eCommerce is the Biggest Metaverse

Digital Media is one of the smaller segments within the Statista Digital Market Outlook with a global market volume of US$313 billion in 2021. Yet it has a promising sub-segment which is moving faster and faster away from a niche business towards a flourishing, wide-ranging industry with the potential to reach an ever-greater mainstream audience: gaming. According to the Statista Advertising and Media Outlook, gaming is going to outrun TV and Digital Video as the biggest media segment by total global revenue by 2027. The gaming business is becoming ever more tech-driven, moving towards an immersive experience in which the boundaries between reality and fiction become blurred. Developers have created a term for this new virtual space: The Metaverse – a concept which is inspiring developers and investors from other business fields as well. In theory, the Metaverse can become a new stage of digital economy, where people play, interact, and shop in virtual and mixed realities on a large scale. Up to date, the Metaverse is mainly a concept in gaming, but it is likely to expand towards other sectors. The Metaverse concept holds great potential also for eCommerce. It has the potential to combine the physical store experience with the convenience of online shopping – by letting customers virtually walk through a store, but from the comfort of their own homes. According to the Statista Digital Market Outlook and McKinsey data, eCommerce is going to play a substantial role in the Metaverse in the near future:

All Metaverse market segments are experiencing immense growth. The entire Metaverse market is expected to surge by an impressive 759% between 2022 and 2027, shooting up from US$39 billion to a worth of US$335 billion. eCommerce is currently the biggest Metaverse market segment with a volume of US$16 billion. Although it is going to lose some of its market share within the Metaverse market in the future, eCommerce is expected to stay as one of the most important Metaverse pillars through 2030. A growth of 375% secures the eCommerce segment the top spot in the market through 2027, with a market volume of US$76 billion. By 2030, Virtual Assets will overtake eCommerce as the biggest Metaverse market segment. In general, the Metaverse opens up a huge world of new opportunities for brands and retailers to attract and satisfy customers. Thanks to AR, VR, blockchain and other technology, an immersive shopping world is only a few steps away.