Customers at Activity Superstore, an in-store gift experience company in the UK, may be enticed to spend more after previewing the company’s services through virtual reality experiences. Activity Superstore VR offers consumers the ability to try something new, and its huge array of experiences certainly make for unique gifts. [related]
It’s often hard to get consumers to recognize the benefit of these experiences in-store, however. After all, unlike most products people buy in shops, there’s no tangible way to know what the gift is going to be like until you’re actually there.
Four of the company’s gift experiences are demonstrated through the use of VR, including the chance to fly through the skies on a helicopter or have a competitive paintball battle. The in-store virtual reality experiences take place in a 2.5m by 2.5m space and is delivered via Samsung Gear VR and Samsung Galaxy S7 hardware.
Digital experience creative agency Smyle has worked with Activity Superstore since Spring of this year from concept to completion by producing 3D visualizations of the display space, story-boarding and film production, VR development and production, as well as installation of the stand.
Activity Superstore VR Experiences
The idea is to give shoppers a retail theater experience, driving sales in the run up to Christmas and delivering ROI. This approach establishes the link between Activity Superstore VR and the purchase being made in store, with the power of visualization enabling gift buyers to get excited about heading into the store.
Activity Superstore CEO Shaun Powell explains: “We see continual growth from our in-store gift experiences and wanted to provide our retail partners with a spectacle, which had a direct link to ROI and purchase for us, creating something entirely unique for shoppers to drive footfall in-store.”
“We’re working to enhance customer engagement in-store while also delivering a virtual representation of our most thrilling gifts.”
Virgin Holidays boosted its sales by transporting would-be travelers to their destination without leaving one of the company’s retail stores. It achieved that through the use of virtual reality experiences, but industry experts still think augmented reality technology would be more effective in a retail environment.
The project launched its first site on November 2 with the opening of a retail experience in Debenhams flagship store on Oxford Street, London. The promotion will be rolled out in nine of Debenhams’ stores by November 22 with a further 12 providing interactive encounters from December 11 throughout the festive shopping period.
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Richard Vanoli, head of merchandising at Debenhams, concludes: “We know that customers buying gift experiences are keen to get an understanding of what the activity will look like before they purchase. Incorporating virtual reality experiences into the sales process enables us, along with our partner Activity Superstore, to give shoppers an immersive snapshot of what is on offer.”
