Can immersive technologies help struggling bricks-and-mortar retailers to create new shopping experiences and gain an edge against the likes of Amazon?

The past decades have seen a dramatic decline in traditional retail spaces as more people shift towards online shopping. So much so, that empty shops and malls have become a common sight, especially in smaller cities in the US and UK.

Malls were built for patterns of social interaction that increasingly don’t exist
Share on X

Millennials account for more than $1 trillion in U.S. consumer spending, yet they spend differently than previous generations, valuing experiences over possessions, and meaning over money. This why we’ve seen the shopping malls sector being both literally and figuratively demolished by the Millennial generation. Credit Suisse estimates that by 2022, 1 out of every 4 malls in the US could be out of business. This means an average of 8,600 closures in 2017 alone.

As Harvard Business professor Leonard Schlesinger reminds us, “malls were built for patterns of social interaction that increasingly don’t exist.” They made shopping efficient in a time of suburban sprawl. But then came the Internet, Amazon.com, mobile phones, and apps. One-click shopping with free same day delivery is pretty damned efficient.

Millennials account for over $1 trillion in U.S. consumer spending, yet they spend differently, valuing experiences over possessions
Share on X

Where retail used to be about places, therefore, the emphasis has now shifted towards experiences and non-repeatable moments, hence the enduring popularity of live concerts, sports matches, and luxury shopping.

“Places for bigger groups socializing or engaging with something are dying: bars, night clubs, shopping malls too. Groups of people enjoying social interaction are getting smaller. People are either on their way or at home and lots of social interaction happens online, in smaller groups normally – not at real spaces any more,” says Jonathan Nowak Delgado, cofounder of German-based startup HolodeckVR, which has been developing hybrid sensor technology allowing for up to 100 users to share a stadium-size arena at once.

The idea behind it is to have 10 people or more interacting socially in the same physical/virtual space, and this social/spatial context applied to VR is what makes it a particularly compelling proposition. In a 1998 article, B. Joseph Pine and James Gilmore coined the term “Experience Economy”, to
 refer to the premise that successful businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers, and that with memory themselves becoming the products.

Immersive technologies have the potential to bridge the gap between bricks-and-mortar and online retailing, bringing together the best of the digital and physical worlds
Share on X

Immersive technologies have the potential to do just that, by bridging the gap between bricks-and-mortar and online retailing, and bringing together the best of the digital and physical worlds. Location-based VR presents a way to amplify the shopping experience.

Where retail used to be about places, the emphasis has now shifted towards experiences and non-repeatable moments
Share on X

That scenario would see derelict or declining retail outlets transformed into attractions in their own right –shopping portals where customers can access products and experiences that they wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere. This could well prove a lifeline for local economies struggling to adapt to the new digital economy.

Human-centered design (HCD) is a methodology
 for creating new services and experiences that
 resonate meaningfully with customers, and according to Delgado, this approach is key for creating compelling content for platforms such as HolodeckVR.

Holodecks can save places and enhance moments
Share on X

When I spoke to Jeff Burton, cofounder of Electronic Arts and advisor to HolodeckVR at the Pioneers conference in Vienna earlier this year, he was enthusiastic about a range of applications for the holodeck, specially around education:

“A Holodeck classroom is the dream of any school kid wanting to fly through the solar system, roam through ancient Pyramids or walk with the dinosaurs. That’s the future of education without any doubt.”

In a commercial retail/entertainment scenario, not only would users in a small-town outlet be able to browse and buy a range of products and services comparable to the Dubai Mall, but access a range of unique and personalized experiences that would be impossible either in a traditional store setting, or on a website.

Users in a small-town outlet would be able to browse and buy a range of products and services comparable to the Dubai Mall
Share on X

Considering buying a new set of golf clubs? Take them for a few practice swings in a professional golf course of your choice. Japan, Florida or Scotland, are all only a few clicks away. Shopping for a new kitchen? Stand in the middle of it and change the layout to your heart’s content, until it looks and feels just right. Always dreamed of shopping in Rodeo Drive but afraid of getting the judgmental “Pretty Woman” treatment from snobbish sales assistants? With VR nobody would need Richard Gere to come to the rescue at all, as each experience is tailored for the customer.

“Holodecks can save places and enhance moments,” concludes Delgado. “We offer the most precise economic free-roam XR tracking tech to date. Our holodecks are disrupting how humans are interacting in virtual and real spaces on an unprecedentedly large level.”

Many have been quick to dismiss VR as a solitary medium full of isolating experiences, yet this emphasis on human connection and socialization as a catalyst for economic recovery and growth shows the varied and exciting untapped potential for immersive technology.

This article was originally published on Forbes

Will Virtual Shopping Malls Save Retailers?https://t.co/h1PUSJcqdp

— Forbes Tech (@ForbesTech) July 22, 2018

For companies looking to leverage Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR Tech Trends offers a comprehensive range of Virtual Reality Consultancy Services.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Shopping Malls 2.0 – The Future is Virtual appeared first on Tech Trends.

Cyber Week and Black Friday shopping figures are in, and show how businesses that embrace technology are thriving in the digital age.

In the run-up to Cyber Week, experts were already predicting a huge holiday season for e-commerce, but with Black Friday and Cyber Monday now behind us and Christmas just over two weeks away, it is safe to say that 2017 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year, especially for mobile.

