Quick take:
- Walmart has unveiled its plan to revolutionise retail with twin physical and digital experiences in the metaverse.
- The company will allow its customers to buy some of the same items for their physical houses that they can buy for their virtual houses.
- The global retail giant is doubling down on its metaverse plans after filing several trademarks at the end of 2021.
Walmart is doubling down on its metaverse strategy after announcing plans to introduce new metaverse experiences that allow its customers to buy some of the same items for their physical houses that they can buy for their virtual houses in House Flip, the mobile game that lets players renovate and sell virtual homes.
The company is also allowing customers to buy virtual clothing based on its virtual clothing brand Scoop on Zepeto, Asia’s largest metaverse platform.
The company said its vision for the metaverse is to establish deep connections with customers. The metaverse is described as a 3D virtual world where people can interact through gaming, shopping virtual goods, and socialising.
In December 2021 the company filed multiple trademarks related to the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are blockchain-based digital files that provide proof of ownership of a JPEG, music track, short video, or digital artwork.
In September last year, Walmart expanded its metaverse strategy with the launch of two immersive experiences called Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play on Roblox.
The latest new experiences expand the company’s active role in the virtual 3D world. According to Thomas Kang, VP & general manager of metaverse commerce at Store No. 8, Walmart’s innovation arm, “Walmart’s goal is to power commerce in the metaverse, wherever customers choose to enter it,” VentureBeat reported.
“We’re not trying to replace or isolate the reality with virtual, but rather connect it and make it better for the customer,” Kang said. “We want to make sure that what we do is contextual and authentic to the customer. We want to add to the experience and the convenience.”
According to Kang, his company is uniquely positioned to create twin experiences for its customers “given that almost 90 per cent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store.”
“We can use our physical locations as places to engage customers, for example, if you buy something physical, we may be able to give you something virtually for free,” added Kang.
The company wants to create an experience that allows customers to purchase physical items contextually and natively in House Flip using their Walmart account without leaving the virtual world, allowing them to check out with the Walmart account for both virtual and physical goods.
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