Reshaping Digital Culture, Part 2: Why Immersion Is The New Impression

(Part two of a four-part series)

Part 2 of 4: Learn how brands can leverage the opportunities at the intersection of demography and technology as Gen Z dominates culture and demands innovation.

Here, we explore the critical role digitally immersive experiences play in breaking through to Gen Z in meaningful ways that build relevance and revenue.

Next: How the rise of AI will reinvent the rules of marketing and bring brands together with consumers in profoundly personalized ways.
 

In an increasingly immersive digital world, someone simply seeing your ad just doesn't matter as much as it once did. Instead, it’s all about the direct impact that impression actually has. Does it boost awareness, deepen your connection to the brand, aid recall or drive revenue? Where impressions are similar to seeing someone on the street, immersions are like being invited to their house for dinner.

To better target and convert consumers (especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha), brands need to start thinking deeper about digital and map their marketing along an immersion continuum from shopping on 3D websites, to augmented and virtual reality experiences.

 Immersive Commerce Experiences

Gen Z is bored with scrolling through the endless product grids found on most e-commerce sites. Virtual shopping in immersive environments on the other hand, is an opportunity to capture their attention and drive discovery. It’s why brands like Fendi, NARS, and Ralph Lauren have launched “digital flagships” that consumers can access in their browsers and buy in new ways. Among those who have shopped at 3D stores, 60% say they would do it again, and 70% of Gen Z who have visited 3D stores, say they made a purchase there. When gamification is layered in, overall time spent increases by 367%, and consumers are 72% more likely to add a product to their cart.

Seeing the opportunity to reach younger consumers through immersive commerce, Italian fashion brand Pinko recently announced the launch of its first-ever virtual store to celebrate the opening of its new Milan boutique. Built on the Emperia platform, the experience allows visitors to purchase products available at its 250 brick-and-mortar locations including its popular Love Bag, which can also be purchased in its digital twin form as a “Meta Love Bag” NFT.

Augmented Reality = Augmented ROI

Over the past year, more than 250 million Snapchat users have engaged with their AR Shopping Lenses more than 5 billion times. With TikTok and Meta doubling down on their AR offerings it’s no surprise the space is expected to grow by 40% percent annually reaching $597 billion by 2030.

Unlike the metaverse, AR is already proving itself with strong interest, ROI, and a growing list of use cases. Among Gen Z for example, 92% are interested in using AR for shopping. AR has also been said to boost e-commerce conversions by 94% and reduce returns by 40%. While smartphones are where most AR shopping experiences are happening, recent examples are leaping from the small screen to retail windows.

Coach, for example, recently launched AR mirrors in their SOHO NYC store. Here passers-by could virtually try on the brand’s popular Tabby bag along with an oversized pair of wings and share it on social media. Long lines of mostly Gen Z shoppers waited 60-75 minutes to enter the store where another mirror was located. The immersive experience resulted in 93.5% more pedestrians paying attention to the window, compared to a traditional store window and it boosted in-store traffic by 49.4%. Usage of AR mirrors is expanding to other retailers including Nike stores and select Men's Wearhouse locations, both of which were developed by Snap.

Virtual Reality Delivers The Deepest Immersion

Virtual reality represents the deep end of the immersion continuum. It’s the holy grail for any branded experience. Here users are completely enmeshed in the experience and are free to explore virtual worlds, unbound by the laws of physics.

Unlike social media where distractions abound, immersion captures their full attention. The drawback? VR requires a headset. Some of which can be clunky and uncomfortable to wear for long periods which has contributed to VR’s slower uptake. If history is any guide, however, that may all change when Apple enters the space next month with its VR/AR mixed reality headset. What Apple did for MP3 players and the smartphone it may very well do for VR.

As a brand that understands the flywheel effect between Gen Z and innovation, Alo Yoga recently launched a VR shopping experience for the Meta Quest 2. Here visitors can virtually explore an expansive indoor-outdoor space, try on and purchase products, stream beauty and wellness tutorials, and participate in workout classes. A pioneer on platforms like Zepeto, Decentraland, ReadyPlayerMe and Roblox (with a wellness space reaching 65 million visits to date), Alo Yoga is pushing VR shopping forward at scale, while also making the experience available across desktop and mobile devices.

In summary, considering that 50% of consumers surveyed recall brands better when immersive marketing is used, and 47% say immersive experiences make them feel more connected to products, it’s clear KPIs need to evolve. Going forward, future-focused marketers will be among the first to measure success more by the depth of their immersions, and less by the number of their impressions. 

Qulture CEO/Founder Quynh Mai was recently interviewed by New York Times bestselling author MeiMei Fox, for Forbes about her five suggestions for how brands can engage with Web3 today. Read the full article on Forbes here.