The pace at which new technologies emerge in today's times is bewildering and exciting at the same time. Generation gaps are passé, 'intra-generation gaps' are in.
We are at the cusp of how we will interact, shop and socialize online. The 'first state' was successfully designed & crafted mainly by a few tech companies. The business of retailers and brands mostly revolved around the platforms (ad or social) that were created by these few tech start-ups turned behemoths.
Brands will increasingly need to create experiences for their users in metaverse to increase customer engagement. As AR, VR metaverse technology matures and pop-culture continually changes, the need for a customer's coherent brand experience should not be lost in a patch work of user experiences in the metaverse.
The 'second state' could well be different if the retailers and brands themselves, choose to truly focus on the user experience and let the users/customers engage with their respective brands & products AND take control of this development in-house.
With AR, VR and metaverse brands have a chance to move beyond the cookie centric engagement, towards a more transcending relationship with the customers and sell them an experience along with the products.
Talking about products - the product portfolio of a retailer or e-commerce player will also look a lot different in the second state. Think skins, accessories for your customers' metaverse avatars. The portfolio will likely need to be a mix of products for metaverse needs v/s 'classic' tangible products. The metaverse centric products may have a real-world twin or not. The metaverse products on the e-commerce or online retail platform may only be compatible with your brand's metaverse world or galaxy or also with others'..
The options are limitless and the brands that can stay on top of the metaverse pop-culture - the 'metulture' AND the technology will have an edge in shaping the second state of retail and social experience.
This post was originally published on www.tarun.page
