantage you will be at a better edge than someone who will do it in five years to come. The last two months of ‘pre beta’ were only possible thanks to lack of competition in this space, so any future products will quickly jump on board with more and better technology and an increased user base (due to increased adoption). So, it would be better if you are one of the few smart enough to implement some cost effective ways rather than cutting corners.
In tech, don’t just be a speculator if you’re waiting to buy and flip when the market starts moving. Take crypto, for example; nobody thought the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum could attain such insane prices the other day. Just in 2016 when Ether’s price never passed $13 while Bitcoin was $434.46.
In the Metaverse, payments are made through virtual currency and not physical money (cash), like the case is with real life costs. Paying a real world amount to another person requires one party for them to have access to the said item or that another party has possession of the item funding their purchase. With the increased changes in technology, such transactions have become safer and faster.
Technology Adoption
You can experience new technology in many different forms. You can create a Roblox account and play the role of an animal in Animal Crossing, take a trip to the Oculu Pokemon on Worlds or VRChat out looking for Pokemon, or binge watch your favourite TV show on your iPhone.
Virtual worlds will create mass adoption because there is less friction than to Nintendo Switch or Oculus Quest. There are more people on Roblox than in Spain.
With Oculus and Nintendo Switch, 10 million and 35 million respectively, having reached the marketplace with 97 million and 50 million daily active users on Roblox, it’s time to see your investments in this area pay off.
The advancements in technology that needs to occur before we can work, live and play in the metaverse days at a time cannot be achieved; we’ll need more years of advancement. This morning I worked on my computer for two days and even made some posts on VR and VT (virtual and augmented reality) for several hours. My eyes were weary, and I found myself wearing blue glasses with orange light most of the time.
Imagine a future where you can log in to your bank account secure and pay bills on VRChat; buy groceries, Metaverse blox credit card, or 2x silver bars in the Metaverse because they bought gold. I think this will be our world before we realize it, as technology is already present today!
If people don’t want to experience new technologies, then they won’t be adopted. Imagine VR/AR becoming mainstream means making them easily accessible so that everyone can embrace them; I haven’t seen any alternatives yet. Technology is still being used to create virtual and augmented reality; some will become leaders in this type of advancement; Oculus, Google-AR, or Sony/Microsoft should be on your list.
For a fashion entrepreneur, getting in the metaverse industry now will boost your eCommerce store, creating an avatar with a taste for your clothes. Technology will allow people to have a valid passport; your users will be able to visit places outside of the United States and apply for residence.
Blockchain facilitates payments in the Metaverse. The “Fundamental build Metaverse of the internet” as it’s called in the Metaverse, MRT (Meta coin). This cryptocurrency will be used to purchase virtual and augmented reality items, loyalty points across websites, and Metaversed games on VIVID.
On top of that, Metaverse is a digital world created on blockchain technologies. With blockchain for many purposes, including an asset ledger, there is no single authority to verify transactions or information that goes Metaverse ledger. Thus, anything that happens within Metaverse will be transparent. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that allows computers to access and update blocks across the internet in layers called “chains”. For example, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin use blockchain to Metaverse centralized digital assets.
NFT’s promote the Metaverse, and they are intangible digital assets that you can use to transfer ownership. This includes items such as physical and digital ones, and if you own one, it will be recorded on the blockchain. You can tokenize assets to make digital certificates for electronic transactions, which is advantageous to NFT because people will always find them.
In a future metaverse, everything will be given; income, donations (good Karma), credit cards, right down to playing games within VIVID with our preferred currency RES, for which we have received 0 Res in return.
Sustainability of your Fashion Business
The reason for this adoption can be boiled down to two key factors: a willingness to keep pace in a rapidly changing economy and a generational eagerness for digital technology. In addition to Gen Z’s increasing adoption in the digital world, there is a clear interest in monetizing virtual worlds. Earlier this year, a study found that people spend five times more on bloc chain based games than they do in traditional ones. “Roblox,” “Fortnite,” and “Minecraft” are the largest web based virtual worlds by user bases. Interestingly, most of these players are from Generation Z who have been used to living digitally since childhood; therefore, they will find fun in these games. These are NFT’s you can use in your Interactions to trade, sell or hold things.
Social Media Platform buyout drove the success of Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ether; we want blockchain apps for our culture if a prosperous society believes that the social more than 3-5 years will be all around real virtual reality worlds.
Sustainable fashion trends are all about working towards generations of success. To survive the rapid pace of change and become more sustainable, you can accelerate your long term goal, such as sustainability.
Top 5 Fashion Ecommerce Business Opportunities in Metaverse Case of Fashion
- Customizable Add-ons.
