Gartner: 20% of Retailers in Virtual Worlds by 2010

In Gartner's predictions for what changes 2008 will bring for consumers and retail, the research group also looked a little further. It predicts that by 2010 20% of Tier I retailers will have a marketing presence in virtual worlds. It also predicts that through 2012 the number of consumers using mobile phones to shop will increase at an average of 25% per year. Put together the two could make for an interesting combination, but Gartner doesn't make any recommendations for mobile worlds. It does recommend that retailers begin to include virtual worlds as customer touchpoints, begin to test and measure virtual world initiatives before moving in, keep an eye on the space with a focus on the young demographic, and pick the right environment for the right demographic.

GARTNER: Gartner Predicts 2008: How Shoppers and Technology Will Change Retail
Friday 07 December 2007 08:18 EET Kauppalehti Online

PRESS RELEASE               6.12.2007

Gartner, Inc.

Gartner Predicts 2008: How Shoppers and Technology Will Change Retail

Consumers are increasingly using technology to customise the shopping
process to their specific needs.  Retailers must understand how consumers
are interacting with their brands as this will have a substantial impact
on how retail operations will evolve in the future.

Predicts 2008: By 2010, 20 percent of global Tier 1 retailers will
have a marketing presence in online games and virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds are expanding rapidly.  To date, Second Life has nearly 11
million registered ‘residents’ who spend in excess of $1million every 24
hours buying property, items or experiences in-world.  Similarly, Gartner
expects the popularity of online gaming to continue to expand. 

These virtual worlds and video games are emerging as places where
consumers can shop and retailers need to be ready to respond to
this growing demand.  Gartner recommends that retailers:

* Expand your definition of customer touchpoints to include
  virtual worlds and online games.

* Develop trial criteria prior to launching a presence in virtual
  worlds and measure the results. 

* Monitor innovation in retail activity in virtual worlds and online
  games, particularly if you are targeting a younger demographic.

* Target the right environment for your customer: In Asia/Pacific this
  might be in online games.  In North America, younger generations may be
  in social networks such as MySpace and The Sims2 while Generations X
  and Y may be in Second Life. In addition, it could be in retail with
  H&H collaboration with The Sims2 namely the Sims2 H&M Fashion Stuff.

Predicts 2008: Through 2012, the number of consumers using mobile phones
to shop will increase at an average of more than 25 per cent per year.
Gartner expects Asia and Europe will take the lead.

Mobile commerce has been viewed as an emerging new sales channel for
retailers for some time now but retail revenue through mobile phones is
currently insignificant, much less than 1 per cent of total sales. 
However, as mobile phones evolve in form and function, the impact of
the mobile phone on retail sales is set to increase. 

Through 2010, consumers will use the phone as part of their shopping
activities to search, browse, find locations and check stock. 
Eventually, consumers will use mobile phones to purchase merchandise and
an example of this includes event tickets.  Gartner’s advice to retailers
is:

* Plan how consumers will access your retail sites via mobile phone over
  the next two years.  Decide what information and activities they will
  want to ‘pull’ to their devices and what you need to do to ‘push’ that
  information and invest accordingly.

* Decide if the mobile Web will be simply an extension of your website or
  and entirely different interaction touchpoint.  If you want consumers
  to access you via the mobile Web today, you must deal with the
  specifics of each major carrier.  Start out small, with very limited
  capabilities.

Comments

[Nic Mitham]

Gartner seems to have missed quite a vital aspect of virtual retail with this latest 'insight'.

Rather than establishing 'presences' (venues) in virtual worlds, instead, real world brands will get greater success by adopting a more product-centric approach.

In other words, don't build a virtual shop, create virtual products - metabrands. In the real world, not every brand has their own dedicated retail outlet - they sell through existing distribution networks. We don't buy buildings, we buy products, as this applies to the virtual world as well.

Products, not places, is how retailers will benefit from virtual world marketing activity.