Along with tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, Adobe, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Khronos, the broad group that recently announced a metaverse standards consortium also included Ikea, Wayfair and Alibaba — major retail and e-commerce players.
As corporate leaders work to develop the emerging metaverse — a concept envisioned as an immersive blending of the physical and online worlds that will revolutionize work, commerce, entertainment and other aspects of human life — it's become clear that consumer brands and retailers are expected to play a significant role.
A new survey, however, suggests that the digital native teens and 20-somethings who constitute Generation Z don't particularly care whether brands develop a presence in the metaverse, although they would be interested in "hybrid in-store experiences that use mixed reality technologies to incorporate a virtual element to shopping."
The B2B retail tech firm Zipline in May surveyed 600 people ages 13 to 50 to understand attitudes toward the "retail metaverse" across generations.
"Companies are focusing a great deal of time, money and resources on expanding their presence in the metaverse, but for the average consumer, it can be hard to understand the value in these investments. For most, the metaverse is an abstract concept and one that many struggle to grasp," Zipline CEO and co-founder Melissa Wong noted in a June 23 blog post, when her company released the survey results.
"Despite its obscurity, the metaverse has quickly become one of the tech industry's most promising niches. A virtual-reality space in which individuals can interact with others, shop/access NFTs and exclusive products, or participate in gaming activities, it was recognized by Gartner as one of 2022's top five emerging trends and technologies," she wrote.
While companies are making significant investments in the metaverse, however, retail's "biggest spenders," Gen Z, are indifferent to the science fiction-like idea, according to Wong. This tech-savvy generation, which includes the youngest adults and others nearing adulthood, "has roughly $360 billion to spend on retail, but they can be particular about where and how they spend their money," she said.
Zipline's survey found that 80% of Gen Z is familiar with the metaverse and just over half have participated in its early versions through activities like gaming and buying nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Slightly more members in the next youngest generation, the millennials, are familiar with the metaverse but far fewer, 37%, participate in it, according to Zipline.
"Yet, despite Gen Z's acquaintance with metaverse, a key takeaway may be their disinterest. The survey found that 85% of Gen Z respondents reported feeling indifferent about brands developing a presence in the metaverse — a potentially worrisome stat for retailers diving head-first with multimillion-dollar investments," Wong said.
More than 80% of survey participants who had engaged with the metaverse cited gaming as their primary reason for doing so, while more than 40% reported they'd used it for shopping, Zipline reported.