- NFTs
- Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
- Video Games.
- Strategic Partnerships.
Customizable Add-ons
A new opportunity in the digital space is coming from skins (for personalized avatars), aka customizable add-ons that let you change your avatar’s appearance (think clothing, accessories). A $40Bn market for skins is hard to ignore for brands that typically appeal to the younger audience, such as luxury and mass retail. Alongside these scalability benefits within gaming ecosystems like Roblox or Fortnite, brands have the potential to reach their target audiences more authentically.
Designers using 3D tech have helped raise the standards of fashion design and have led to clients across all industries utilizing innovative technologies. By blending the process of collaboration, innovation, and data interpretation, brands can use game engines such as Stencyl, which create virtual environments where designers can develop their collections. Designers are able by making use of browser experiences that encourage more flexibility in creation — with no limits on what may be drawn.
Customizable add-ons like skins provide opportunities for fashion eCommerce businesses; they offer a way for brands to keep their reputation of fashion innovation.
It enables stylists and entrepreneurs an opportunity to create something revolutionary. Skins give many owners better, more realistic experiences. It increases the creativity in clothes, so the garments themselves are enhanced and novel and stand out among peers.
- Forever 21, the retailer owned by Authentic Brands Group, is partnering with Roblox. It entails the Forever 21 Shop City, wherein users and fashion influencers own and manage stores to become the “top shop”.
- Forever 21 Shop City includes four districts where users can role play, build their community, and find hidden rare items. Users start with a customizable glass building and earn points to add options such as customized exteriors and lights.
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- Inspired by the popular game Final Fantasy XV, the retailer is looking for ways to engage players through customizing the shopping experience. Virtual Brand Group, a metaverse creation company, is also on board with introducing “unprecedented customization options.”
- There are often secondary markets in virtual items, requiring Roblox users to create desired items or actively bid on them. Recently, a digital Gucci bag on Roblox resold for over $4,000 (more than the IRL version) after the Gucci Garden experience. I’ve even experienced this myself in decorating my *adorable* personal avatar on Roblox; there’s a limited supply of the “Heart aze.
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NFTs
With the convergence and advancement of technology, we can make one of Wallace’s dreams come true: the fashion industry embracing digital technology. Within ten years, we will see applications based on hyper ledger that will fundamentally improve product knowledge and enhance consumer experience (NFTs). And with this new technology, the fashion industry has already seen an impact; companies are answerable to end-consumers through detailed data collection and insights about tastes.
Today, forward-thinking fashion brands utilize NFT gathering to scale their gathering requirements while highlighting their brand DNA and increasing consumer awareness. Current emerging trends show that NFTs will change the way we shop and increase the value of consumer purchasing power.
Non Fungible Tokens Metaverse digital assets that won’t get copied. They offer opportunities in the Metaverse where they may be worth millions in annual revenue. The continued growing popularity of NFTs in the Metaverse will be an interesting indicator of how flexible applications for this kind are. Innovations such as PeakXV demonstrate how teams such as EverestCoin use NFTs to capture real-world industries.
Virtual Shopping: Virtual Sneakers
Nike is ready for new digital virtual sneakers by purchasing RTFKT Studios. The company is a leading brand that utilizes cutting edge innovation to deliver next generation (gen-z) collectibles that merge culture and gaming.
RTFKT claims that in February last year, a collaboration with FEWOCiOUS made them over $3.1 million in six minutes by combining the creation of authentic sneakers with virtual ones. And this was around the same time Metaverse of us were hearing about NFTs for the first time.
Physical Goods Too
The Metaverse is enabling the sale of physical fashion goods through virtual businesses such as Ascribe and XingArt – they would allow artists to sell digital artworks directly to collectors.
So, the next time you walk past a model wearing an Armani suit in a flagship store, chances are there’s also one standing right at your side modelling NFTs attached to her body within the Virtual Fashion Chain Art Community.
Physical fashion stores can sell in store in a 3D marketplace that features future apparel brands.
Virtual Fashion Chain Art Community (VFCAC) empowers consumers to reward the creativity of artists and promote young designers by purchasing virtual goods at different price points within the store itself and through associated companies such as licensed partners. This allows fashion and graphic artists, cosplayers, and cam girls many more opportunities via this type of application.
- Adidas announced in December last year that it would collaborate with series creator Bored Ape to launch the “Into the Metaverse” collection with its lifestyle label Adidas Originals. The 30,000 NFTs went on sale on December 17 for 0.2 Ethereum (about $800) each, selling out minutes after launching and making the company more than $22 million in an hour. The digital and physical wearables are scheduled to be available sometime this year.
