The virtual reality industry continues to fire on all cylinders, by the look of things. Walmart has come up with a new VR simulation focused on Black Friday. In fact, it seems this endless loop of splurging and shopping never comes to an end. It is a very interesting way to get customers to spend more money, although the potential impact of this new approach remains rather unclear.
Walmart Continues to Experiment With VR
One has to commend Walmart for not giving up on emerging technologies at an early stage While virtual reality may not have the appeal marketeers had hopes for, there is still a good reason to keep exploring the boundaries. Walmart’s training academy is designed to focus on new technologies and keep staffers trained at all times. As such, virtual reality is slowly taking center stage in this department.
One of the main reasons Walmart goes into VR is due to their desire to innovate. A total of 17,000 Oculus Go headsets will come to nearly 5,000 stores around the United States. One of the VR experiences currently being explored focuses on the upcoming Black Friday shopping bonanza. Walmart is confident they can increase consumer spending by focusing on virtual reality.
Gartner VP Robert Hetu adds:
“If you think about the overall marketplace today, pure-play e-commerce isn’t as competitive today as it was in the past. Almost everybody has good e-commerce. The store environment is where you can create differentiation. Walmart sees VR as a way to efficiently provide an elevated shopping experience.”
For most consumers, Black Friday is a nightmare when it comes to visiting stores in person. With virtual reality, they can still have the benefit of checking out products in detail without risking a trampling. As such, this new VR experience can be quite beneficial in the long run, assuming it can gain any traction. Black Friday and VR shopping seem two peas in the same pod, although not all consumers will be convinced by it. For employees, exercises like these can help improve their overall customer support as well.
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