Staging the new retail drama: at a metaverse near you!

Abstract

Consumers have traditionally looked for products that could fulfill their needs and retailers responded to demand by initially adopting product-oriented, and then more recently, customer-oriented strategies. This shift was heavily underpinned by technology, which enabled retailers to implement more intelligent approaches that evolved around consumers based on their profiles. The next step in this transformation is now towards a “unique” experience creation, with retailers providing a retail theater experience that is different and special and consumers enjoying an increased opportunity to interact and participate in the overall experience. In this paper, we examine how metaverses, i.e. Internet-based virtual worlds, and more specifically Second Life, can potentially provide the stage for this retail theater experience. Our discussion takes place in the context of two cases that are used to highlight the implications of retail theater for both consumers and retailers and illustrate the opportunities and challenges they face.