23rd
The future of online shopping?
With the current generation growing up on 3D gaming, will the virtual mall/store concept now take off? 3D shopping first popped up in the late 90’s with sites like boo.com but never really took off. A quick search found several sites experimenting with the idea:
- http://www.themallplus.com/ - Opening Soon?
- http://www.uwalkthemall.com - A bit cartoonish, with cheesy mall music
- http://www.superhighstreet.com - Look for Oxford Street
- http://www.kinset.com - Online retailler and developer of virtual shopping software
- http://www.popwebcity.com/vmall/ - Didn’t work on Firefox for me
In addition, Second Life offers some a similar experience - albeit for pseudo-fictional products.
Some examples of virtual malls are shown below:
There is no question that the technology is available to offer web shoppers this kind of experience. But will they really want this? And will this work as a substitute for real shopping?
I think that brick and mortar shopping is safe. People who want something quickly or actually interact with the product will still visit the busy high streets and malls. Virtual shopping may however come as a substite for traditional online shopping; particularily when purchasers browse without a predetermined product or service. Established retail techniques of promotion and shelf placement might be reused here to influence purchase behaviour.
Another point of interest is with fellow shoppers, avatars in this case. Will shoppers really want them around or will virtual retailers try and use them to generate a herd mentality - A ‘busy’ web store must have better products/prices than a quiet one.
I do see the appeal for both shoppers and retaillers. Younger, 3D-world savvy generations may end up dropping their rocket launchers for their credit cards. Sites that adopt this technology early may have an advantage - conversely, they may again be wasting their money.
Has anyone had experience with virtual web shopping? Would you go back there again?
