Recently updated: May 25th, 2023
Innovation in technology creates new opportunities for business transformations. Whether it is for developing a new product or serving customers on the internet, technology has the power to enhance both the quality and experience for users across the domains. Metaverse is the latest paradigm shift and a future iteration of the internet that can power many prolific technology innovations for strategic business opportunities.
With big companies exploring metaverse business opportunities, it’s time to learn more about it to know if your business is eligible and ready for the metaverse transition or how to make your business get ready to enter the metaverse.
The Metaverse is the concept of a virtual space in a 3D universe that allows users to work, game, shop interact, and socialize with other users. Put simply, the metaverse is a virtual digital experience on the internet that feels like happening in the real world but is not. Though it is not fully in existence, some platforms provide a metaverse experience with metaverse-like elements to explore digital spaces in 3D.
We are already seeing businesses adapting a virtual shift closer to reality to improve online behavior and consumer experience through various technological innovations. The feasibility of metaverse for businesses is yet to define but its initial interaction with users has shown many advantages and opportunities suitable for developing and evolving products and business services. In a time when businesses cannot simply ignore the potential of a metaverse in the future, here’s a detailed insight on what and how businesses can make of the metaverse with some of the most promising business opportunities they can explore. In this post, we will learn:
- What is the Metaverse in Business?
- What is Possible with the Metaverse in Business?
- Business Opportunities in Metaverse
- Why the Metaverse is skyrocketing?
- 6 Ways to Get Your Small Business Ready for the Metaverse
What is the Metaverse in the Business?
We already have a basic idea about the metaverse at the beginning of this post that the metaverse is a shared and virtual digital space in real-time. No single user or vendor would have complete control over the virtual environment in the metaverse and businesses can use this opportunity to meet, interact, and socialize with consumers for various activities. The virtual environment created in the metaverse will be device-independent that can create an independent virtual economy.
Each individual who enters a virtual world through metaverse elements has its own access, membership, formats of interaction and expressions in virtual reality, and monetization rights that could vary from business to business and services to services. The virtual economy in a metaverse environment runs on the power of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or non-fungible tokens provided by the service providers. That’s why it is required that a business looking to explore metaverse business opportunities have an ideal foundation to adopt a virtual economy using digital currencies.
The metaverse in the business is the combination of different technologies, including augmented reality or AR, spatial technologies, AR cloud, and the Internet of Things or IoT. A head-mounted display is used to build and interact in the virtually-shared metaverse environment. Some gaming and e-commerce businesses are already reaping the rewards from metaverse that has become the next-generation evolution of the internet to access digital spaces such as online stores and websites to create a real-world shopping experience.
What is Possible with the Metaverse in Business?
The metaverse is the next-generation evolution of the internet. A lot of technologies and virtual reality tools are underlying its foundation where businesses can explore new possibilities in a virtual space. The hype around metaverse in business is unparalleled to any other innovation in technology for business transformation. Many tech companies are already developing metaverse platforms to enhance user experience with businesses through virtual and physical realities.
The feasibility of business possibilities and opportunities in the metaverse depends on the activities executed in a shared virtual digital space and relies on technologies used. Here’re some of the most notable activities that can support new business possibilities in a metaverse environment.
- Virtual shopping in retail stores with immersive e-commerce
- Interacting as digital avatars for buying apparel and accessories
- Work, meet and socialize with users as digital avatars for business communications such as sales, customer services, and employee onboarding.
- Virtual participation in social experiences.
- Purchasing, assessment, and development of digital real estate
- An immersive learning experience in virtual classrooms.
Business opportunities in the metaverse lead to decentralization and collaboration in a persistent digital environment with controlled access from any place. Businesses can look out for available possibilities in virtual digital spaces to build strategic models to expand their capabilities to serve consumers and business transformation.
Business opportunities in Metaverse
With your consumers spending more time online than ever before, it’s time to rethink and explore new opportunities to connect with them. There are many ways you can transform your business for virtual experience and interaction to thrive and grow in the aftermath. Metaverse business ideas depend on the scope of opportunity available in the current settings. Before seeking opportunities for your business, it is important to answer the following questions first:
- Can you transform and build your business on the metaverse?
- How can metaverse help your business and consumers?
- How to make your business get ready for the metaverse?
The answers to these questions help you know various potential use cases of the metaverse that you can incorporate with your business. Here’re the most notable business opportunities in metaverse:
- Immersive Shopping Experience
- Immersive Learning Experience
- Social Media and Gaming
- Virtual Events
- Employee Onboarding and Engagement
Let’s explore each of these opportunities through a brief introduction.
- Immersive Shopping Experience
Virtual shopping is the most promising metaverse business idea that has already shown its potential in the market. E-commerce businesses and retail sectors can capitalize on the immersive shopping experience in the metaverse environment to create opportunities for interactive online shopping. Metaverse has enabled virtual trails rooms for shoppers to try on outfits and other accessories as a digital avatar they want to purchase online from a store. It also builds a foundation to introduce new and complex products.
Many big brands and retail stores such as Zara, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Alibaba, and Balenciaga have already started experimenting with the virtual shopping experience in the metaverse environment to provide consumers with an immersive shopping experience.
