Courtesy NHK World-Japan
Isetan Virtual Flagship: High End Anywhere
Top shelf Japanese department store Isetan has moved its flagship store in Shinjuku entirely into Virtual Reality (VR) with a new smartphone app. As a response to COVID-19, the century-old retailer followed prevailing online shopping trends but leveraged a custom VR app to recreate the high-touch buying experience that its customers have come to expect. An app for mobile phones allows customers in 125 countries to chat with in-store sales staff about hundreds of carefully curated products before they are shipped from Tokyo to the buyer.
Assignment Idea: Hometown Favorites on the Virtual Market
Description
Unique shopping experiences don’t just take place in luxurious urban settings: Almost every town has a product for which it’s known. Whether it be famous peaches from a local orchard or beautifully decorated ceramics from a market stall half a world away, these usually offline treasures could also be compelling souvenirs on a virtual excursion.
What would a VR selling experience bring to the table for someone like a farmer or an artist? Would there be challenges to overcome in making this transition? What immediate and long term benefits could you foresee as they adapted to this means of doing business? Would it be worthwhile?
Subject Areas
Agriculture, Arst, Business (Marketing), Recreation (Tourism)
Deliverables
- experience a virtual store in 360º video (1)
- define the business/product to be made available in VR
- explain what the VR marketplace might look like
- create a mockup of the VR marketplace and sales avatars (optional)
- determine if the business would be able to support a secondary sales method
- outline challenges and benefits associated with this platform