Walmart filed multiple trademark applications, retail industry pathfinder meta-universe?

The fire of the metacosm has burned from the Internet to the traditional retail industry.

On December 30, 2021, Walmart filed multiple applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to establish trademarks for services such as shopping, cryptocurrencies, advertising, and plans to manufacture and sell virtual goods such as electronics, decorations, and toys. Walmart said in a statement that it is "continuing to explore how emerging technologies are shaping the shopping experience of the future."

Li Yingtao, a senior analyst in the new consumer industry at Analysys Analysis, told First Finance that Wal-Mart's action can enhance consumers' understanding of Wal-Mart's technology content and represent the future on the one hand, on the other hand, it is indeed exploring for the future.

The first financial reporter contacted Walmart on January 17, which said that there is no further information to disclose at present.

However, Wal-Mart has always been actively deployed to keep up with cutting-edge technology, and at the time of the rise of VR, Wal-Mart tried to achieve a shopping experience combined with virtual reality, and in 2017, it produced a VR shopping demonstration video. In the video, users can put on VR glasses, enter the virtual supermarket, push the cart like offline, shop for goods, check out, etc., and see their shopping lists and items stored in the shopping cart on both sides of the field of vision.

Screenshot of Walmart VR shopping demo video

Through technologies such as VR, consumers can experience a more realistic shopping process online. In 2018, Walmart acquired Spatiland, a VR startup whose main product is a virtual reality content conversion software that can transform the created content into immersive experiences, which is part of Walmart's desire to use technology to transform the consumer shopping experience.

With the rise of the metaverse community, the VR industry has gradually matured, and Walmart, which has already laid out in this field, does not want to go further. In the industry's view, "people, goods, fields" is a very important element of physical retailers, with the rapid iteration of technology, the metaverse is regarded as the next evolution of the Internet, is likely to become the future traffic highland.

"Wal-Mart laid out this early because it didn't want to repeat its previous mistakes and migrate its real-world competitiveness to the metaverse." Li Yingtao said that in the past, we recreated a network world through computers and mobile phones, and in the retail industry, a new world giant such as Amazon and Alibaba was born that surpassed Wal-Mart. In the future, we may usher in the metacosm, in this new world, all walks of life may be rewritten, and in the retail industry, retail giants adapting to the metacosm may be born again.

In the industry's view, with the advent of the Internet era and the rapid iteration of products, it is more necessary for physical retailers to "combine virtual and real", through technology online virtual channels and transactions, in fact, it is still a business of physical retail sales, but "virtual and real combination" can achieve "online and offline a plate of goods", but also provide consumers with a new shopping experience. For example, the American retail brand GAP, based on the concept of "meta-universe", launched a virtual try-on, through 3D avatar to help consumers match their own clothing, and according to their own style and body type to find the right clothing size and version. Chaoyang Joy City explored the release of hyper-realistic digital person Vila as the first trend digital recommendation officer of the project, becoming the first commercial real estate project to enter the "meta-universe" system. Bailian Group is also experimenting with new technologies such as smart shopping and remote services.

"At present, many physical retailers will rely on the concept of digitalization and meta-universe to connect the collaboration between virtual and real, such as intelligent consumption scenarios, intelligent shopping services and digital management. For a brick-and-mortar retailer like Walmart, it seems that it plans to manufacture and sell all kinds of virtual goods, but in fact, it is through digital means to obtain data more accurately and better keep customer resources and traffic in their private domains. In the new retail business, digitalization and private domain traffic are very important, and grasping more consumer information and retaining customer resources is the most fundamental demand of physical retailers. Shen Jun, a senior analyst in the retail industry, said.

As a giant in the retail industry, Walmart's layout also represents the industry's evolutionary vane.

Wang Ziwei, founder of self-media retail Wei Observation and independent new retail analyst, believes that in addition to normal business (online and offline), retailers will definitely enter the meta-universe in the future. He told First Financial Economics that the essence of retailers is in the operator, or "business members", whether it can bring more value other than information and discounts is very important, and the metacosm can become a way of thinking for retailers.

After consumers purchase goods offline, they can obtain the NFT of the corresponding goods and use them in the metaverse, "for example, to become the ornaments of their own metaversic home, to become the key items of the game, it may have been to buy a hamburger, in the metaverse, this burger may be able to be used in a game to increase the amount of health of the characters." "In the metaverse, everything can be connected through NFTs and blockchains, and from a consumer point of view, this also has unlimited possibilities for creation."

Under the upsurge, many traditional industry brands have also joined the ranks of the meta-universe, applying for trademarks, establishing and selling branded NFT products.

Sports brand Nike filed a series of trademark applications in early November 2021, heralding its plans to sell virtual branded sneakers and apparel. Nike also partnered with metaverse game Roblox to create an online world called Nikeland as a virtual version of Nike's global headquarters, where users can wear digital versions of Nike products for their avatars.

In addition, Adidas, Under Armour, GAP have also launched their own NFT series products, Adidas recently released the NFT series "Into the Metaverse" (Into the Metaverse) is selling sky-high, the real-time turnover of about $23 million.

More and more brands hope to create their own ecosystem around the metacosm, Li Yingtao believes that on the one hand, this can enhance the brand image, add elements of technology and trends, on the other hand, it can strengthen the interaction with users, especially with the avant-garde fashion crowd to establish contact and make a layout for the future.

In addition, there is no shortage of practical considerations for brands to enter the meta-universe and chase hot spots and increase exposure. In October 2021, McDonald's launched the 31st anniversary of the launch of the "NFT Cube" in McDonald's China, and recently launched a limited NFT lottery on its official Twitter, triggering more than 160,000 social media interactions.

In China, Nesher's tea also represents the new tea brand First Touch Yuan Universe, launched a virtual image brand ambassador on the occasion of the 6th anniversary, and sold a limited 300-part NFT blind box online, with a single price of 59 yuan.

However, the metacosm is still in its infancy, and industry insiders have suggested that NFTs may pose financial risks to buyers, and their value is mainly based on speculation, often fluctuating.