- Immersive Learning Experience
The need for remote learning is the new trend due to the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. An immersive learning experience is the next significant metaverse business idea for businesses in the education sector. Academic communications in any industry including medical education, military applications, and many other higher educations can utilize an immersive learning experience in the metaverse for delivering lectures and training. Most important of all, businesses in these industries don’t need to build any additional infrastructure. All they need is to have metaverse technologies and tools in place to start delivering a metaverse learning experience.
Social media and gaming experiences could be metaverse business opportunities for many tech companies that deal with these kinds of online activities. Users could interact or play with other participants as digital avatars on metaverse digital platforms. The rebranding of Facebook to Meta clearly indicates the prospects for the growth of metaverse technology on social media platforms for various activities. As far as it concerns opportunities in dedicated gaming experience in the metaverse, Fortnite from Epic Games, a popular console and PC gaming title, has already enabled playing and socializing in virtual settings for users.
Virtual events and seminars could be the next big things for companies in a metaverse environment. Virtual events and meetings are new trends in the time when everyone is working remotely during the COVID pandemic, and businesses can scale things further with technological advancement. The metaverse offers integrated solutions and support that could make virtual events more interactive and productive. Companies can plan virtual events where attendees and employees feel like they are physically present as a digital avatar during the events or seminars. It could lead to improved audience participation and an easier assessment of audience behavior during virtual events.
- Employee Onboarding and Engagement
This could be the most crucial metaverse business idea that every business can opt-in to their environment through an immersive experience in the metaverse. The metaverse can empower virtually augmented workspaces for employee onboarding and engagement to build connection and collaboration. The metaverse can transform the workplaces by providing virtually assisted platforms for driving communication and collaboration among managers and employees. Microsoft is already developing Mesh, a virtual workplace solution to access various Microsoft services in one place. It is an example of how businesses can develop a virtual workplace through an immersive experience in the metaverse.
Why the Metaverse is Skyrocketing?
In Addition to augmented reality or AR, spatial technologies, AR cloud, and the Internet of Things or IoT, the emergence of blockchain technologies and digital currencies are the key reasons why metaverse is skyrocketing than any other innovation in technology. The blockchain technologies and metaverse immersive experience have opened the scope for:
- Digital Collectability
- Digital Proof of Ownership
- Purchase and transfer of digital assets and values
- Governance and Accessibility
- Decentralization & Interoperability
The Metaverse gives businesses and users a completely new world to access and invest in through diverse and innovative marketing opportunities. AR and VR technologies are supporting the creation of immersive experiences in the metaverse worlds where users can interact and engage with real content virtually as a digital avatar. At a time when remote working, learning, and shopping are the new trends, there are all possible reasons why metaverse is skyrocketing.
6 Ways to Make Your Small Business Ready for the Metaverse
If you want to make your business ready for the metaverse to utilize the most of virtual and immersive experience, here’re six ways you can do it to enter the metaverse.
Know your niche
The first thing you should do is to figure out your business niche, services, and possibilities in your domain to identify the right metaverse business opportunities to transform your business. The concept of connecting users virtually should start with knowing what you want for your brand from the metaverse. It helps you decide key elements to address consumers’ questions based on your specific settings using virtual and augmented reality. You have to pick your targets and demographics very wisely to make the most out of the metaverse world.
Consider rebranding
When you are looking to transform your entire business, it’s time to consider updating or rebranding to get yourself ready for new connectivity and communications. Your visual brand and messaging should reflect the idea and value of metaverse for consumer experience. You can see how Facebook has rebranded itself to Meta to enter the metaverse and expand its Internet of Things (IoT) initiative.
Take inspiration and advantages from big companies
Many major tech companies and fashion outlets are already developing metaverse environments for immersive user experience for their consumers. You can take inspiration from these companies to build your strategy to enter the metaverse. Also, many companies are offering their platforms and services to help small businesses enter the realm of virtual reality. Amazon Web Services is one such platform that small businesses can use to transform them digitally to lead the foundation for metaverse initiatives.
Claim and update your business on search engines
It is one of the most crucial ways of the entire process to make your business ready for the metaverse transformation. It could be part of rebranding your business, and you need to address it anyhow. Many businesses don’t claim their company and presence on the internet on tools like Google My Business and other business listing websites.
Claiming and updating your business on search engines is crucial to driving traffic to your business or website so that users can get the right information about your business. You can already experience 3D and augmented reality in search, and claiming your online presence in searches help you get the most out of this new feature. A professional digital marketing and SEO company can help you build and update your online presence to increase your search visibility on the internet.
Keep Your Balance
Making everything virtual at once is not a wise decision as it can hurt your digital transformation when all of your consumers are not ready for the new transformation. Keeping your balance between the virtual and conventional way of consumer interaction is the best you can do to begin with your metaverse experience. Don’t rush to abandon your old ways too quickly to enter the metaverse without knowing if your audience is ready for it.
Remain Adaptable
While making your business metaverse-ready, it is essential to make sure that your business remains adaptable to the existing requirements of your customers. Be ready for anything to serve your customers the virtual experience they are looking for to shop from your business. Don’t get too hung up on virtual reality and immersive experiences to make yourself irrelevant in the present.
Conclusion
One thing is for certain, the metaverse can emerge as the next big thing in technology innovation to transform businesses for a profitable proposition. It gives the opportunity and platform to transform conventional business services and operations to connect and interact with users. How efficiently you tap into the business possibilities with metaverse will be the key to getting success in a virtual reality playground.
