Is Virtual Shopping the Right Fit for Connected Consumers?

Millions of virtual worlds users around the world are used to buying things in-world.

Whether the purchase is a sword or a snowboard, virtual worlds have successfully integrated markets into gameplay.

Now one company wants to see if virtual consumers will show the same willingness to spend real money shopping in virtual mock-ups of real cities.

Pixels and Policy looks at how a new project plans to redraw the boundaries of virtual shopping. But is it what consumers are looking for?

Virtual Window Shopping

Virtual shopping has a long history - consider Amazon.com. Amazon is a virtual store that simply lacks the graphical world interface of Second Life, but allows users to sample songs before they purchase, flip the pages of a digital book and examine an item from every conceivable angle and zoom level.

Amazon also takes advantage of the "cloud" aspect of virtual consumerism - hundreds of buyers rate an item based on their experiences, creating an aggregate "star level" that helps guide potential buyers. Consider it a sort of augmented reality for products, accessible from your living room.

Imagine if all of this information could be transplanted into a virtual environment where an avatar could physically enter a store and manipulate a virtual version of a product.

Enter Near London, a project launched in partnership with Linden Lab. Near London provides not only a photorealistic tour of Britain's famous city, but also allows an avatar to wander and shop in real stores, with real purchases shipping direct to your door. Visit the virtual Apple Store, check out the digital iPhone, and then plop down your credit card to get the real thing in a few business days.

Near London first received public attention in December 2008. What's the ambitious consumer platform been up to since then? Why, gearing up for a proposed November 2009 launch as the crown jewel of Near Global's virtual ambitions.

Adding Entertainment to Shopping

Near London plans to cover the majority of the tony West End, London's cultural and retail heart. But how many consumers and developers will shell out for Near's software when the real West End is only a drive away? Well, Near argues, the virtual West End provides much more:

Near™ London will launch with a range of pick-up-and-play games and experiences that use our city model to deliver high-quality entertainment in full 3D:

Challenge your friends to a race around London. Enable the game layer to generate cars and to pick your route.

Take to the air in scale-model aeroplanes and compete to control the London skyline.

The Great London Bargain Hunt is a team-based treasure hunt focused on the best deals available in Near London and in key locations around the West End.

Will consumers be drawn to a virtual shopping center where the world is both carefully managed by real-world retailers yet elastic enough to enable airplane chases and scavenger hunts? What's more, will consumers looking for a new dress be interested in the option of racing cars on the sidewalk?

Near tries very hard to distance itself from the idea that it is just a clothing catalogue in three dimensions, but will the games included in Near London be enough to draw consumers from experiencing a real shopping experience?

Real-world retailers are hopping into Near London in anticipation of the Christmas holiday, but will consumers show interest in the thinly-publicized new world? If Near London is a success, real-world retailers will take notice. Even if Near London fails, it will have provided invaluable information about just how far into their everyday lives consumers will allow virtual worlds.

Comments

[Jonathan Kent]

NearLondon is not in any way associated with Linden Labs. I think the misunderstanding must have arisen from posts on a Second Life news site. NearLondon is wholly owned by NearGlobal which is itself a private company backed by a small group of UK based tech entrepreneurs and investors
Jonathan Kent
Director of Communications
NearGlobal