The future of VR lies with collaborative experiences: Adidas
NEW YORK ? An Adidas executive at Intersect Fashion New York 2016 explained that while virtual reality is on the rise, the user experience is currently too lonely and marketers should attempt to create a more inclusive experience in which consumers can interact with others such as peers, friends or brand associates.
During the session, Edge of Tomorrow: Reports from the Frontline of Mobile Innovation and Technology, the executive explained how experiences in virtual reality that tie individuals together have a big opportunity for marketers, as the experience right now is so isolated. For instance, as virtual fitting rooms become more prominent, it would be highly beneficial to have an online associate in the fitting room with users to assist them.
"[Virtual Reality] is not going to go anywhere," said Todd Ames, digital innovation ? consumer insights and experiences at Adidas. "It is just going to get more pervasive and more immersive.
"We have been looking at it from a slightly different perspective, not necessarily a virtual fitting room," he said. "We think that is probably an area we could explore.
"But my team has been taking a step back and looking at the user experience. Some of them is extremely immersive and it is amazing, but you are completely alone in this beautiful world. So I think one of the trends we are going to start seeing is collaboration or co-virtual and social in virtual."
Growth of VR
The idea of sharing the VR experience is indicative of where the market is likely to go in general. Since the emergence of mobile and social media, consumers have become less in-the-moment with each other.
However, it is likely that technology will steer this lack of communication back to the human interaction of the past. Thanks to the rise of commercial commerce and highly interactive technology, that human connection will likely rise again.
Conversational commerce
It also likely that chatbots will shift the market to a more seamless and natural method of marketing and purchasing; through the use of voice recognition and AI, it will remove a variety of steps that can hinder the online shopping process.
"A lot of the conversational commerce stuff that has been happening is only going to get better," Mr. Ames said. "Facebook is coming out almost every week with new technology. It will be interesting for retailers like Adidas to figure out how can we leverage that technology and continue having a conversation with consumers.
"I think eventually it will be a lot more natural," he said. "It is going to be how you talk to people, how you gesture with your hands.
"It will be interesting to see how this new technology take the way that humans have been interacting for so long and bring that back and get away from the hunch over computer style that it is now."