Shoppers prefer AR, Virtual Fashion, Citi's bet on Metaverse

Shoppers prefer augmented reality, Virtual Fashion Week and how Citi sees the Metaverse

Welcome to the Metaverse #6

Citi says Metaverse may be worth $13 trillion by 2030

Perhaps one of the first fully defined versions of the Metaverse's future was shared by Citi

What sets it apart from more standard predictions about the Metaverse is that Citi doesn't just include virtual worlds in its forecast.

Instead, it also adds smart manufacturing tech, virtual advertising, online events like the recent Foo Fighters concert and digital currency, like bitcoin.

The prediction includes a forecast of 5 billion unique Internet visitors in the Metaverse by 2030.

Citi is just the latest bank to plant its flag with a prediction on this space, following entities like Goldman Sachs.

Click on the link to learn more about Citi's prediction.

OUR TAKE



Let's not underestimate the importance of legacy banks like Citi hopping into this space and, more importantly, more fully defining what is to come rather than just commenting on what exists. Any criticism today about the Metaverse describes it as new tech that hasn't proven itself. Well, yeah. But Citi says what we have said in this newsletter before: Metaverse use cases will emerge as more pivot into it and we don't likely even know what the most popular and useful tools for the space will be yet because, frankly, they probably don't exist at this time.

Our AR work helped Michigan's Henry Ford Health rebrand for first time in 100 years

One of the oldest health systems in the country worked with BrandXR to help reshape, rethink and rebrand its image, adding an augmented reality component that let those who support the change learn more about it in augmented reality.

The project alongside Henry Ford Health showed some of the AR capabilities that we have been building at BrandXR.

Look, we are bullish on augmented reality. 

Obviously.

But it has been a great experience showing off what we can build for businesses and clients in a vast array of industries.

You can check out the experience below and READ THE STORY HERE.

More shoppers AR experience

This report is music to the ears of anyone in the augmented reality business. 

It's not surprising that these numbers continue to trend upward. As more businesses adopt these experiences, more consumers will be able to see their benefits.

However, what's interesting here is that we are still at less than half (48%) of businesses that offer augmented reality-based experiences to shoppers. 

Other findings from the research:

* AR increases revenue

* It enhances a companies ability to entertain, educate and evaluate

* It changes product sampling behavior

You can learn more about the study and the article HERE.

OUR TAKE



It's exciting to continue to see an increase in the percentage of businesses that have incorporated some form of augmented reality.

That this number is already near 50 percent is phenomenal. 

As more adopt, you will see more use cases that other businesses can emulate in time.

That snowball effect will only lead to more AR and that's good news.

Fashion Week in the Metaverse

Perhaps more proof that gaming leads the Metaverse, a CNN fashion reporter described her experience at London's Virtual Fashion Week as one that started with her having to create her own character.

Any gamers know that's par for the course in so many games nowadays.

Anyway, the Decentraland-hosted event put fashion designers in front of thousands of enthusiasts who both believe in this new technology and love fashion.

While the experience was unique, according to the story's author, there were also glitches she experienced.

Technical difficulties and lackluster graphics were among them.

Still, Decentraland said it plans to do this more in the future. 

Here is a look at what happened from CNN'S website.

OUR TAKE



If you are into new tech and remember what <insert technology here> was like when it first debuted, you'll understand that glitches are part of the process, unfortunately. However, it's a good thing that Decentraland has already committed to another year of this because I really believe that pushing forward on these kinds of things will help bring more people into Metaverse-related technologies and capabilities. The article says some designers were "sewing" their designs backstage, using, of course, digital tools rather than a sewing needle. That's a great metaphor as we continue to see people of so many backgrounds and industries create the new world.

We hope you like what you see. We bet your friends would, too!

Forward to other Metaverse and XR junkies and let's build this community!

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LET ME TELL YOU ONE MORE THING

Finally, it's tough for anyone to do April Fool's Day right, especially public-facing news organizations.

But kudos to online architecture magazine Dezeen, which posted a perfect article for the Metaverse/NFT folks of the world.

The article claims that the Metaverse has suffered "extensive damage" after a riot at a virtual art gallery.

This line killed me: "Around 30 avatars were led away in blockchains in what is thought to be the first e-police raid in the parallel digital world known as the metaverse."

We have said before in this space that we have to be ready and willing to laugh at ourselves as the Metaverse develops. 

This one struck just the right tone.

Check out Dezeen's article at this link.