Does the average person want to shop for clothes in virtual reality (VR)? Speaking for myself, it sounds pretty cumbersome: having to put on a headset to search for, say, pants instead of clicking through some galleries. But not everyone agrees, particularly those hoping to build a business out of VR retail.
Get into emperia, an “immersive” retail startup that, to its credit, has already built virtual stores for brands like Bloomingdales, Dior, Ralph Lauren, and Lacoste. Launched in 2019, the idea came from one of the co-founders, Olga Dogadkina, who previously worked in the luxury retail sector.
“It became clear to me that while eCommerce was the future of retail, 2D websites were simply a tool that enabled an online purchase through a simple grid of images and text, but lacked the customer journey, storytelling and the ability to provide the customer experience and product discovery retailers’ physical stores strive to achieve,” Dogadkina told TechCrunch in an email interview. “My other co-founder, Simonas Holcmann, and I launched Emperia to bridge the gap between the transactional nature of an eCommerce purchase and the personalized shopping experience brands can cultivate in-store.”
from emperia The platform offers tools that brands can use to create virtual experiences, including virtual reality stores. Integrates with existing e-commerce and stock management software, tracking demographics, store activity, and purchases. With Emperia, brands can host live events with hosts who guide them through a virtual space, or customize exhibits and displays with 3D models and images of real-world inventory.
“Visitors” to Emperia’s virtual spaces do not have to wear a virtual reality headset, which is crucial. The platform, which can be integrated into existing websites, is compatible with phones, laptops and tablets and does not require the installation of an app or software.
“Using technology, Emperia aims to make virtual worlds the future of e-commerce, expanding reach to new and future online shoppers, increasing brand loyalty and creating a whole new shopping experience,” said Dogadkina. “Emperia works directly with retailers’ heads of eCommerce, solving the user experience, data analytics, and online engagement issues they’ve been struggling with since the inception of ecommerce, by providing a new solution that harnesses the power of virtual worlds to match and exceed the in-store customer experience and attract new target audiences, who use their mobile devices as an escape to retail.”
Emperia collects a lot of data, data that not all buyers are comfortable sharing. Studies show that many virtual reality and “metaverse” platforms record information that could be used to identify a person, even if their data is not identified on the device.
A virtual store created with the Emperia platform.
Dogadkina states that Emperia only collects interaction, transaction and demographic data to give brands “visibility into how users navigate and engage in [their] virtual spaces.” He also points out that the data, which he claims is not personally identifiable, is stored for “a limited amount of time”, in compliance with GDPR rules.
New verticals and better customization tools are on the horizon for Emperia, says Dogadkina. The startup is also experimenting with machine learning, focusing on the technology’s ability to create 360-degree images and videos for product demos.
“This is a fledgling industry and so there is a lot of both market and user education involved in introducing people to this technology and ensuring that brands are able to capitalize on its potential,” Dogadkina said. “As a relatively new industry, retailers are looking for multiple solutions to build and design their virtual worlds. While it is rich in solutions, from data to security, 3D modeling and digital tokens, to a wide variety of metaverse platforms, each with their own audience and specific capabilities, the options are out there, but integrating them all together is a daunting task. . That is one of the driving forces behind our desire to provide complementary solutions under one roof.”
But will VR have any staying power, and is VR retail really catching on?
Maybe. According to an August 2022 report According to PwC, about a third of consumers had tried a VR app in the past six months, and of those consumers, 32% purchased products after trying them out in VR. A seperation poll of more than 2,000 US shoppers, taken in November 2022, found that approximately 37% planned to shop using VR and augmented reality.
On the other hand, Deloitte poll September found that just 5% of US internet users were expected to shop in VR before the 2022 holiday season. Highlighting the pressure platform developers face, AltspaceVR, one of the first apps VR social networks, was recently canceled by parent company Microsoft.
Dogadkina is choosing to believe the optimistic predictions, and she has a reason for doing so. Despite competition from vendors such as Obsess and ByondXR, Emperia has 45 clients in sectors including fashion, beauty, luxury apparel and sports. It also attracted a $10 million Series A investment led by Base10 Partners, along with Daphni, Sony Ventures, Background Capital, Stanford Capital Partners and Concept Ventures.
Emperia expects to increase the size of its workforce from 40 people to 120 by the end of the year.
Image Credits: emperia
“The pandemic definitely accelerated awareness among retailers of what immersive and technological e-commerce experiences could do and the role they could play in their sales strategy,” Dogadkina said. “The previous marketing hype, which relied on the short-lived campaign and virtual space, has now turned into a permanent, long-term e-commerce solution, which is treated as a ‘flagship virtual store.’ Retailers have much more experience, with specific roles within those organizations that specialize and oversee the creation and maintenance of these spaces, understanding that the virtual store is a completely new experience, different from the physical store environment, which presents a real expansion opportunity. the attractiveness of the brand for the buyers of the future”.
