Interested in embracing the Metaverse?
Things that may help you embark on the journey
Articles (recommended to read in sequence)
The Metaverse Reimagines Retail
https://www.therobinreport.com/the-metaverse-reimagines-retail/
New BFF Community Aims to Help Women, Nonbinary People Pursue Crypto
https://wwd.com/business-news/technology/bff-web3-crypto-women-nonbinary-investment-1235053161/
Metaverse Study: 70 Percent of Virtual Store Visitors Purchased Items
https://wwd.com/business-news/technology/metaverse-study-obsess-virtual-stores-shopping-1235051523/
The Metaverse Will Radically Change Retail
https://www.retailprophet.com/the-metaverse-will-radically-change-retail/
Should retailers be investing in the metaverse?
https://www.retaildive.com/spons/should-retailers-be-investing-in-the-metaverse/617436/
How Brands Can Enter the Metaverse
https://hbr.org/2022/01/how-brands-can-enter-the-metaverse
To ICO or to IDO? That is the question
https://cointelegraph.com/news/to-ico-or-to-ido-that-is-the-question
Survey: How much do consumers like NFTs?
Ralph Lauren CEO says metaverse is way to tap into younger generation of shoppers
Why NRF is taking the Metaverse very seriously
https://www.morningbrew.com/retail/stories/2022/01/18/nrf-metaverse
The Metaverse: 101
*https://mirror.xyz/themeaganloyst.eth/kUmuLvRKFs6CimhFGVmlP7kBHPKCswPra_U05Clwncw
A General Guide to Metaverse (ETP)
https://atomarsexchange.medium.com/a-general-guide-to-metaverse-etp-3d9ca969d4e2
Apple-branded Metaverse, Anyone?
Survey: Metaverse shoppers make good customers
Editor’s commentary: What could the ‘Metaverse’ mean for retail?
https://www.chainstoreage.com/editors-commentary-what-could-metaverse-mean-retail
Is the Metaverse Bubble Waiting to Burst?
https://retailwire.com/discussion/is-the-metaverse-a-bubble-waiting-to-pop/
A survey’s findings show that nearly half of surveyed consumers (44%) say they have no clue what an NFT is, and more than one-third (36%) say the same for virtual goods. One in 10 respondents say they know what NFTs are and want to learn more, and nearly that same amount (9%) says the same as it relates to virtual goods.
DFS opens “new digital marketing frontier” with move into the metaverse
The Role of Smart Contracts in The Metaverse
https://coingape.com/the-role-of-smart-contracts-in-the-metaverse/
Balmain, Barbie and the Blockchain
Metaverse real estate sales top $500 million, and are projected to double this year
How fashion brands are scouting for metaverse talent
https://www.glossy.co/fashion/how-fashion-brands-are-scouting-for-metaverse-talent/
Meta Talks Fashion’s ‘Multidimensional’ Metaverse Marketing Opportunity
Gartner: A quarter of consumers will use the metaverse daily by 2026
Nike sues StockX over NFT shoes
Victoria’s Secret Plans to Offer NFTs in Metaverse
WALMART WE’RE BUSTING INTO THE ‘METAVERSE’ …W/ Our Own NFTs, Crypto!!!
https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/16/walmart-metaverse-trademark-nft-cryptocurrency-virtual/
Breaking Down NFTs, Digital Art, Blockchain Technology for the Fashion Crowd
What is a non-fungible token (NFT)?
