A Glance at Virtual Commerce in The Metaverse

Imagine savoring a freshly brewed coffee with your friend in a park. He mentions a new pair of sneakers that he likes and recommends trying them too. Immediately a set of sneakers appears in your peripheral vision. The images float by; he selects the styles and allows your AI assistant to refine your selection. You love the recommendation but the style and detailing is not what you expected. So, your AI assistant provides you with a customizer to make your design. 

A slight hand gesture and swipe allow you and your friend to browse the various designs of the laces and tweak the color combination a little bit. You buy the sneaker NFT for your holographic avatar. The shoes will be delivered to your doorstep in a week. 

You say goodbye to your friend and leave the park, but in reality, you didn’t even leave your couch. 

Say hello to Metaverse, a virtual extension to our real world. Metaverse is a 3D version of the internet created using augmented and mixed reality. 

Keith Jordan, VP, Mastercard Labs, in an interview, said, “In the next few years, mixed reality will become more accessible for businesses and consumers, transforming our lives in unimaginable ways. Over the next decade, we will experience hybrid worlds in different dimensions due to a tsunami of technological advancements.”

Bloomberg projects that by 2024, the value of metaverse will approximately reach $800 Billion. This is a 16-fold growth compared to last year’s $48 Billion.

How Metaverse Will Transform Virtual Commerce?

Combining the physical and virtual worlds will amplify our everyday experiences. The metaverse offers unlimited access to consumers as compared to the physical world. 

Alan Smithson, the co-founder of MetaVRse, explains, “Digital and physical worlds will not be distinguished. The metaverse is timeless. It never pauses. They are always there.”

Corporations are beginning to see the benefits. Aside from the devices themselves, they’re also creating libraries and other resources that can be accessed whenever and wherever you want. This industry will grow at a CAGR of 54% from now until 2026, to reach $372 billion in the global augmented and mixed reality revenue. (Extracted from the Mastercard Newsroom)

What Currency Will Be Used in Metaverse?

The currency in the metaverse is the same as in the real world. The currencies act independently, having no influence from the US Dollar or British Pound. To conduct business in the United States or the United Kingdom, consumers, businesses, and banks exchange these currencies. V-Bucks, Robux, COD Points, and Minecoins are some of the virtual currency used in games like Fortnite, Roblox, Call of Duty, and Minecraft. When it comes to her birthday and Christmas lists, my teen daughter frequently includes Robux. Currently, 2,400 Robux are worth around $30. In Brookhaven, a role-playing game within Roblox, you can spend 40 Robux to upgrade your virtual vehicle.

Real-world payment methods are not accepted in the metaverse and one has to convert real world currencies in order to make purchases. To get an overview of how currency exchange will take place in the Metaverse, watch Ryan Reynold’s Free Guy movie.

How to pay in the Metaverse?

There seems to be a desperate need in the metaverse for a new currency that is tailored to the needs of the new world, rather than one that is borrowed from it. Tokens that are not fungible, such as blockchains and cryptocurrencies, have the potential to be the foundation of all metaverse commerce. In a recent report, Grayscale, the Bitcoin Trust, predicted that new virtual worlds could make up to $1 trillion a year from the metaverse.

Decentraland, a 3D virtual reality world powered by the Ethereum blockchain, is mentioned in the Grayscale report, which was published in November 2021. It will be available to the general public in February 2020, and users will be able to build everything from homes to theme parks in virtual reality. Another Ethereum-based token, Enjin Coin (ENJ), aims to make non-fungible tokens (NFTs) more accessible to users, businesses, and brands.

The value of NFTs minted in the Enjin ecosystem is directly backed by Enjin Coin. An Ethereum token-powered metaverse is a good fit for this application. As a blockchain platform for decentralized gaming, Enjin is located in Singapore and aims to serve as the backbone of the movement. Enjin, which was founded in 2009, is now one of the world’s most popular gaming communities, with an estimated 20 million registered users.

Metaverse gaming giants Bloktopia, Decentraland, The Sandbox, Highstreet, and MetaHero are among the most prominent. In order to make transactions easier, each of these platforms makes use of blockchain technology. Digital commerce in the metaverse is expected to be heavily influenced by both Ethereum and NFT.

What Can You Buy in The Metaverse?

Meta’s virtual reality headset, Oculus, can be loaded with American Express, Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal by users of the Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms. In this way, data is transferred from one system to another by loading and exchanging values. What about shopping in the metaverse, as well? A variety of outfits were considered before Mark Zuckerberg decided on the final look for his new avatar in his video announcement of the change. The fashion industry appears to be just as obsessed with the metaverse as the rest of us.

Merchandise available only in the metaverse is already generating millions of dollars in revenue for major fashion labels. You’ll need clothes in the future if your work and play take place in the metaverse. You won’t be able to run errands around town in your underwear.

There is an estimated $40 billion annual market for video game skins, which is where most of the fashion industry’s investments in the metaverse have occurred. Skins are a low-cost way to connect with fashion-conscious gamers.

The luxury fashion house of Cristóbal Balenciaga, founded in 1919, has teamed up with Epic Games, the parent company of Fortnite, to create a video game for its Fall 2021 fashion show. Similar collaborations are now being announced by a number of other brands. When the British designer Stefan Cooke said his designs would be incorporated into The Sims, it was a big deal. They’re mounting NFTs to be ready for the metaverse.

Adidas, Nike, and H&M are also focusing on the metaverse in an effort to establish a foothold. An NFT collection is being launched by Adidas Originals, the fashion, and lifestyle division of the German sportswear giant. Furthermore, Adidas has purchased 144 virtual parcels of land in the game The Sandbox, which can be played on both mobile devices and PCs running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Gucci’s Roblox bags have become famous for selling virtually rather than in the real world. A Burberry-designed NFT character has sold for eight times its original retail price at Blankos Block Party. According to Morgan Stanley, the luxury goods market for metaverse gaming and NFTs is expected to grow to 10% by 2030, representing a €50 billion revenue opportunity for fashion brands. This is yet another instance of virtual land grabbing.

The future of commerce in the Metaverse

Fashion skins, NFTs, music, and video games will all be available for purchase in the metaverse as digital-only items. The metaverse will also host events, such as music concerts and business conferences. These will all need to be traded in the metaverse, and blockchain technology will be the preferred method of transaction.

A pioneering, revolutionary approach to defining the metaverse economy is unlikely to be based on existing payment systems in the real world or the old world. In the metaverse, it is currently unknown who will be the retailers, and what products and services will be available for purchase. It’s all about getting as much virtual land as possible in the metaverse for retailers and brands to position their brands.

Cooperative Computing has empowered the growth of several companies by leading projects that plug them into the Metaverse with NFT sales and Metaverse migrations.. If you are interested in growing your business’s brand and revenue by expanding your business in the metaverse, let’s begin with a chat.