Walmart and Roblox Are Teaming Up To Make Virtual E-commerce a Reality (digiday.com) 29
As of today, Walmart is able to sell physical goods directly to users inside Roblox. Digiday adds: The introduction of real-life e-commerce could be a watershed moment for the company's ambitions to become an all-encompassing destination for virtual life. Walmart's Roblox e-commerce experience launches later today, with users inside the pre-existing Walmart Discovered able to have real-life items shipped directly to their doorsteps. Users entering the experience will be greeted with a new storefront showcasing virtual twins of select physical items sold at real-life Walmart stores.
After trying out the virtual items on their avatars, players will be able to load an e-commerce experience that takes the form of a browser window inside Roblox imitating the experience of shopping on Walmart's website -- essentially a virtual laptop set up inside Roblox to access Walmart.com. The commerce feature within Walmart Discovered will be gated specifically to users aged 13 or older in the United States only. "There is a traditional sort of checkout flow where you put your name, your address and your credit card information, and that's all powered by a Walmart API that handles all of the information super securely -- it's very safe," said Walmart director of brand experiences and strategic partnerships Justin Breton. "And once you hit checkout, you'll get your confirmation email from Walmart. All of that is handled by us on the back end, the user will then get their item in the mail, but the virtual twin is granted immediately back on Roblox."
After trying out the virtual items on their avatars, players will be able to load an e-commerce experience that takes the form of a browser window inside Roblox imitating the experience of shopping on Walmart's website -- essentially a virtual laptop set up inside Roblox to access Walmart.com. The commerce feature within Walmart Discovered will be gated specifically to users aged 13 or older in the United States only. "There is a traditional sort of checkout flow where you put your name, your address and your credit card information, and that's all powered by a Walmart API that handles all of the information super securely -- it's very safe," said Walmart director of brand experiences and strategic partnerships Justin Breton. "And once you hit checkout, you'll get your confirmation email from Walmart. All of that is handled by us on the back end, the user will then get their item in the mail, but the virtual twin is granted immediately back on Roblox."
Direct marketing to kids^H^H^H^Hteens (Score:3, Insightful)
How soon before some kid^H^H^H^Hteen orders a bunch of stuff then his parents send it all back demanding a refund?
In most US states, most contracts with minors can be rescinded by their parents.
You mean... like in Second Life? (Score:2)
Second Life was doing this a decade ago. This will work out now just as well as it did then, which is to say it will fail miserably.
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Isn't amazing how desperate companies are to raise their sells/profit margin/stock price? They are even willing to try anything even if it lacks any common sense. I guess they figure it's a little like spam, even if one person out of a thousand go for it, they must figure it's worth doing it. /s
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Second Life was doing this a decade ago. This will work out now just as well as it did then, which is to say it will fail miserably.
Second Life hovers around 500k users ongoing, with dips through the years well below that. Roblox is around 350+ million, most of whom are kids playing it pretty regularly. I think there's a numbers game to discuss here, as well as teaming up a kid favorite with a parent favorite.
I still expect this to turn into a big disgusting mess, but it'll sell up front until the parents get enraged enough to try to shut it down.
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Second Life was doing this a decade ago. This will work out now just as well as it did then, which is to say it will fail miserably.
A decade ago someone wearing augmented reality eyeglasses in public was called a glasshole.
Today they are someone making a cool next-gen “AI” tech statement.
Perceptions change.
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nope, still a glasshole.
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nope, still a glasshole.
You really think narcissism has somehow become less valued in GenZ vs. Millennials?
One hell of a hilarious theory. Forget narcissism. Privacy was killed by tech addiction alone in the last decade. Glassholes is some kind of ‘boomer’ shit now. Watch and see.
Why exactly? (Score:4)
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If you are doing something like this, why a browser inside he game? How about a virtual WallyWorld store in the game.
100% this.
That said, I don't think it's necessarily pointless. The users are already Roblox users, so getting a virtual item in Roblox as well is a nice little bonus. Elsewhere, that may have been an NFT and, though those aren't exactly success stories, they do sell some to people with no existing accounts (unless Roblox users, who will likely remain Roblox users for some time). If the item price is still the same, why not do some shopping in Roblox?
It could be an impressive virtual space and shopping exper
Re: Why exactly? (Score:2)
Could Be An Improvement (Score:3)
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Imagine if shopping at Walmart was like signing onto Roblox? yikes!
I think I'd rather visit a Walmart in person, in the worst part of town and walk through a dark alley.
Oh, Virtual E-commerce? (Score:2)
As opposed to in-person e-commerce? Isn't e-commerce, by definition, virtual?
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Is it like a double negative?
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As opposed to in-person e-commerce? Isn't e-commerce, by definition, virtual?
It's virtual all the way down [wikipedia.org] ...
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As opposed to in-person e-commerce? Isn't e-commerce, by definition, virtual?
Reminds me of the eBay store in 40 Year Old Virgin. You can come in and see the items for sale on eBay, but you have to go online and buy them on eBay. You can't just buy them in the store.
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E-commerce is buying something off of a website. Search and view items or options from a list, select what you want, enter payment info, and they send it to you.
Virtual E-Commerce is sorta like that, but the convenience of browsing things on a website is replaced with the inconvenience of having to hold "W" on your keyboard while your virtual avatar slowly glides through a 3D rendered space at 10 FPS looking for the items you want, which may be difficult because instead of being a nice photo they're shittil
I always believe ... (Score:4, Funny)
douche in-game and IRL (Score:2)
So you can douche in-game and IRL at the same time? But only thanks to Walmart?
I believe the word you are looking for (Score:3)
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No Familiarity With Roblox, but... (Score:1)
It would seem that if one could get one's smartphone to build an exact duplicate avatar with exact measurements, then one could drive the avatar into the store, try on various items of clothing, and be sure that they fit, without all the gyrations of selecting it, going to a fitting room, disrobing, getting into said item, judging the fit, then reversing the process. It might make shopping much quicker.
OTOH, buying a battery for your car? Probably nothing special about that, just select something that a
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Roblox avatars don't even need to have hands or feet (see: classic noob avatar).
That fact aside, Roblox tends to feature very low poly counts and low res textures to keep the hw requirements for games low.
Can you use my foodstamps in Roblox? (Score:3)
Just asking for my buddy who works at Walmart but without a decent wage is still relying on foodstamps.