6 things CIOs must know about NFTs
How to create an NFT — and why you may not want to
Dangerous vortexes and floating pics of Jamie Dimon: Big business is trying hard to grasp the metaverse
CSA Exclusive: Metaverse tech company plans virtual mixed-use center
How Brands Can Capture Consumers in the Metaverse
In its second NFT drop, Rebecca Minkoff is learning from the past
https://www.glossy.co/fashion/second-nft-drop-rebecca-minkoff/
Registering for your baby – in the metaverse
Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY and other brands to participate in Metaverse Fashion Week
https://www.retaildive.com/news/tommy-hilfiger-dkny-and-other-brands-to-participate-in-metaverse-fashion-w/620955/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-03-24%20Retail%20Dive:%20Tech%20%5Bissue:40545%5D&utm_term=Retail%20Dive:%20Tech
Meta’s Alvin Bowles: ‘Personalization and Privacy Don’t Have to Be at Odds’
https://www.adexchanger.com/platforms/metas-alvin-bowles-personalization-and-privacy-dont-have-to-be-at-odds/
Why Tommy Hilfiger’s CEO Believes Metaverse Fashion Week Added Value To The Business
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniehirschmiller/2022/03/31/metaverse-fashion-week-with-tommy-hilfiger/?sh=581be8b16c5a
Pacsun lets customers open metaverse shops on popular gaming platform
https://chainstoreage.com/pacsun-lets-customers-open-metaverse-shops-popular-gaming-platform?oly_enc_id=3882G8380467G5X&utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_CSA+Day+Breaker&utm_keyword=
A $300,000 Dolce & Gabbana Tiara You Can Only Wear in the Metaverse
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-300-000-dolce-gabbana-tiara-you-can-only-wear-in-the-metaverse-11648817988
Survey: Are consumers ready for metaverse shopping?
https://chainstoreage.com/survey-are-consumers-ready-metaverse-shopping?oly_enc_id=3882G8380467G5X&utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_CSA+Day+Breaker&utm_keyword=
NFT Boom: How Retail Can Turn Digital Assets Into a Gold Rush
https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/nft-boom-how-retail-can-turn-digital-assets-into-a-gold-rush/
How can brands find meaning in the metaverse? Co-creation and community
https://www.retaildive.com/spons/how-can-brands-find-meaning-in-the-metaverse-co-creation-and-community/621399/
Is the metaverse influencing real-life trends?
https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/is-the-metaverse-influencing-real-life-trends
The MetaMall: The Next Big Retail Development Will Be in Cyberspace
https://www.therobinreport.com/the-metamall-the-next-big-retail-development-will-be-in-cyberspace/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=regular&utm_source=The+Robin+Report&utm_campaign=fbf54c6c77-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_04_07_00&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e90268c709-fbf54c6c77-201739169
Metaverse and crypto: Retail’s next digital frontier
https://nexus.nrf.com/session/metaverse-and-crypto-retails-next-digital-frontier?utm_medium=email&utm_source=SmartBrief&utm_campaign=Nexus&utm_content=pacsun
Survey: Metaverse commerce poised for growth
https://chainstoreage.com/survey-metaverse-commerce-poised-growth?oly_enc_id=3882G8380467G5X&utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_CSA+Day+Breaker&utm_keyword=
What’s in Your Vending Machine?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sanfordstein/2022/05/06/the-costco-love-affair-continues-and-it-is-making-walmart-blush/?sh=507467ad1880
Marketing in the metaverse is ready for takeoff
https://corp.smartbrief.com/original/2022/05/marketing-in-the-metaverse-is-ready-for-takeoff?utm_source=brief
Crate and Barrel names SVP of the metaverse
https://www.retaildive.com/news/crate-and-barrel-names-svp-of-the-metaverse/623648/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-05-12%20Retail%20Dive:%20Tech%20%5Bissue:41730%5D&utm_term=Retail%20Dive:%20Tech
LuisaViaRoma’s Andrea Panconesi Launches NFT Marketplace
https://wwd.com/business-news/technology/luisaviaroma-andrea-panconesi-nft-marketplace-1235182515/
Platforms
Boson Protocol – Built for creators, communities and merchants, Boson Protocol enables the seamless exchange of digital assets for physical products, services, and experiences.
Decentraland – a digital asset token powered by the Ethereum blockchain. In other words, Decentraland Mana is a blockchain-based virtual reality platform that offers users to buy virtual land in Decentraland as well as other goods and services.
