Virtual Reality in retail has obvious upsides such as removing the limitations of space and time, reducing marketing costs, etc. The downside is that it requires hardware and special headsets, which most of the people do not have and are unlikely to get because of high prices. But the industry is optimistic, customer interest is there, and many companies have already started VR projects as we’ve seen above.
So what about business opportunities? Here are few potential business benefits of VR in retail industry.
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Distinct store design & layout
Right off the bat, it is cheaper to put together a virtual store than a real one. Design issues related to such VR stores are pretty similar to those in a real physical environment. Also, virtual reality tech is evolving and improving, so there could soon be options to visualize store designs, to do A/B tests of different layouts, to test consumer acceptance, etc. Shelf and assortment layout is one particular area that has already been given a go in many VR projects.
Store walks and performance
As with Alibaba special project, VR is entering a new area of business – applying analytics to help create contextual shopping. If efforts are successful, there could be possibilities to walk in a store virtually, see store analytics off the actual store layout, browse and find certain products or product categories. Store chains could benefit from such ability to check the performance of a store in the context of its layout.
Consumer feedback
Virtual reality makes shopping an experience for both, the buyer and the seller. When a buyer experiences the product through a VR headset, the chances of making the sale becomes higher benefitting the seller whereas the experience received through the VR headset helps in perfect decision making for the buyer.
This is how; VR is fetching the two most important entities, buyers and sellers closer to each other to understand each other’s perspective better. In the future, judging the purchase behavior f the consumers and setting up the shops according to the requirement would be easier with the help of VR applications.
Conquering the market
VR can be real helpful in securing a fair share of the market for your business. Virtual reality, no matter how effective is still a new bee round the corner and the market lacks enough quality content to support its optimum potential. If you can set up a VR corner for your business, it could be the turning point for your business performance. People tend to try the new things in the market and with VR experience integrated with shopping, any business cam claim a niche for its identity and existence.
Virtual reality is surely the one variety of technology that will emerge as the most important part of the market tomorrow. If you have growth plans for your business in mind, make sure that you start using the VR applications to add wings to your business.