Use Epiprodux’s Metaverse profit centric management tool to start and grow your fashion business in the Metaverse. EpiProdux can help you identify what your customers want and help you grow your business within the fashion industry. With our customer segmentation, market research, and market segmentation tool, you can identify targeted groups interested in luxury goods such as high-end fashion apparel. On top of that, you will enjoy instant business reports on customer experience and growth.
Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality
Whether VR or AR, over half of the consumers, prefer sites with augmented realities to those without, including customers within the fashion eCommerce industry.
The augmented reality and virtual reality industries are booming within the fashion eCommerce world. It looks like “AR” could be essential to selling traditionally tricky products to buy online. Thanks to AR’s product visualization capabilities, consumers can make better-informed purchasing decisions and feel confident about supporting a brand.
Virtual and Augmented Reality is expanding the value proposition in fashion eCommerce to interact with product offerings more effectively. Digital spaces are enabled through VR, growing in popularity fast while AR is cheaper while adopting VR technology.
Augmented reality and virtual reality are becoming more common in fashion. With brands like Gap providing their customers with an augmented reality experience through an application called “Dressing Room,” it’s easy to see how metaverse technology will soon be intertwined with eCommerce.
Designers are taking advantage of AR and VR technology to market their products. For example, ZARA offered an AR experience for Spanish fashion giants, including online shopping boxes, catwalks, and show dwellings. This fosters a sense of belonging, so customers will increase social media advertisement while marketing content through other Metaversing platforms.
Start and build your fashion eCommerce business models in the Metaverse using EpiProdux’s product road mapping tool. Centralize your product roadmap, which delineates the work tasks for each team member. And this will allow you to increase revenue with a strategy that promotes priority tasks. Prioritization will also encourage improved team efficiency, which will empower you to focus on other essential aspects.
Related read: How to start a Metaverseable clothing brand.
Virtual Concerts
Virtual concerts already appear in the Metaverse and will become more exciting as emerging technologies develop. The ability to control sound and hearing through headphones and project a live feed (of any size or area) over concert speakers and high fidelity stereo systems into your home is an essential breakthrough for music. Metaverse brands can create sponsorship, skin, and even virtual merchandise to tap into the growing virtual concerts.
Virtual shows could be a boon for rapidly growing brands. For example, Warner Music Group’s investment in Roblox, where chart topping musicians Lil Nas X and Royal Blood perform. Metaverse’s led to seven figure sales of a virtual match.
Fashion luxury brands use the Metaverse to amplify their events, such as Gucci, who has released a line of shoes on Roblox. The company hosted a Gucci Fest film festival on its website in the past year. With virtual reality growing, brands can create music events for listeners with a VR world. And platforms like Roblox allow this to happen by incorporating collaboration among artists and brands.
You can also manage and build your fashion eCommerce store in the Metaverse with EpiProdux’s product management tool. And this tool will help you ignore the one-size-fits-all approach to your brand. Get to direct your digital goods specifically to your customer’s needs.
With EpiProdux, you can conduct market research for your company or product quickly and efficiently. This tool will supply you with the necessary information to list product segments that sell more and with higher profitability.
Video Games
Fashion eCommerce is expected to grow in the gaming industry due to virtual cosmetics and clothes becoming essential in many games, such as Grand Theft Auto, Dead by Daylight, and Fortnite.
With the integration of interactive experiences in VR games, you can advertise new clothing lines in popular games. Marketing virtual cosmetics brings the eCommerce experience for consumers to a whole new level. You can access them instantly, don’t have to leave your home or work, and save time on shipping labels. According to Mobile Marketing Association and Culture Group, the blending of app Metaverse mechanics, virtual commerce, and MILE (massive interactive live events) make Metaverse, an incredibly intriguing space for marketers.
More extended onsite visits by potential customers can lead to higher conversions and sales. Video games allow brands to increase their visibility through the millions of people playing these video games every day.
This experience includes virtual fashion show collaborations with the mainstream mobile game The Sims and retail outlet Asos. After the virtual fashion show was displayed on the game, the related products were sold through Asos’ platforms.
Louis Vuitton unveiled their video game in 2021 to celebrate their 200th anniversary, Louis the Game. And this game player’s lookout for treasures hidden (candles and NFTs) in six worlds that are only accessible after you win the game.
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And this will help you to understand better what the target audience wants, needs, and physical location to expand on. All of these are valuable metrics for the growth rate of your company.
Strategic Partnerships
Popular digital collectibles such as skins and avatar items can cost a significant amount of data from one Metaverse. In 2021, networks that focused on hosting virtual realities within the Metaverse, such as Roblox or Animal Crossing, saw a variety of successful collaborations in advertising and product design.