Discord – a VoIP, instant messaging and digital distribution platform. Users communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called “servers”
MetaVRse – a code-optional platform that makes it easy to create & share interactive 3D experiences instantly on the web.
Obsess – an Augmented & Virtual Reality software platform for experiential shopping. Our proprietary technology enables brands and retailers to serve 3D 360 shopping experiences on their websites, mobile apps, and social channels via their 3D Commerce Cloud.
OpenSea – An NFT marketplace.
Ready Player Me – Is a Cross-game Avatar Platform for the Metaverse. One Avatar, many worlds to explore
Roblox – Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation. It allows users to program games and play games created by other users.
(The) Sandbox – Blockchain-based virtual world. The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based decentralized NFT gaming metaverse that enables non-tech savvy users to create, sell, use, and monetize their own virtual reality NFTs. The crypto metaverse uses its native token SAND to underpin the entirety of the in-game economy.
Scuti – is the first advertising and direct to consumer marketplace which provides brands a direct channel, through games, to hundreds of millions of players seeking personalized, curated product offerings and rewards on every purchase. Scuti is designed and built by game-makers
SuperRare – An art NFT marketplace.
Games
Animal Crossing – console-based metaverse via Nintendo Switch
Axie Infinity – Axie Infinity is an NFT-based online video game developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis, known for its in-game economy which uses Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies.
Epic Games – an American video game and software developer and publisher.
Fortnite – an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017.
Horizon Worlds – Horizon Worlds is a free virtual reality, online video game with an integrated game creation system developed and published by Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) for Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest 2.
Pokémon GO – Pokémon Go is a 2016 augmented reality mobile game developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices.
Solutions/Services Providers
Blippar – AR software solution provider
Deqode (formerly Techracers) – Offers Blockchain services and solutions.
Intellectsoft – A digital-transformation consultancy
LeewayHertz – Blockchain development services
Limechain – Blockchain & DLT consulting and development.
Metaverse Group – Division of Tokens.com. Vertically integrated real estate company
Oculus – a division of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) that produces virtual reality headsets, including the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest lines.
Ripple – a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc.
Rtfkt – a digital art studio specializing in NFTs, blockchain authentication, gaming engines and augmented reality.
ScienceSoft – Blockchain development services
TerraZero Technologies Inc. – Is a vertically integrated metaverse technology company
Tokens.com – is a publicly traded company that invests in web3 assets linked to the Metaverse, DeFi, NFTs, and Gaming.
Unity – is a real-time development platform supports multiplayer gaming applications. a tool that allows you to accomplish different types of tasks related to the game production process. Unity provides game developers with a 2D and 3D platform to create video games. … Unity takes care of things like 3D rendering, physics, and collision detection. Unity Software Inc. is a video game software development company
ZenGold – is the world’s first blockchain application that allows gold trading and management through blockchain technology.
Zepeto – an app that lets you create a 3D animated version of yourself to use in in-app chatrooms. You take a picture of yourself, and it’ll create a personalized character for you (that you can also edit).
Blockchains
Blockchangers – Platform to create seamless services for government … In the process of rebranding to Symfoni Solutions.
ChromaWay – Relational blockchain
Ethereum – a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform.
Hyperledger Fabric – B2B-focused Modular Blockchain Platform.
OpenLedger – Blockchain and blockchain-based solutions
Quorum – Quorum is basically a private or permissioned blockchain network based on a fork of the Ethereum blockchain. The foundation of Quorum is the Go implementation of Ethereum. It leverages a voting-based consensus algorithm.
R3 Corda – Is a next-gen blockchain platform for financial services and beyond. It is built for the needs of highly regulated institutions, Corda is
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin – The world’s first widely-adopted cryptocurrency. With Bitcoin, people can securely and directly send each other digital money on the internet.
Boson Token – BOSON token is the core economic unit of the Boson ecosystem. It is used to govern the ecosystem, incentivize different actors, and share the value created.
DASH – Dash is an open source cryptocurrency. It is an altcoin that was forked from the Bitcoin protocol. It is also a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) run by a subset of its users, which are called “masternodes.”
