I asked the audience before the final session of a very productive International Housewares Association CHESS conference earlier this month, “Who knows what the Metaverse is?”
It didn’t surprise me that few hands were raised. I was quick to tell these accomplished housewares industry leaders that I, too, didn’t understand the Metaverse before doing some homework in advance of the CHESS session featuring Aaron Conant of BWG Connect, a digital commerce business networking and education specialist, and David Lucatch of Liquid Avatar, which specializes in digital identity creation and security for online experiences.
Conant and Lucatch engaged in a discussion on the Metaverse that was at times perplexing but ultimately provocative: perplexing in that the concept of real people recreating their lives in a virtual world can at first seem foreign, if not odd; provocative because Conant and Lucatch made a case for why housewares industry business leaders should begin asking about how they could participate in and profit from the Metaverse.
Without getting too deep into the technical weeds, the Metaverse is a computer-generated universe of virtual worlds that enable the digital identities of real people to interact in digital spaces online as they would in real life.
Stay with me.
The digital gaming business has been among the most fertile grounds for development and adoption of the Metaverse. You could virtually hear gears grinding in the minds of housewares industry executives at CHESS as Liquid Avatar’s Lucatch outlined a scenario where real people creating virtual homesteads in the Metaverse would pay real money for virtual housewares products to virtually cook, clean, entertain and more in their virtual living spaces. Yes, really.
Imagine a place, Lucatch said, where you can “sell” your products without inventory and related hard costs. Think of a user in the Metaverse visiting a virtual store, where it can buy all sorts of virtual kitchenware products needed to virtually cook up a virtual gourmet meal. Or a kids’ playroom in the Metaverse that prompts users when it’s time to clean up while directing them to a variety of required virtual cleaning tools.
Ok, that takes some imagination. But it actually already happens a lot… if you consider a Metaverse market value of more than $30 billion in 2021 a lot.
Perhaps a more understandable transition into the Metaverse for the housewares business is to consider it a virtually boundless, new-age marketing platform that can create gamified scenarios to introduce the fast-growing base of Metaverse-engaged users — many of them highly sought-after younger consumers — to products and brands. It’s a way to drive knowledge, experience, confidence and delight before converting users to purchases of actual products.
Maybe each purchase of virtual merchandise triggers coupons or other promotional incentives to buy the real thing. The Metaverse also could enable potential shoppers to experiment with different colors, features and other attributes: the ultimate focus group platform, without the extra cost and time of in-person sessions, to help direct real product development.
You might believe this whole Metaverse thing is some sort of inapplicable science fiction that is hardly worth exploring. Ask yourself, however, if thirty years ago you believed you would be able to purchase just about anything on a pocket-sized mobile phone.
Still not convinced?
Three days after CHESS, Walmart announced a Metaverse partnership with Roblox to open Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play, virtual spaces providing interactive content, entertainment, games and virtual merchandise. Walmart Land will present fashion, style, beauty and entertainment items directly to the global Roblox community of more than 52 million daily users. The Universe of Play unfolds as a unique toy destination in Roblox in time for users to establish their holiday wish lists.
Walmart doing anything new should get your attention.
Liquid Avatar’s Lucatch said he understands the apprehension or skepticism of housewares executives who can’t yet grasp the notion and practicality of investing in virtual worlds populated by virtual people buying virtual goods. He said the important first step, as with all unfamiliar new digital media technologies scratching the surface of the consumer products business, is to get housewares business leaders to start asking questions about the Metaverse.
Don’t wait too long to get some answers. The game has already started.