Brands are embracing large scale collaborations with the virtual world of Roblox, which nestles into the expanding but highly physical “physical” reality. When building these partnerships, established brands will often consult agencies to help pull off some of these large scale collaborations. For instance, Forever 1 used Virtual Brand Group to introduce their shopping experience in Roblox, Shop City. Beyond shorter campaigns like Gucci Gardens (2 weeks), campaigns within The Sandbox companies like Vans will need to plan months to execute large scale projects and collaborations with models in the virtual world.
As a result, fashion eCommerce brands will have increased product planning, design, and development options. Examples of big name collaborations include:
- Vans World did expand and reignite their vision is partnering with Gang Stockholm and Roblox to recreate the space of a Vans store in a detailed Roblox sim.
- Gucci partnered with designers sapphire and Rook Vanguard, who have popular Roblox channels.
- The Stella McCartney x Builder Boy line from Stella’s virtual sustainable fashion collection allows consumers to opt-in for a one time purchase that contributes to ongoing cultural change. Maker Studio, a subsidiary of Stella America, provides an innovative 3D app for Maker Lab where followers can learn how to create clothes and interact with the direction of the design process right from their own homes.
- With their new initiative for consumers to custom design clothing, Tommy Hilfiger found a new marketing methodology that’s affordable in terms of the in-game economy. They have presented in-game creators with blank clothing designs, where artisans can take on different parts of designing to establish their sense of style. These predesigned clothes are essentially exclusive to this social media group, so future custom Metaversere can be wowed by the work.
Start and build your fashion eCommerce line in the Metaverse with EpiProdux’s product management tool. Use marketing campaigns to increase profits with EpiProdux by managing each marketing campaign. EpiProdux shares a few cool campaign ideas that capitalize off of the latest trends in fashion and combine them with an innovative concept for your product line.
3 Tips to Help you Build a Sustainable Fashion Ecommerce Business in the Metaverse
#1. Pick your Targets
Think about who you are going to market your business to. For the fashion industry to hold itself countable, we must create value and impact our current and future generations. It’s a quick way to get quality attire at a reasonable price which makes us happy as opposed to making it unaffordable, leaving budding designers out of investment/business opportunities due in part to overspending.
From capturing custom Metaverseing habits to improving user experience on mobile, consider the potential of the Metaverse with your MetaverseRE strategy. Consider how much time your target demographics spend in the Metaverse and adjust your plan accordingly. Brands focused on younger generations tend to stay competitive by being early adopters of new technology.
#2. Watch Your Competition
As a business leader, you have a responsibility to help your team grow and work towards a common goal. With today’s online world being primarily digital, brainstorming has moved more from physical to virtual. Start by having colleagues respond to topics in the Metaverse. This tactic captures the attention of every member of the company and breaks down barriers that might be Metaverse progress on shared items or ideas.
#3. Look for Applications
For businesses, the Metaverse provides more opportunities for exploration and Metaverse retail internet to serve customers with a sustainable approach. Companies would use the Metaverse as a space to try new things and measure how it affects sustainability related ESGs. The Metaverse guarantee that their CMO already has sustainability on their agenda. The transition to the Metaverse will give the Metaversees more sustainable approaches for serving those customers.
#4. Plan your Entrance
Settling into the Metaverse doesn’t happen as quickly as settling onto the mall grounds. So you’ll want to start thinking early about how to show up the Metaverse your agency team to begin formulating a point of view on how your fashion brand should show up in the Metaverse and when it might make sense. Holding companies and independent agencies are both keenly watching mass media behaviours and emerging trends and can tell you what (and believe me, they’re watching!)
Final Word
Technological solutions in the fashion eCommerce industry are becoming increasingly more valuable. With technological advancements and the creation of online shop assistants, new ways to connect with potential buyers’ experiences have become available. And this includes multi-sensory approaches that can lead to higher conversion rates because consumers are drawn into a virtual space through videos produced by brands or websites and augmented reality campaigns.
Having AR and VR s solutions can also help boost eCommerce sales to promote engagement and brand presence across multiple channels. Small businesses without the budget to utilize such technologies can take advantage of virtual reality, which allows for a higher level of consumer engagement and product appeal.
Work with Epiprodux’s product management tool, and you will have the tools and information you need to develop your business. With a modern technology based marketing strategy in place, customer segmentation analysis, Metaverse research, and segmentation, EpiProdux’s will help you start and grow a profitable fashion business in the Metaverse. EpiProdux leverages the latest technologies to provide you with a not so fictional scenario for making virtual fashion reality.
To get up and running with EpiProdux’s product management tool, start your free trial here and try your hand in any fashion eCommerce business opportunity above. Boost your profits today!