07/07/22

Retail Trend: Buying Virtual @IRL

Pioneering companies are reimagining the retail, shopping, and product experience by activating the two-way street of virtual and real-world engagements.

Companies, and even institutions, are rewarding and engaging their audiences in virtual spaces through activations that connect them to social experiences, digital items and designable versions of their IP and assets.

The Sims and Depop partner to bring thrifting to the metaverse
Fashion resale app Depop is opening up a virtual store in the Sims 4. Included as part of the Sims’ newest expansion back, “High School Years,” the in-game local thrift store and hangout, called “ThrifTea,” will stock a rotating collection of custom metaverse fashion pieces designed by Depop’s most popular sellers in real-life, including Bella McFadden, Selena Williams, Lapoze, and more. Depop

Walmart develops new at-home AR shopping experience
A public beta AR tool from Walmart is focused on making the shopping experience immersive, personalized, and “always-on.” The at-home, in-app tool lets shoppers virtually try out furniture, decor, and even “back to college” items while at home by using AR to digitally place the products. Using their mobile camera inside the Walmart app, shoppers turn their home space into a virtual staging room they can decorate with the up to 300 items Walmart made available for the feature. Walmart

Microsoft “weaves together” digital textile journey
Powered by Microsoft’s digital AI tools including Azure Custom Vision and AI Text Analytics, the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in the Indian tech hub of Bengaluru is gathering long-dispersed and diverse sources of information and media about Indian art and culture into a single platform and resource. Called INTERWOVEN, the initiative digitally unites the physical textile collections of museums across the world, giving users the chance to explore the physical aspects of their visual, historical, and creative connections through an innovative virtual environment so that they can see the journey of textiles across era, geography, and more. INTERWOVEN

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