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BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

where items of clothing are placed over the user's im- And certainly nothing beats the experience of a live
ages. And instead of rotating the products 360° in a concert, but what if the concert is sold out, the event is
window on the screen, the user can examine them from too far away, or you just don't have time? For example,
all sides with VR and place them in different settings. users could follow the concert live with their virtual real-
For example, furniture can be placed in differently fur- ity glasses, which creates an immersive experience
nished virtual rooms, car dealerships can allow users to even without physical presence. Theoretically, concert
virtually sit (and drive) in different models and try out providers can sell unlimited tickets for a concert and
different functions such as seat colors. open up new target groups.
Instead of "just" enabling individual products to be ex- Of course, what applies to concerts can also be applied
perienced virtually, entire stores could be virtually simu- to other events that previously required physical pres-
lated in which users walk through, "take individual prod- ence: musicals, theatre performances, but also sporting
ucts off the shelf" and have all relevant information dis- events. Tens of thousands of people fit in larger football
played directly in the virtual world: price, availability, stadiums, but millions watch some games in front of
sizes, additional services, cross and upsells, etc. How- their home TV that could be considered as a target
ever, such an additional option should be integrated group for virtual reality stadium visits.
into the "normal" online shop to enable a cross-channel The fact is that virtual reality is gaining in relevance as
shopping experience.
a marketing channel, but it remains to be seen which
Not to mention that location-based communication can types of virtual applications will actually be used in the
be linked particularly well to AR applications: as soon end. In any case, a conceptual examination of the topic
as the user enters a shopping center, for example, they is recommended to see which application scenarios
receive an SMS with the request to open the AR appli- could be relevant for your own business model. Of
cation in the shopping center operator's app. If the user course, professional 3D graphic designers who can
now looks through his smartphone camera, layers with model objects, design textures or create effects are
the current special offers appear in front of all shops. required for this. In addition, it is important to create
interfaces between the VR application and the shop
Product training & events system and to check whether it makes sense for the
respective application scenarios to track user behavior
Product training in B2B causes high expenses, even if in the virtual worlds and whether this is also legally and
these are usually billed as part of the service. The cus- technically feasible.
tomer advisor or technician drives/flies to the customer
and shows him how to operate a machine on site. For The question also arises for digital dialogue marketing
some products, this training could take place virtually in as to how virtual reality applications can be integrated
the future. Avatars could also be used to demonstrate without causing blatant media breaks or even disrup-
the machine in the virtual production hall. tions to end devices, because VR glasses are an addi-
tional device that is probably only used selectively for
certain applications. We will see! ◊By Daniela La Marca

14 August 2022: Immersive Technologies in Marketing