Advent of AR, VR and metaverse is a golden chance for e-commerce players, online retailers and brands to strategize past the monopolistic platforms

The pace at which new technologies emerge in today's times may be bewildering.... rather bewildering and exciting at the same time. Generation gaps are passé, 'intra-generation gaps' are in.

We are at the cusp of how we will interact, shop and socialize online. The 'first state' was successfully designed & crafted mainly by a few tech companies. The business of retailers and brands mostly revolved around the platforms (ad or social) that were created by these few tech start-ups turned behemoths.

The 'second state' could well look different if the retailers and brands themselves choose to truly focus on the user experience and let the users/customers engage with their respective brands & products.

With AR, VR and metaverse there is a chance to move beyond the cookie centric engagement, towards a more transcending relationship with the customers and sell them an experience along with the products.

Talking about products - the product portfolio of a retailer or e-commerce player will also look a lot different in the second state. Think skins, accessories for your customers' metaverse avatars. The portfolio will likely need to be a mix of products for metaverse needs v/s 'classic' tangible products. The metaverse centric products may have a real-world twin or not. The metaverse products on the e-commerce or online retail platform may only be compatible with your brand's metaverse world or galaxy or also with others'.

The options are limitless and the brands that can stay on top of the metaverse pop-culture - the 'metulture' (just coined this term) AND the technology will have an edge in shaping the second state of retail and social experience.

Buckle up for an exciting journey and change ahead.

Come back for more thoughts on the AR, VR and metaverse and metulture and keep an eye on freundAR for upcoming products and tools to help navigate & lead this journey ahead.