Walmart plans to build a "Metaverse Supermarket"

Walmart wants to be the biggest seller in the virtual world.

Two years ago, "Metaverse" became a concept that took off around the world. Merchants and traders have seen the door to a future world.

It is estimated that change is the next step in the transformation of the Internet, the world is connected with the support of new technologies such as virtual, virtual reality and augmented reality which are not limited in fact.

Facebook took the idea of ​​the metaverse further after announcing that it would change the company's name to meta in 2021 to express its thinking beyond media, and it was desperate for a way to change this virtual world.

The flames of the metaverse have spread from the internet to the retail market.

On January 16, CNBC local time, Walmart made a foray into the "metaverse" space, announcing its goal to develop and sell electronic products, including electrical goods, appliances, toys, sports equipment and personal care items. It provides users with virtual gear, rewards, and NFTs.

In fact, for the last half century, Wal-Mart has been promoting “metaverse” research.

In August 2021, Walmart announced its nomination for the "Digital Currency Strategy and Product Roadmap" while acknowledging "Cryptocurrency Related Investments and Partnerships", and Walmart said it was working on the "Digital Currency Strategy and Product Roadmap". "Continue research into how new technologies can shape the future of shopping."

In October of the same year, Walmart launched an operational experience that allowed shoppers to purchase bitcoin from Coinstar kiosks in US stores. In December, Walmart sued seven separate business apps to develop and sell virtual goods.

Walmart Virtual Goods Store App Logo Image/App

Faced with the incredible growth of the new retailer, Walmart clearly does not want to miss a moment of the metaverse period.

With the rapid "opening" of virtual supermarkets by Walmart, is Metaverse a real supermarket?

Before we look at these questions, let's first look at how NFTs can affect Wal-Mart.

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Tokens, which means "non-fungible tokens". According to an agreement, NFT is a blockchain technology based on a digital contract that is authentic, unique, invisible and visible and can be used to identify products of a particular technological heritage.

As a result, NFTs themselves have a certain financial and vital potential as physical assets.

Since a large number of digital assets exist in the metaverse ecosystem, asset tokens are needed to facilitate metaverse transactions, and NFTs will become increasingly important for ownership awareness, digital representation and distribution of virtual goods.

With this in mind, users can complete the entire chain of buying and selling virtual goods in the "Walmart Metaverse Supermarket" only through a certificate of authenticity (such as virtual currency and NFT).

Creating and selling virtual devices, as well as providing virtual rewards and NFTs are versatile for Walmart.

Retail Business Finance believes that Walmart's decision serves three purposes.One is to educate consumers about Walmart's technology content and the "Metaverse Supermarket", and the second is to tokenize NFT's physical products and services, allowing Walmart to lower prices. Cost online business, third, find traffic in the future and generate new revenue.

To bring the store to life in a futuristic virtual world, Walmart recently announced a short video in which a user pulls a cart through a supermarket from scratch. There is also a virtual reality application, a virtual store to accompany purchases.

Short videos with scripts like WalmartVR, Walmart, Metaverse, etc. gives people an endless sense of "Walmart Metaverse Supermarket".

In the Age of the Metaverse, new possibilities exist in all walks of life, and great stores will spring up to transition to the Metaverse.

Walmart came early because they wanted to turn their real-world competition into something different.

"For example, after a customer buys from a store, they can get the NFT for that product from the metaverse and use it in the metaverse. It can be a burger, and the burger can be used in the metaverse. increase HP." Wang Ziwei, new independent sales analyst and founder of WeMedia Retail Satellite TV.

Of course, some netizens believe that Wal-Mart is doing this for fraud. … It's like adding more stuff that nobody wants, like the annual newsletter. "

According to Frank Chaparro, director of crypto messaging service The Block, Chaparro said, "While it's a hot topic to try something different, I think it's a win-win for every product seller. Providing NFT to some users, for example, too bad. Many reputations harm the industry. Will not be placed."

Now, many offline retailers have relied on digitization and metaverse content to connect virtual and reality, such as smart apps, smart services, digital management, etc. As a brick-and-mortar retailer, Walmart's primary demand is to make materials more usable and retain customers.

When it emerged that Walmart planned to develop and sell a variety of virtual appliances, Shen Jun, a senior analyst in the retail industry, believed that it was using real means to collect data and insights. accurate and confidential user information. responnse.

By consensus, the "Walmart Metaverse" retailer still has a long way to go between planning and implementation.

First of all, there are many risk factors in the NFT venture capital market, such as the risk of the NFT trading platform itself, even if the NFT issuer follows the risk of ICO (which yes, gives money) and crime. . Although there is a risk of risk when NFT customers buy etc.

On the Openesea NFT trading platform, seemingly mundane mosaic avatars, paintings and sculptures are often sold at "star value". By the end of 2021, Opensea sales will exceed $10 billion, with an average price of $872/NFT.

Second, the hype about Metaverse and NFTs makes our national authorities suspicious.

In light of the regulatory behavior of cryptocurrencies, some organizations and companies are also reducing the "token" behavior of NFTs and prefer to call them "tokens". The law of "tokens" is the key to entering the metaverse. Without this key, the Walmart Metaverse store would be all the rage, and you could tell the Chinese.

The layout of Walmart, a major retailer, also reflects the direction of market growth.

At this point, Walmart wants to make such a purchase from the future by testing its product metaverse virtual commerce model. In addition to its role as a physical retailer, Walmart wants to become the largest virtual retailer in the world. Can you succeed? We will wait and see.