Can it (re)attract virtual e-commerce?

While e-commerce interfaces tend to become standardized today, guided by conversion and performance issues, can virtual worlds be used to augment and configure online shopping experiences, by having the best of both worlds?

If we often talk about recreating the magic of the customer experience at point of sale, the topic is still relatively little explored in e-commerce. Certainly because it is not experiencing the crisis, and with the support of the pandemic, it is still registering 15% growth in 2021. After the development of direct shopping, will the promises of Web3 meet the need for e-commerce to pass in a new stage, by integrating more fun, human and unexpected Into an effective but possibly highly coordinated online shopping experience?

Behind the industrialization, standardization of interfaces that questions

E-commerce interfaces also translate this essential manufacturing well and today follows a well-established mechanism: design that meets graphic guidelines of the operating system or templates provided by e-commerce platforms; optimization of mobility and architecture for the automation of user actions and response management; Fast track purchase checkout in guest mode; stylish screens so as not to distract the sale; Inspiration with Social Networking Codes… All e-commerce sites and apps meet almost the same performance and conversion challenges and rely on the same tools. The multiplicity of interfaces to be experienced (sites, applications, marketplaces, vendor and customer interfaces, etc.) logically push players to engage in rationalization logic (platforms and tools, front-end technologies, design system, etc.). strengthen this uniformity. danger? Switch to a certain cooler, making the purchase itself take precedence over its experiential aspect, and forget about the interaction between the customer and the brand, which is increasingly hidden behind their product listings and one-click calls to action. However, if the purchase is immediate, what is left after payment?

3 Examples of Product List Page in E-Commerce Apps

3 Examples of Product Page in E-Commerce Apps

71% of customers now admit frustration with impersonal shopping experiences, and at the same time, 84% say they prioritize experience over products (source: Cegid). Les clients viennent donc en magasin : pour retrouver du lien, du conseil (43% d’entre eux estiment être plus susceptibles d’acheter un article en étant en contact avec un vendeur) et vivre des émotions qui ne peuvent se susciter en ligne… or almost. Also, online, issues of size and composition, materials and touch, and space visualization still generate friction and costly revenue logistics for many players.

L ‘infinite gradient Is it the only solution to your online shopping outing?

Over the past few months, the Web3 wave has been flooding the media and LinkedIn feeds – this article will be no exception – and it seems that brands like Eden need to be conquered ASAP for fear of missing out on the upcoming revolution. Creating and diversifying products in the virtual version, buying land in Decentraland or The Sandbox, accepting payments in cryptocurrency, coding loyalty programs based on NFTs … There is no need to go back to the numerous initiatives that allow brands and retailers to set foot in this world.

What interests us here is the potential promise that these interfaces hold – in 3D and in virtual reality – to bring more into an established online experience, without creating new frictions. To see if it is, by materializing the point of sale and recreating these warm spaces on digital. We can have the best of both worlds. Creating new experiences that make endless scrolling through product lists not the main expression of browsing pleasure while shopping online.

We have also prospectively worked with SNCF (feu voyages-sncf) to consider purchasing train tickets in virtual reality, the process of making and experimenting with which is still visible. here.

SNCF Virtual Experience by USERADGENTS

Recently, we realized this with La Redoute Christmas digital windows Which, in an eventful way at a high point, came to translate this crossbreeding of online commerce icons by coming to take over Parisian department stores luring young and old around the magic of Christmas every year.

Presentation of “Games” at La Redoute by USERADGENTS

The emergence of the “metaverse” (Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, Sandbox, Decentraland, Horizon, etc.) somewhat focused attention on the crossroads of the current audience. Far from questioning the audience of these platforms and their suitability for the purpose of some brands, many of them only offer builders to build their presence, and today severely restrict creativity and standardization of experiences.By DNA is very game-oriented.

Without interoperability or a common development language, these audience hubs will also require significant investment, while waiting for intermediate solutions to facilitate deployment, as is the case in the markets today. Interacting with the e-commerce infrastructure (PIM, DAM, and PSP) versus the need to use other technologies pre-integrated by these platforms will complicate maintenance.

In the meantime, some brands like La Redoute are developing new experiences on their digital ecosystem (website and apps) based on augmented, virtual and mixed reality technologies. Representatives like Balenciaga (among the first) or P&G Beauty (recently) revealed their new product collections and put them up for sale in a 100% virtual version, in stores on their website. Creating a virtual experience on your site, on your app, means meeting consumers by creating a vision space that is capable of carrying your DNA, it really creates brand preference by focusing on visuals, animation, and sound, and it really showcases different moments to live its customer . We no longer only provide a description and visual of a product that he can buy, but display it in 3D, to buy a virtual copy, to try it via an avatar created in his image and measurements., But also to fully immerse yourself in the world of the brand, to enjoy thanks to the game mechanics, and to take advantage of the services And the privileged relationship, the cooperation… The personal shopper has a sharp vision or the ability to touch the texture of the product using touch gloves.

Recreating the magic of e-commerce has also begun at Printemps

In this approach we have supported our client Printemps in creating an integrated virtual point of sale on Printemps.com. Realizing that the challenges of virtual commerce are being built today, we decided to go step by step and adopt an educational stance, promoting the discovery of the new online sales space.

Concretely, the visitor is invited to enter a 3D store inspired by Printemps Haussmann and to discover the famous lobby in which nature has reasserted itself. As he wanders through the lush floral compositions, he discovers a selection of 30 exclusive and creative products available for purchase and has access to an enchanting hanging garden located in the heart of Paris. Every week for 6 weeks, 5 randomly selected buyers can receive an NFT, a digital work by Romain Froquet, and one of them will win the artist’s original painting. Through this process, the goal is not only to provide an entirely new experience but also to make customers understand the interfaces of tomorrow and support them – too – in their first steps in Web3.

My first virtual store by spring and users

To learn more about the origin of the Printemps virtual store, Listen to this episode audio notation Small talk!

To learn all about augmented, virtual and mixed reality, Download our study for free Special “artificial reality”.

Do you want to create your own virtual shopping experience? Users can It guides you in your choices and helps you answer all the inevitable questions before it begins. call us!