The Metaverse received extreme hype in 2021 due to Facebook changing its name to Meta and the sudden explosion of NFTs. We saw platforms selling land for millions upon millions of dollars which have seen valuations plummet. Now we are in a place to see how Metaverse Platforms will appeal to the mass population and not just teenagers. We are seeing a shift in how people will shop similar to when Shopify made it easy for anyone to open an e-commerce store. We made a list of 10 platforms that will lead these changes and allow us to shop in a more immersive environment.
LORR
The Bespoke Metaverse is a simple solution for small to medium-sized luxury and bespoke brands to enter the next revolution of E-commerce. LORR provides an accessible means for small to medium-sized bespoke luxury retailers to create brand awareness and a shopping presence in the metaverse. LORR is a 3D hyper-realistic world with the most coveted fashion districts, where social and shopping collide. Currently, LORR is offering storefronts in the LORR metaverse as well as design services to help build out the virtual stores. Users will discover luxury brands that understand the importance of putting the fun back into online shopping through engaging storytelling. LORR will serve as the bridge for retailers and customers into web 3 by providing a user-friendly metaverse retail platform centered around putting the fun back into online shopping through storytelling.
LORR is the destination you want your coveted address to be in within the metaverse. When you think of Madison Ave and New York City, you think of LORR. If you have the opportunity, you want to be there, if that fits the ethos of your brand. Similarly, when you think of the Decentraland and Sandbox kind of platforms, you can be in all of them, but you definitely want to have an address in LORR. So, we are the Madison Ave of the metaverse, and where we distinguish ourselves is that we're steeped in storytelling.
Mozverse
Mozverse seeks to be the AWS for the Metaverse. They provide clients with their own technology ecosystem to control the Brand Experience regardless of their skill level with blockchain technology. Mozverse is a more robust platform for this reason, as the platform offers a wider number of features beyond minting and sales.
When it comes to functionality, Mozverse has the most capability for artists and developers, with a wide range of possibilities. For purchasers, the Mozverse consulting team can assist with any challenges with the Web3 development process and finding the Web3 solution to meet your specifications.
HELIX
A decentralized, high-fidelity metaverse platform built around the core pillars of immersive graphics, true digital ownership, and player-owned economy. Parallel City will be divided into land plots and offered for sale to players. Landowners are able to stake their land to earn rewards and earn tokens by selling or leasing their land to other players.
Land can be used to develop business, although the primary focus of HELIX is selling land rather than selling storefronts.
EMPERIA
A team of 3D/VR expert developers, fashion and art industry veterans, and branding executives, creating highly-differentiated bespoke virtual worlds tailored for premium art and luxury fashion. Providing an ultra-realistic 3D view of products through a seamless E-commerce integration into the retailer’s web2 website.
Emperia helps brands create metaverse and website-embedded stores through its own SaaS platform, which provides retailers with full creative control over merchandise placement and space decor, and thus maintains those virtual stores for the long-run.
ByondXR
A retail-tech startup that offers a metaverse strategy service to enable retailers to develop brand awareness in the metaverse. While ByondXR does not offer a metaverse platform, they help retailers create an immersive virtual commerce platform for brands and retailers to transform digital e-commerce and merchandising experiences. That is, retailers can integrate ByondXR’s personalized virtual store with their existing e-commerce platform and backend systems.
Furthermore, retailers can select their merchandising (physical products or digital assets using NFT) and place it in the virtual store to bring shoppers on a new engaging immersive journey. Lastly, ByondXR guides retailers with choosing the right metaverse to transition their web-based store into, such as Meta Horizon Worlds, Fortnite Creative, Roblox, Sandbox, or Decentrland.
TheMall
Expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2022, the TheMall will feature 100 floors and 100 million square feet of space for retailers to set up shop in the metaverse. TheMall will use low-code developer tools to make it easy to create a store that is easily modifiable to accommodate their business’s ongoing needs. modify it after it has been created.
On the customer’s end, TheMall will employ AI algorithms to deliver a personalized shopping experience. Users can complete transactions using credit cards via Stripe or using cryptocurrencies via Bitpay. TheMall is a direct competitor of LORR with respect to retailers that are not concerned with creating a sense of exclusivity surrounding their brand and shopping experience.
SuperWorld
A virtual world built on the Ethereum blockchain provides 100x100 meter plots of land mapped onto the real world. The plots of virtual real estate are available to collect as NFTs. Users can buy or sell properties and create opportunities to monetize their land in the Metaverse. While SuperWorld is not a direct competitor of LORR as they are not focusing on meta-commerce, LORR Destinations resemble SuperWorld’s real-world-inspired virtual world.
Voxels
A user-owned virtual world where players can buy land, build on it, and customize their avatar with wearable NFTs. Land NFTs provide their owners control over their land within the cryptovoxels metaverse. The land can be transformed into art galleries, nightclubs, conference areas, games, and storefronts.
Obsess
An E-commerce platform attempting to create an online shopping interface that is a visual, interactive, social, and engaging experience. Their goal is to enable brands to create immersive virtual stores on their own websites and on metaverse platforms, such as Roblox, Fortnite Creative, and Oculus Meta Quest VR headset, similar to ByondXR.
Earth 2
Earth 2 is ideated as a metaverse representing second earth, where real-world geolocations on a sectioned map correspond to user-generated digital virtual environments. Before users contribute to the development of virtual environments, Earth 2 will begin as a pristine, untouched, and uninhabited virtual version of Earth. This is purposefully done in order to ensure that users design, create, build and own virtual environments using the technology developed by the Earth 2 Team.
These virtual environments produce digital assets, that can be owned, bought, and sold, and - in the near future - deeply customized. Naturally, such a virtual environment may produce meta-commerce stores, although it is not certain how the Earth 2 Team will steer resources toward elevating brand awareness within the Earth 2 metaverse. Therefore, while Earth 2 has the potential to become a leading metaverse project, it is an indirect competitor of LORR, as storefronts are not being sold, nor are retailers currently encouraged to develop their brand within the Earth 2 metaverse.
Metafluence
An idea for an influencer-centric ecosystem to drive brand awareness and better audience engagement in the metaverse. The main focus of Metafluence is to offer a web3 influencer marketing solution in the metaverse. Influencer homes are the main architectural elements of the city and will serve as personalized spaces in the metaverse, sold as land plots. One of the use cases of these influence homes could be meta shops, which will enable influencers to sell physical or digital products (NFTs) of their beloved brands (i.e., sponsorship deals).
Brands will have access to features such as influencer discovery, influencer analytics, campaign performance, and keyword monitoring. Beyond these features, it is unclear how Metafluence will offer a metacommerce solution for brands and retailers.