Virtual Reality and 360 Video: The Future of Shopping?

With the proliferation of the Internet and the ever-developing world of technology, it seems like everything is going online. Gone are the days when shopping means having to go to a mall or a shop, physically search and hunt for a dress, a bag of or a makeup that you need, and exerting all that effort to hop from store to store to find the perfect item you need. Today, there is online shopping—with just a smart phone and data connectivity, you can do shopping anytime and anywhere. Products are available for virtual viewing with samples of actual use or application to give shoppers a better perspective of the product. What makes this more interesting is that just like physical shopping, you can ask sellers real time about the product and even read reviews from past buyers or users to get a better opinion of how good or bad it is. And just like that, with an online payment as well, you can expect the package delivered on your doorstep in a few days. The world we live in, right?

While it may seem like this may so far be the best way to do online shopping, wait until you hear about virtual reality and 360 video and how these two are the future of shopping. Virtual reality is a computer technology that utilizes the use of multi-projected environments through a virtual reality headset that aim to produce images, sounds, and sometimes even sensations to mimic the physical presence in a virtual environment. A 360 video on the other hand, are videos that are taken by an omnidirectional camera and records a view in all directions, recorded at the same time. The user who plays back the video has full control of which direction he would like to see. These two advancements in technology bridges that will make online shopping better.

Take for example, shopping for home furniture. You cannot just borrow sofa sets and accent pieces so you can try it at home and see if it sits well with your other furniture. However, through the interactive nature of e-commerce tools such as virtual reality and 360 video, you can upload actual pictures of your home in a platform and try on furniture so you get an actual visuals of how it would look like in real life. Certainly saves you time and effort and gives a whole lot of new experience of shopping. The same goes for apparel and other items but instead of uploading your picture and trying on some clothes virtually, you get to take an online tour of the shop and scrutinize items of your interest on your phones.

A number of shops from different parts of the world are starting to venture on this and although it may seem like it’s still a long way to go before virtual world takes over shopping, it’s a fancy sight to imagine a marketplace where marketing costs are cut, reduced return rate, and provide sophisticated analytics for brand owners and retailers.