Is the road to the meta-universe of The Attack on Retail Giant Walmart easy?

Financial Associated Press | Blockchain Daily (Beijing, reporter Dong Yujia) news, the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart is not willing to be left behind in the "meta-universe" boom.

Recently, Walmart filed seven applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows that it is preparing to enter the meta-universe and intends to produce and sell virtual goods, including electronic products, home décor, toys, sporting goods and personal care products.

Another application shows that Walmart also plans to create its own cryptocurrency and NFTs.

Gu Yanxi, a senior scholar of Bitcoin, analyzed the "Blockchain Daily" reporter that Wal-Mart's online business is lagging behind Amazon, which is equivalent to it having missed this trend.

"For now, Walmart wants to fully grasp the opportunities brought by the meta-universe and improve its business model." He said, "This is a very normal thing, metacosm is a technology application trend that is developing all over the world, and many merchants will come in and expand their business." ”

Attack on Walmart

From the financial report data, Wal-Mart's revenue in fiscal 2021 reached $559.151 billion. Affected by the epidemic, Walmart's e-commerce revenue in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 8% year-on-year, and sales increased by 87% compared with the same period in 2019.

The metaverse involves a variety of scenarios, and like real life, retail is an indispensable major scenario, so the growth of online sales may also be conducive to Walmart's metaverse layout.

Bu Rixin, an expert at whale platform think tank and partner of Chuangdao Consulting, also said in an interview with the "Blockchain Daily" reporter that the biggest change brought to business by the development of information technology and digital economy is the acceleration of the process and speed of change.

He pointed out that emerging business models are emerging in an endless stream, and the slightest slack will be eliminated, and it is difficult to have a solid century-old store. Walmart should also be aware of this, and if it does not embrace emerging things, it risks being marginalized or even eliminated.

In fact, Walmart's movements in the crypto space have continued, despite a oolong last September. A fake press release at the time claimed that Walmart would accept Litecoin as a form of payment, which was later confirmed to be false news.

Last October, Walmart partnered with cryptocurrency ATM company Coinme to launch Bitcoin ATMs in some of its stores in the United States, allowing customers to use cash to buy bitcoin.

At the end of 2021, Walmart's CFO said at an analyst conference that the company is willing and allows shoppers to pay in cryptocurrency if customers need it.

On the U.S. Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), an application filed by Walmart on December 30, 2021, said it would provide financial services, namely digital currencies and value digital tokens to members through a global computer network.

Gu Yanxi pointed out to reporters that Wal-Mart, as a compliant retail institution, will definitely promote cryptocurrencies in a compliant way, and the biggest possibility is to launch stablecoins.

As for the release of NFTs by Walmart, official information is very limited at present, and social media is limited to speculation, and some people even joke that "what will their first NFT be, unattended images?".

In Bu Rixin's view, Wal-Mart launched NFTs, on the one hand, may be to cater to the preferences of the new generation of consumer groups; on the other hand, NFTs and the like may become a common means of payment in the future meta-universe, and payment is crucial for retail.

Prior to Walmart, retailers such as Nike had filed trademark applications with the intention of producing and selling products such as virtual sneakers and clothing. The number of players in the metaverse retail scene began to increase. It can be seen from the actions taken by brands on the road to the virtual world that everyone is based on existing products, technologies and business models to derive a meta-universe corresponding to the brand. Among them, the most direct motivation is to promote the development of the company's business by embracing new things.

A shopping experience in the metaverse

At present, for brands and companies, whether to enter the meta-universe is a choice facing them, and if they do not enter the market, it means that they will miss the trend.

But grasping the trend, how to play the "meta-universe" card is even more of a problem. After reports of Walmart's entry into the metaverse, a video on Twitter that allegedly showed "the way Walmart envisioned shopping in the metaverse" was hotly discussed.

Among them, the avatar browses the shelves with virtual items, selects them, and then puts them in the shopping cart. However, it is worth noting that the data of the avatar is held by the system, such as when it is purchasing alcohol, it will be checked whether it is an adult; if the selected item is already in the home, the virtual shopping guide on the side will tell "this does not need to be purchased again".

While this partly depicts the scene experience of shopping in the metaverse, the video was actually released in 2017 and produced by a company called Mutual Mobile for Walmart's participation in the SXSW conference, the world's largest creative business conference.

Talking about the shopping experience of the future meta-universe, Gu Yanxi said that the goods in the virtual world can be made very realistic, and everyone can experience it, no longer need to go to the physical store. "This effect actually feels better than looking at pictures directly, and it also narrows the actual distance between people communicating."

He further explains, "Shopping in the metaverse must take a process to achieve. The hardware will continue to improve, and there will be corresponding supervision to keep up. ”

Bu Rixin also expressed similar optimism in the interview. He said that the metaverse can improve the user experience. "In the future, meta-universe shopping will no longer be a two-dimensional screen sliding the mouse, but will bring a more immersive experience, immersive enjoyment of the feeling of chopping hands." However, the achievement of the ideal effect is not something that can be achieved by existing technology, and it also needs to rely on the technological progress of the metaverse. ”