Consumer brands are increasingly dipping their toes in the metaverse pool.  Most recently, Walmart introduced two new metaverse strategies.  While still experimental, these forays may provide a new medium for brands to interact with their customers and gain the attention of new and likely younger customers.

How are some consumer brands embracing metaverse technologies?

Walmart Introduces Two Metaverse Strategies

Walmart is launching two metaverse strategies on the mega-platform Roblox – Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play.[1]

Walmart Land will include a virtual store of merchandise for your avatar.  It will also include a Ferris wheel to give users a bird’s-eye view of the digital world and offer unlockable tokens and badges that can be earned in various games and competitions.  Walmart Land will debut with three major experiences:

• Electric Island – A music-inspired section with an interactive piano walkway, a dance challenge, and a DJ booth
• House of Style – Offering fashion and cosmetic products, a virtual dressing room, style-posing competitions, a cosmetics obstacle course, and a roller-skating rink
• Electric Fest – Concerts and other performance-based events 

Walmart’s Universe of Play will feature the year’s best toys.  This world will include:

• Immersive games – Users can participate in five new immersive games
• Rewards – Users can collect virtual toys to earn coins to redeem virtual merchandise (verch)
• Virtual adventures – This area will feature e-mobility items like a hoverboard

Walmart has indicated that it will use Roblox as a testing ground as it considers moves in the metaverse and beyond.

Roblox’s user base has jumped from 32.6 million active users in 2020 to over 52 million in 2022.[2]

Joining Other Consumer Brand Metaverse Forays

Walmart is joining a growing list of consumer-oriented brands that have launched metaverse strategies.  These include:

• Chipotle built a virtual restaurant on Roblox and launched an online game.  Chipotle’s loyalty program members can also trade in their reward points for Roblox gift cards.[2]
• Several other fast-food brands have opened virtual restaurants, including Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Chick-fil-A.[2]
• Wendy’s advertised as part of a new Fortnite event called Food Fight.[3]
• Coca-Cola auctioned non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in an online auction via the OpenSea marketplace.[3]
• Gucci sold several rare Gucci items on Roblox and created a virtual garden exhibit on the platform, part of a two-week immersive multimedia experience in Florence, Italy to celebrate the brand’s 100th birthday.[3]
• Louis Vuitton created a game in the metaverse.[3]
• Burberry brought its fashion items to the online game Honor of Kings.[3]
• Nike created immersive digital experiences on the metaverse that connect with their physical offerings, even hiring a Director of Metaverse Engineering.[3]

Highlighting the Metaverse’s Potential

The metaverse has the potential to bridge the gap between the digital and physical world and change the way that companies interact with each other and their customers.  The willingness of companies to create metaverse strategies may attest to their optimism concerning the platform’s future, highlighting a potential investment opportunity for metaverse-related companies.

[1] Walmart Jumps into Roblox with Launch of Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play, Walmart News, Walmart Website, 9/26/22

[2] Walmart Journeys into the Metaverse, NACS, 9/27/22

[3] van Rijmenam, Mark, Seven Consumer Brands Reinventing Marketing in the Metaverse, Speaker Strategist, 11/3/21