Retailers are not rushing into the metaverse as it doesn’t live up to their expectations, according to analyst firm Gartner.
The document titled Emerging Tech: Adopter Anti-patterns – Metaverse Use Cases Are Plagued by Low Adoption identifies some key issues that deter users from adopting the tech. The biggest problem is the failure of virtual reality in the on-gaming environment to meet customer expectations for scale.
The study, based on interviews with 52 metaverse providers and analysis of 170 adopter implementations, states that early adopters of metaverse “are most frequently seeking ways to improve productivity or customer engagement or address marketing, brand and sales challenges”.
Gen Z consumers seem to be the only category tuning into these experiences – yet even they are not ecstatic about them. Gartner’s researchers discovered that 85 per cent “are really not that interested in brands operating in metaverses”, while 43 per cent “say they are staying away from the metaverse because they don’t understand it”.
That might be the result of the pent-up appetite for brick-and-mortar shopping zest following the lifting of restrictions worldwide.
Notably, users complain that virtual reality experiences are physically uncomfortable, making “virtual environments challenging for many users”. Many consumers are also concerned about privacy and security. The cost of virtual reality equipment is another major drawback.
Metaverse future looks bleak
“Improvements to hardware, devices and VR collaboration software to mitigate these adverse reactions are still in an early experimental stage, with options varying by platform. Again, this limits scalability for such VR environments”, the study said.
Gartner also warns that virtual experiences are silos, meaning marketers should be aware that running them won’t make meaningful contributions to the data they collect about customers and prospects.
Augmented reality has more potential
“We found that AR is driving significant interest – particularly among retail organisations – and appears to be delivering more tangible value to early adopters,” according to the findings.
On balance, Gartner advises that would-be buyers remain sceptical about the metaverse craze and instead ask what value, if any, they can derive from using the immersive technologies.
