Metaverse and Discovery Commerce, a new form of engagement 

Since the creation of e-commerce, which allows us to shop online, there has always been a gap with traditional brick-and-mortar stores. The Metaverse is precisely the point where these two solutions converge to create a new experience for consumers. 

One allows us to shop quickly, without queues and with access to huge shopping catalogs. But the other allows us to see, touch, and try a product before we buy it. 

• What is the metaverse? 

Simply put, the Metaverse is a fictitious virtual world that brings together a set of technologies that come from the digital world, such as augmented/virtual reality or NFTs, and that can be brought into the real world. 

🥱 I feel like we’re losing you, but stay a little longer, it’ll become clearer! 

• What is discovery commerce? 

It is a solution launched by Meta to offer advanced advertising for businesses. 

It is no longer up to the consumer to search for the right product, but it is up to the product to find the right buyer. This system, adapted on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, uses artificial intelligence to offer targeted ads to internet users. The buying process is simplified, and social networks become an interactive showcase according to our preferences! 

Discovery commerce may be a term that was still unknown to you until reading this article, but the Meta group unveiled its intelligent ads in 2020. The link with the Metaverse? A more personalized, attractive customer experience that tends to strengthen customer engagement. 

Meta wants to “create personalized and seamless consumer journeys, in which it becomes easy to discover a product, learn about its features, decide to buy it, pay for it, and have it delivered to their doorstep,” summed up Beth Horn, director of retail and e-commerce at Meta in London (source: ecommercemag.fr). 

The Metaverse is developing day by day to provide us with the best possible personalized digital experience “IRL” (in real life). 

• NFTs, keys to the metaverse 

Let’s add one more complicated term: NFTs (non-fungible tokens). So, what does it mean, what are we talking about, what is it for? 

1. A non-fungible item cannot be exchanged for an object of equal value, like a work of art whose value is subjective. 
2. An NFT guarantees you exclusive ownership of a digital asset. 
3. NFTs are only digital (a tweet, an illustration, an outfit in a video game, etc.). 
4. Transactions are usually done in cryptocurrency. 

So, what is the link between a digital ownership act and the metaverse? Well, brands can use it in several ways to improve and personalize their customers’ experience. 

Some companies like Gucci already have a foot in this new mode of consumption and customer relationship. Indeed, the Italian brand now owns a plot of land in The Sandbox universe – one of the most developed virtual worlds in the Metaverse – and clearly shows its intention to sell Gucci NFTs for digital avatars. 

• Metaverse, the future of customer relations? 

The Metaverse has a good chance of becoming the new mode of consumption thanks to the evolution of associated technologies such as virtual reality headsets that are becoming more accessible. As for the relationship between brands and their customers on these new platforms, everything remains to be defined! Designing attractive spaces, a playful customer journey, and taking advantage of the possibilities offered by a virtual world. 

For customer advisors, this will also be a new challenge. They will need almost instantaneous service and appropriate interactivity. A whole challenge. 

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There is a strong possibility that the metaverse will change our way of communicating with brands and consuming online, but it is likely that its first years will be filled with disillusionment due to the difficulties of establishing oneself in a new world without too many limits and the reluctance of users. Each company should already be asking themselves: How do we get started and what are we going to bring to it? 🤔✨ Let’s meet !