One of the world’s largest retail supermarket chains officially announced that it has entered the metaverse with two immersive experiences from ROBLOX.
The giant Walmart has made the first steps in the metaverse after several announcements that were being discussed since the beginning of 2022. This announcement includes the novelty of two immersive experiences from the company, which are WALMART LAND, and on the other hand WALMART UNIVERSE OF PLAY.
According to the company, Walmart Land would be based on immersive experiences with certain features, such as unlockable tokens and badges, a DJ booth for various users who visit its space, a piano walkway that is interactive, among other things.
The Walmart Land area will feature the main character from the Stranger Things series, Noah Schnapp. In this section, they will also sell merchandise for avatars that match the products they offer at Walmart branches.
In this way, the supermarket company anticipates and seeks the way to attract new consumers, in this case, the younger ones, both those who take advantage of the benefits of blockchain technology, and those who like or enjoy immersing themselves in the experiences provided by the metaverse, through games and virtual display of products in their respective gondolas, for example.
The company’s Marketing Director stated that this is the first important initiative they have in the metaverse. It is one more step to be able to reach customers in an unexpected way.
Walmart Land will offer fashion and beauty content directly to users of the Roblox platform, which has more than 52 million users per day, and will start with three types of experiences: Electric Island, House of Style and Electric Fest.
Electric Island is based on the world’s largest music events, where customers will be able to participate in various dance competitions, and even dive into a DJ booth. In October the company will hold a motion-capture concert known as Electric Fest, featuring various musical artists.
House of Style would be more focused on fashion and beauty, as it has a virtual dressing room and a cosmetics store. In this scenario, users will be able to participate in various shows with famous artists.
Also mentioned are the products of world-renowned brands that will participate in this metaverse, through their virtual product stores, or verch, for the different avatars.
On the other hand, there is the second immersive experience called UNIVERSE OF PLAY, which will focus on games and toys, where users will also be able to earn coins to exchange them for virtual products.
In this universe, the company offers games with products and characters from Jurassic World, Paw Patrol and many more, along with the possibility of exploring toy worlds.
The company stated that their main idea would not be to make money, since it will be completely free from the beginning, and while they intend to continue perfecting their strategy in the metaverse.
However, it is not excluded that in the future Walmart will begin to collect large sums of money, thanks to the collection of brands and artists that take part in its virtual spaces, as well as certain plans to convert virtual stores into physical ones.
This inclusion of Walmart in the metaverse is not an isolated and unrelated act. In January of this year, the company had already filed several trademark and patent applications related to the NFTs and the metaverse.
In total, they made 7 filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (UPSTO), in order to be able to market products in the metaverse.
Written by Luciano Garriga (TW:@luchogarriga) for NFT Express