Physical and Digital Value

Virtuall is a digital fashion distribution platform that allows fashion brands to effortlessly build customer journeys across the Metaverse, enabling easy access to AR, 3D content creation, and more. - All simply by the click of a button.

Digital value products offer an exciting new way for fashion brands to engage with consumers and monetize their designs. As technology advances, we will likely see even more innovative uses for digital value products in the digital fashion world.

E-commerce allows fashion brands to reach a global audience while also offering the opportunity to tailor marketing campaigns to specific target audiences. In addition, NFTs enable fashion brands to create digital products with unique ownership and scarcity, offering collectors and enthusiasts the chance to own a one-of-a-kind piece of fashion history.

Creating value products can be a game-changer for e-commerce

With the help of 3D technology, fashion brands can create a digital visualization of their products that allows customers to see the product from all angles. This can help customers make more informed purchasing decisions, reducing returns and exchanges and increasing dwell time on the product, increasing customer conversions.

A study from Shopify shows that merchants who add 3D content to their stores see an average 94% conversion lift.

In one case example from NYC-based handbag retailer Rebecca Minkoff showed:

Shoppers were 44% more likely to add an item to their cart after interacting with it in 3D
Customers were 27% more likely to place an order after interacting with a product in 3D
Visitors were 65% more likely to place an order after interacting with a product in AR

Nike has used 3D and AR to create customer value and achieve e-commerce success. In 2019, Nike launched "Nike Fit," an AR feature that uses computer vision to suggest the best shoe size for users. This reduces the risk of returns due to sizing issues. Nike has also used 3D technology to create detailed product visualizations on its website; their 3D customizer allows customers to generate personalized sneakers in a detailed 3D view.

Read more about AR in our last published blog post here.

Link NFTs to specific products and AR filters

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that cannot be replicated. Fashion brands now use NFTs to create unique digital fashion items, such as virtual sneakers or clothing, that customers can own and trade.

For instance, Gucci created a digital sneaker that was sold as an NFT, adding value to the item and providing an opportunity for the brand to generate revenue through the sale of NFTs. By creating one-of-a-kind digital fashion items, fashion brands can attract a new audience, increase brand loyalty, and create a new revenue stream through NFT sales.

Combining AR and NFTs allows fashion brands to create unique and valuable digital fashion items that customers can try on virtually and own as one-of-a-kind assets. By linking an NFT to a specific product detected by AR filters, brands can attach rewards and discounts to enhance the customer experience. This attracts a new audience, increases brand loyalty, and creates a new revenue stream through NFT sales. AR and NFTs can potentially revolutionize the fashion industry and add value to the customer experience.

When discussing sustainability (a pressing concern for the fashion industry), combining this technology can help brands be more transparent about their environmental impact.

By using blockchain and other digital solutions, fashion brands can track their supply chains and share that information with customers in a clear and trustworthy way.

This can help to prevent greenwashing and allow customers to make more informed purchasing decisions.

Incorporating storytelling and engaging content can further enhance the customer experience and strengthen brand loyalty.

We have developed a jacket that effectively showcases the combination of various technologies, and this jacket is soon available for purchase as an NFT.

In conclusion, fashion brands can create value products in the digital space by utilizing technologies through NFTs such as 3D, AR, and interactive content. These value products can enhance the customer journey, increase brand awareness, and promote sustainability.

Contact Virtuall to learn more about what opportunities lay ahead for your brand.

A story of David stepping into Goliath’s virtual fashion world

From community engagement to brand narratives - a case study of the process, the challenges and key learnings of entering the virtual worlds (metaverse) of generation Z and Alpha with millions of gamers. The Danish fashion brand HerobyAhlgreen and the metaverse infrastructure start-up Virtuall tell their story of entering Zepeto and Roblox.

How can a small sustainable fashion brand enter a space and engage with communities of Gen Z and Alpha where currently only the large brands are making a name for themselves?

The Danish Ondemand production fashion brand HerobyAhlgreen and the Danish start-up Virtuall joined forces to find an answer to that.

Virtual worlds as a channel to reach younger generations

The world is observing a buzzing activity in the “Metaverse” space and many big brands are discovering a new channel for building community and differentiated customer experience through digital means, the more renowned ones are D&G and LVMH to mention two. Nike and their RTFKT are already connecting their physical products to digital “crypto kicks,” which are purchasable and used in digital experiences by their followers. This activity has raised an immense curiosity for other brands to follow, but not everyone has the financial or organizational capability to take the leap into virtual opportunity.

Rikke Ahlgreen, founder of HerobyAhlgreen, already saw her kids engaging with Roblox on a daily basis. With her clothing items targeting teenagers as well as adults, looking into virtual worlds just seemed to be the logical next step. At that stage Rikke’s insights from a long career in the fashion industry already confirmed that traditional social media is a complex channel for brands to reach younger generations: Generation Z and Alpha are notoriously apt at spotting advertisements, having been brought up with intrusive advertising. Influencers are a popular channel, but it’s difficult to determine a trackable Return on Investment.

Image: Copyright HerobyAhlgreen

A new approach to branding and community was required. This was the time when the start-up Virtuall approached Rikke in April and started a dialog to explore the possibilities of building a brand community in games. It was a joint excitement; who wouldn’t want to be a HERO in games and in the real world?

