‘Business To Avatar’: The New Business Model Of The Metaverse

‘Business To Avatar’: The New Business Model Of The Metaverse Talking about the metaverse is fashionable. And with economic prospects suggesting enormous commercial potential for this new virtual space in the coming years, more and more companies want to be part of this immersive universe.

It is strange to think that (almost) everything we can do in the real world can be transferred in some way to the metaverse if it fulfills all the potential that is attributed to it. However, every day new companies and organizations appear that invent ways to be present in this trendy virtual universe, making this idea more and more ‘real’. 

And it is not uncommon for companies to want to jump on the metaverse bandwagon sooner rather than later: different reports foresee great economic prospects for this technology, such as the one published by Bloomberg Intelligence, which calculates a value of 800,000 million dollars for the metaverse market for 2024. Wildbytes, meanwhile, estimates that 70% of large companies will be on this technology platform in five years.

Business To Avatar

How to reach a virtual audience with your products and services? Simple. Through their avatars, says María Albalá, director of the Innovation Hub of the Institute of Digital Economy (ICEMD) of ESIC.

• Zara

The Spanish fashion brand of the Inditex group chose the Zepeto platform to venture into the metaverse, first launching a collection, ‘AZ Collection’, in conjunction with the South Korean brand Ader Error, and then with another solo called ‘Lime Glam’. The garments that make up both collections can be purchased both virtually, to dress the avatars, and physically.

• Gucci

The Italian firm has been quite active in the metaverse since last year. First, they celebrated 100 years of the brand with a virtual recreational area, the ‘Gucci Garden ‘, on the Roblox platform. Users could move through spaces created by other players, buy clothes or see an exhibition. Earlier this year, Gucci announced the purchase of virtual land on another metaverse platform, The Sandbox, where it intends to market apparel and accessories in NFT format to customize avatars.

• Louis Vuitton

In 2019, the French luxury brand created a collection of skins for the female characters of the League of Legends video game. Following the success of this undertaking, and to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founder, the firm launched its own video game, ‘Louis The Game’ , inspired by the trip that Vuitton himself made to Paris when he was 14 years old.

• Heineken

This is the concept that the Dutch company is seeking with the launch of the first virtual beer, ‘Heineken Silver’, brewed at the brewery they have in the metaverse. It is a space open to the public of the legal age, where you can enjoy a virtual beer while participating in activities such as the can laboratory, blind tastings, or virtual toasts. The company chose Decentraland as the platform to create its immersive digital space, collaborating with graphic artist J. Demsky.

Corpa added that university students have had “very positive comments” on the experience and have highlighted “the novelty of the activity, which makes it more attractive and stimulating. So much so that they learn during their break times from other subjects. In addition, it helps them reduce the stress of facing the exams, by being able to train in questions similar to those they will have in the official tests”.

Iomob CEO Boyd Cohen believes ” the future of commerce of all kinds will be in the metaverse .” In that sense, he assures that his company “has to adapt as well and allow transport companies to access metaverse users”. Being a pioneer in this sector “positions us as experts in how to sell travel in the metaverse,” he says. By replicating Earth in the virtual world, Cohen says that Next Earth is the ideal platform for Iomob: “The geocoordinates represented in Next Earth correspond to ours in the real-world transportation ecosystem.” In addition, the company is “committed to accelerating a low-carbon economy, so Next Earth allows us to increase traveler awareness.” 

• Spotify

The music streaming platform launched its ‘Spotify Island’ on Roblox, a space in the metaverse where users can connect with their favorite artists, create new sounds, share with their friends, explore different worlds, and access exclusive merchandising.

• Amnesia Ibiza

The nightlife was one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic, however, this Ibiza club devised a way to stay current: with virtual parties. Taking the iconic nightclub to the metaverse together with Decentral Games, Amnesia Ibiza offers three different spaces where users can dance, listen to music, watch live streaming sessions, visit a museum of the history of the island, attend concerts and buy merchandise in the format of NFTs.  

Other companies and sectors that participate in the metaverse

The sports industry is one that is also making significant inroads into the metaverse. The sportswear brands Nike and Adidas created their own virtual universes -‘ Nikeland’ and ‘AdiVerse’-, in which they offer their shoes and accessories to dress the avatars. Cycling also has its space with the simulations that Zwift offers its customers, as a complement to its exercise bikes. In Spain, LaLiga and the Rafa Nadal Academy, hand in hand with Telefónica, also launched spaces in the metaverse.