Immersive Commerce
Immersive Commerce: Walmart’s Virtual Shopping Innovations
Walmart uses immersive commerce to engage younger shoppers, while addressing the challenge of building trust in virtual payments for seamless shopping.
Article by Cihan Uzunoglu | October 18, 2024
Immersive Commerce: Key Insights
Engaging Younger Shoppers: Walmart is using immersive commerce to engage younger consumers, leading to a 96% approval rating for its Walmart Discovered platform and increased likelihood of non-shoppers buying from Walmart.
Building Trust in VR Payments: A key challenge for Walmart’s immersive platforms is building consumer trust in VR and AR payments, as 29% of consumers are hesitant to use these technologies for transactions due to a lack of familiarity.
Walmart is leveraging immersive commerce – a combination of Virtual Reality (VR), 3D visualizations, and gamification – to engage younger shoppers and explore the future of online shopping.
The company’s experiments in virtual worlds highlight how retailers can use immersive experiences to connect with new audiences.
Learning From Roblox and Beyond
Walmart's journey into immersive commerce began with the launch of Walmart Land on Roblox in 2022. While initial community feedback was lukewarm, with only a 53% approval rating, Walmart quickly adapted.
By partnering with leading Roblox creators, they co-created Walmart Discovered, an experience where users could earn virtual items tied to real-world purchases.
This strategy paid off, leading to a 96% approval rating and 24 million visits by September 2024. Additionally, non-shoppers were 2.85 times more likely to shop at Walmart after visiting the virtual space.
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Building on its success, Walmart launched The Cultureverse on Spatial, an immersive world celebrating Black culture and hip-hop's 50th anniversary. In 2024, Walmart also debuted its own platform, Walmart Realm.
Featuring three virtual storefronts curated by influencers, Walmart Realm integrates social media trends with immersive shopping, offering a new way for users to interact with Walmart's fashion, beauty, and home collections.
Understanding Mixed Reality Payments
As Walmart continues to explore immersive commerce, one challenge remains: building consumer trust in virtual payment systems.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), which are central to platforms like Walmart Realm, have yet to gain full acceptance as reliable mediums for making payments. A study by the Paysafe Group revealed that:
Nearly a third (29%) of respondents don’t feel they know enough about mixed reality (VR and AR) to make payments using these technologies.
18% of consumers would consider using them in the next few years as they become more common.
While 12% said they would not trust mixed reality for payments, another 10% are open to adopting it as they gain more understanding.
Expanding Immersive Experiences
Walmart’s success with immersive commerce highlights the need to address consumer concerns about VR and AR payments. Building trust in these virtual platforms is essential as the company continues to refine Walmart Realm and other experiences.
By focusing on security, usability, and real-time data insights, Walmart aims to create a seamless shopping experience that appeals to younger consumers. As it fine-tunes these virtual worlds, Walmart is shaping the future of online shopping – one that merges convenience, entertainment, and trust, ensuring its relevance with the next generation of shoppers.
Sources: MIT SMR, Paysafe Group, Statista, ECDB