The metaverse infrastructure start-up Virtuall sees it as its mission to turn fashion into virtual experiences. With their platform they allow all brands to take advantage of and build communities in any virtual world by bringing down the cost and time barriers of 3D design and gamification. Enabling a low threshold for exploring the metaverse.

Exploring the virtual worlds Roblox and Zepeto

With Virtuall’s capabilities in 3D design and cross-world compatibility, they launched Hero by Ahlgreen as a brand in the two virtual worlds, Roblox and Zepeto. These two worlds represent a user count of around 500 Million. Vans and Nike have already discovered the opportunity of using Roblox as a new avenue for community building and branding, and are already building immersive experiences for their audience. While Roblox is dominated by a younger (9-14 years old) generation, primarily male, Zepeto reaches a demographic of mostly female users in the age groups of (12-24 years old).

Images: Copyright Zepeto, Harper Collins

Together these two games / virtual worlds would mean a massive exposure of HerobyAhlgreen as a brand. The collaboration with Virtuall would tie the real-life brand values and products to the digital experience. This cross-pollination between traditional social media and in-game communities could ultimately drive sales both in the digital and real world.

Challenges along the way

There were, of course, challenges! The team was soon confronted with in-game fashion design questions. Would real-world designs resonate with users in the games?

Design: Virtuall researched the best balance between real and digital designs, joint with brand appearance. In that they found a good balance, adding brand logos in the designs to enhance the game's fashion and brand exposure. Together, Virtuall and HerobyAhlgreen experimented with the designs to create the best representation of them in the virtual world. However, avatar systems in Roblox and Zepeto are different; hence the digital designs appear differently on them. This is where the platform experience and partner capabilities become vital to the brand's success.
Community engagement: Virtuall explored how the newly converted clothing items could be used for community content. The very playful content formats of Zepeto and Roblox were not in full alignment with the narrative that HerobyAhlgreen had been using in their marketing strategy before. Virtual and HerobyAhlgreen had to carefully assess which content format would be disruptive and which within the acceptable limits.

Results and take-aways

Images: Copyright Virtuall ApS

The close collaboration between HerobyAhlgreen and Virtuall ultimately led to the success of the proof of concept. HerobyAhlgreen, due to Virtuall’s platform, was able to explore the virtual worlds of generation Z and Alpha without the high financial or organizational capability needed. The step-by-step exploration of the new space helped Hero to formulate their own strategy for connecting the traditional social media channels and virtual world communities in the future.

Based on HerobyAhlgreens and Virtuall’s experience fashion brands that want to explore the space are advised to:

Create a brand narrative that resonates with virtual world communities: HerobyAhlgreen was able to transfer the narrative from the traditional social media channels to the virtual worlds of Zepeto. The Hero in the physical life turned into a Hero in the virtual life : A Hero is not something you become, but something you decide to be! I am a fan of communities with like minded heroic individuals. My symbol is the Globe - Roblox unites all of us under one world, let’s show what we can do! Exploring games and worlds in style!”
Utilize the creative content tools that virtual world communities offer: HerobyAhlgreen used the virtual clothing items to redefine the formats that were already existing in their traditional social media channels. Content wasn’t copied 1to1 but rather adjusted to the creative standards of the virtual worlds. In this case the video of dancing girls displayed on Facebook turned into a video of two Roblox avatars imitating similar moves in a virtual skatepark.

For more information on virtual worlds and the process of entering them feel free to contact Virtuall ApS or HerobyAhlgreen. Any fashion brand can do it - do you want to be next?

TOTAL IMMERSION - Capgemini's report on customer experience is here!

We were thrilled to read the latest report on Immersive technologies and their impact on customer experience released by Capgemini.

The report sheds light on what customers want to experience, when, and how they perceive immersive and Metaverse technology as part of that experience.

Did you know:

58% - of consumers surveyed mentioned immersive experiences could be impactful and valuable during product/service selection and purchase.
That number is 75% in the Retail and Fashion industry segment alone.

Nine in ten consumers are curious about the metaverse

Capgemini's report on customer experience affirms the vital need for Virtuall's 3D-omnichannel platform. According to Capgemini, we are a KEY part of enterprises’ ability to scale their engagement across these valuable channels.

Strengthen digital assets and omnichannel integration. To deliver immersive experiences at scale, organizations should start investing in the necessary digital assets: the hardware infrastructure required for the creation and delivery of these experiences. This could mean building and storing 3D models, adapting them for different platforms, and building integrations around these experiences. For instance, if the organization wants to showcase a particular product in 3D, it will first need a digital representation of the product with all possible configurations. Once it has a library of such products, these can be easily ported onto a web-based AR or a platform such as Unity or Unreal Engine. Omni-channel integration ensures that the experience is smooth across different channels. Say a consumer goes to the website and finds a product they are interested in. They can then proceed to the organizations’ virtual world in the metaverse and interact with the product. The consumer can choose to purchase the product online and have it delivered to their home address. This involves integration across the various consumer touchpoints, order management, and inventory-management systems. Without seamless integration across these various channels, the experience will be disjointed for the customer.
Capgemini Research Institute

Please take the opportunity to read Capgemini's report on customer experience; it is filled with valuable insights for Brands and Enterprises that are building their strategy for Customer Experience and Immersive Technology.

Link to the report is here.

We are of course ready to support your strategy. Reach out to us!