The metaverse will change the way we shop – will it change the way we ship?

Can you believe ecommerce has been around since the early 90s? That’s right. We’ve been shopping online since hip hop and oversized plaid shirts came on the scene – and in much the same way these past 30 years. Interestingly enough, the now much-hyped metaverse has also been around for three decades – at least in the world of science fiction. The term first came to light in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, a cyberpunk novel from the early 1990s. The story takes place in a bleak dystopian future where the protagonists flee to the parallel metaverse to escape from the real world.

Our ecommerce experience has changed significantly since the early days. Broadband internet made browsing ecommerce shops much easier; smartphones, apps, and responsive websites encouraged the shift to mobile ecommerce (also known as m-commerce); and new buy-now, pay later options prompted more of us to click the buy button. But all of that just might feel, well, 20^th century once the metaverse takes off. This brave new virtual world has the potential to transform ecommerce from two-dimensional online shops to a fully immersive, 3D experience.

What will virtual shopping look like?

Not even those who promote the metaverse are able to offer a reliable definition of what it is. That hasn’t stopped Silicon Valley’s team of tech nerds in California from plugging away at the ‘next big thing’ for a while now, busily upgrading the internet to Web 3.0 – a virtual cosmos were the laws of physics no longer appear to apply.

But what does the metaverse look like? And what will shopping in the metaverse be like? Maybe something like this: one moment you're scrolling through some PowerPoint slides in an online meeting and the next you’re strolling along a busy virtual shopping street. You pop in and out of your favorite stores, which just happen to be right next to each other, like the favorites tab in your browser. After you make a purchase, instead of carrying it out of the store in a bag, your avatar hands it to a virtual DHL courier, who whisks it off to the online distribution center, where the virtual and real worlds meet and the physical copy of the non-fungible token (NFT) you just bought makes its way to your real-world home.

Tech futurist and self-dubbed ‘Godmother of the Metaverse’ Cathy Heckl imagines virtual “vending machines” appearing out of nowhere as soon as you think of a product you need. It may sound a bit far-fetched and even fantastical, but many like Cathy believe it’s only a matter of time.

In the metaverse, a space where the physical and virtual worlds meet, various technologies and digital applications will allow people to move freely through worlds, such as concerts and venues, and stores. Just put on virtual reality glasses and enter is one idea, at least. Technologies like Blockchain (a kind of digital ledger), NFTs, and Virtual Realities (VR) will make life in the metaverse possible. Blockchain and NFTs will provide digital proof of ownership, and a mix of virtual and augmented realities will create the experience, much like in many life-like video games today. 

Shopping in the metaverse is going to allow consumers to interact with brands online like never before. A digital storefront will be free from any physical barriers. People will be able to meet and shop together anytime and anywhere – and retailers will have the opportunity to engage with consumers in unrivalled ways and offer hyper-personalized experiences. That experience is going to have to include what happens to purchases after the money transfers from one digital wallet to another.

We don’t know what the future holds for the metaverse. But we can rely on this: As long as people shop there – and all signs say they will – logistics will be the bridge between metaverse ecommerce and their real-world homes.

The vision is clear. But widespread virtual shopping in the metaverse will take some time. So while we keep an eye on the metaverse, we’re keeping one foot in the real world while we explore ways to build that bridge to the many virtual worlds to come.