In the run-up to Cyber Week experts were predicting a huge holiday season for e-commerce
Share on X

The National Retail Federation reported that 81 million U.S. residents shopped online on Cyber Monday, compared with 66 million on Black Friday. According to Bigcommerce, an e-commerce platform which serves thousands of merchants worldwide, during Cyber Five, the five-day shopping period spanning Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, brands using their services experienced an average sales increase of 21%, which is 4% above the industry average.

2017 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year, especially for mobile
Share on X

Cyber Monday was the biggest sales day for online and for mobile ever in the US
Share on X

This was also the first year in which mobile orders surpassed desktop sales volume during Cyber Five. In 2016, 54% of orders were on desktop devices, and 46% originated from mobile devices. In 2017, mobile orders accounted for 54% of all orders, surpassing desktop on all Cyber Week days. The data also revealed that iPhone users spent 7.1% more during Cyber Five than Android users.

Cyber Monday was in fact the biggest sales day for online and for mobile ever in the US. While online sales amounted to a total of $6.59 billion mobile broke a new record by reaching $2 billion. The Verge reported that mobile also dominated over desktop for the first time for Shopify merchants, which include brands as varied as Tesla Motors and Kylie Cosmetics, according to the company.

This was also the first year in which mobile orders surpassed desktop sales volume during Cyber Five
Share on X

People now have different expectations of how technology should enable shopping experiences
Share on X

These numbers tell an interesting story, because they illustrate how far consumer behaviour has shifted in recent years. People now have different expectations of how technology should enable shopping experiences, and businesses that don’t meet those expectations will inevitably lose sales.

These numbers illustrate how far consumer behaviour has shifted in recent years
Share on X

None of this happened overnight, of course. Brands have long been investing in ways to leverage data to build customer profiles, inform their marketing strategy and outreach, and refine their sales funnels. But the capacity to extract actionable insights from large datasets was traditionally reserved for bigger companies such as Amazon, who had the vast resources required to dedicate to this. Advances in AI and machine learning have, however, democratized access to such insights and tools, and started to level out the playing field.

Advances in AI have democratized access to insights and tools, and started to level out the playing field
Share on X

And this, according to Jimmy Duvall, BigCommerce’s Chief Product Officer, is a key part of the value that platforms such as his can offer to smaller merchants, equipping them with the tools and insights that allow them to offer experiences on par with the likes of Amazon.

“BigCommerce looks at same-store sales to determine the real increase in revenue and orders data year over year for ecommerce brands on the platform with insights into category-specific insights, device trends and purchase activity by region,” he explained. “The significant increase in same-store sales this year further highlights that small and mid-sized retailers continue to thrive, even as Amazon and other industry heavyweights expand into new markets and categories. We fully expect this to be the biggest and most successful online selling season in history.”

This doesn’t mean that smaller merchants are only in competition with larger platforms such as Amazon, Google Shopping or Ebay, however. We live in an age where consumers demand omnichannel experiences, and e-commerce platforms need to provide an open architecture that can be seamlessly connected to other business applications, reducing complexity and operational costs for merchants wherever possible. In practice, that means that merchants can use a single product catalogue to sell their wares across a variety of channels in a frictionless way.

Merchants can use a single product catalogue to sell their wares across a variety of channels in a frictionless way
Share on X

BigCommerce supports services such as PayPal One Touch, which boasts an enviable conversion rate of 87.5%
Share on X

Steve Fusco, vice president and general manager of global distribution at PayPal, says they thrive on this collaborative approach, which means, for example, that BigCommerce supports services such as PayPal One Touch, which boasts an enviable conversion rate of 87.5%.

This year, however, merchants also gained access to data from PayPal Marketing Solutions, which provides insight into customers’ buying behaviours and lets merchants add customized banners to their online stores.

“BigCommerce and PayPal have much in common at the core of our businesses,” said Fusco in a statement, “and through our expanded relationship we are delivering access to fully integrated products and services that help merchants increase sales and average order value.”

Offering customers an array of choices not only in terms of product, but financing, has been one of the key factors in this explosive sales growth. “Since offering PayPal Credit, we’ve seen a significant increase in orders and conversion with lower cart abandonment rates,” said Abe Issa, CEO of Florida-based online retailer DealBeds.com.

Data creates opportunities to improve in-store experiences
Share on X

E-commerce is being driven by insight, and brands both great and small are embracing data to reflect their customer needs and by giving their customers what they want, reap the financial rewards of site experience enhancement, optimised checkout and platform modernisation.

Data creates opportunities to improve in-store experiences and make customer service provision more agile and efficient. As platforms continue to integrate big data into their offering, we will continue to see the consumer journey improve across all sectors. The adoption of the developing mobile and AI technologies will increasingly enable retailers to deliver experiences that are perfectly tailored to each customer and market.

E-commerce is being driven by insight, and brands are embracing data to reflect their customer needs
Share on X

The future of retail is doubtless going to be immersive, experiential, and personalised, and that paints a bright picture for businesses that embrace technology and innovation.

This article was originally published in the Huffington Post

Why E-commerce Needs to Look Beyond the Shopping Cart https://t.co/125ti2BlB2

— Alice Bonasio (@alicebonasio) December 10, 2017

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Holiday Shopping is Getting Techy appeared first on Tech Trends.