Ether – Is the native currency of Ethereum.
MANA token – is the in-game currency of Decentraland and also serves as the platform’s cryptocurrency.
There are many more. Click here (Coinbase) for more information.
Payment Protocols
Ripple – a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-based technology company.
Stellar – An open-source, blockchain-based payment protocol. Stellar shares many similarities with Ripple, and like Ripple, Stellar is a payment technology that seeks to bring financial institutions together and greatly reduce cost and time on cross-border transfers. Stellar was later called Lumens or XLM.
Stripe – Bills itself as a “payments infrastructure for the internet.”
BitPay – BitPay is a bitcoin payment service provider. BitPay provides Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash payment processing services for merchants.
Glossary
AML/KYC (Anti Money Laundering/Know Your Customer)
DAO – Decentralized Autonomous Organization
DEX (Decentralized Exchange), Uniswap or PancakeSwap
DLT – Distributed Ledger Technology
Entropy (ETP) is the native token of the Metaverse blockchain. It is a utility token and a cryptocurrency that rewards miners and developers on its blockchain.
Gas – Most NFTs are sold on the Ethereum blockchain, and every transaction on the Ethereum blockchains costs fees that are paid to the miners. These fees are called “gas,” and the amount of gas you need for a transaction (and therefore how much that transaction will cost) can vary significantly. Almost everything you do on the blockchain, from minting an NFT to transferring it to someone else to bidding to purchase one, will cost gas (though there are some ways around this for creating NFTs, which we’ll go over in a moment).
ICO (An initial coin offering, or initial currency offering is a type of funding using cryptocurrencies. It is often a form of crowdfunding, although a private ICO which does not seek public investment is also possible.)
IDO (Initial DEX Offering)
IEO (Initial exchange offering (IEO) is a variant of initial coin offerings, operated directly by cryptocurrency exchanges
IRL – In Real Life. Not in Cyberspace, not Virtual Reality.
MST is not a cryptocurrency, instead, it is a form by which digital assets are found on the Metaverse blockchain.
NFTs (Unique digital assets stored on a blockchain ledger which certifies the owner)
Smart Contracts – Smart Contracts on blockchains enable the interactions within Metaverse communities while enabling transaction redundancy. They allow further innovation without adding to the cost element present in centralized technologies.
Web3 – Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on the blockchain, which incorporates concepts including decentralization and token-based economics.
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Web-30
Uses of the Metaverse in Retail
Initially, the applications of Metaverse in the retail space appear to be of a marketing nature. Retailers can create their own universe, open it to its fans and loyal followers and remain top-of-mind through gamifications and plain fun. The belief is that it engages a newer age group of potential life-long customers and that those who participate or travel through a retailer’s world, will venture into a store or ecommerce site and purchase physical product for real currency from it.
Additionally, it is possible for retailers already participating in the Metaverse, to offer its followers who are playing in the virtual space of AR an off-ramp into the retailer’s real-world ecommerce portal, wherein the heretofore ‘player’ will be able to spend real money on real products offered by the Metaverse retailer in question.
Recommendations from Shelley E. Kohan, Chief Strategist of The Robin Report (podcast available: click here)
- Invest and experiment in The Metaverse, be agile, keep the iteration process going
- Understand the concept and how to monetize it, how to unify integration with other channels (systems)
- Cocreate and collaborate with those that are further ahead but do not compete with you. Retailers do not all understand the concept or how use it.
- Banking requires a deep knowledge of cryptocurrencies and retailers are not bankers. Collaborate with entities outside the four virtual walls of your company to obtain that knowledge.
- Understand the market and how they shop, what is important to the current and upcoming generation of shoppers/gamers.
- Consider the audience’s computing power. What you offer cannot outpace the audience’s ability to access it, process it, and benefit from it.
A worthy note
As of this writing, there is no regulation over The Metaverse. Today, those who create are in charge of making up the rules and changing them.