Virtual reality is the next big thing in the entertainment world. Companies are scrambling to create new hardware, which most users (and many investors) see as a revolution in gaming. One of the major players is Facebook (FB, Financial), which dropped $2 billion to get in on the market by acquiring Oculus Rift. Virtual reality is expected to make new and more immersive games possible, and other entertainment possibilities loom (Facebook is also pushing into the streaming market, and it is possible that these two moves could intersect).
But virtual reality, augmented reality and related technologies are not just tools for game designers or filmmakers. In the hands of clever developers, the virtual world has become an asset for e-commerce companies as well.
Take Rukkus, an e-commerce company that is trying to disrupt a ticket resale space currently dominated by StubHub and TicketMaster. Rukkus has introduced a feature called Rukkus seat360, which allows customers to experience their seats before they ever buy their tickets. Sports fans and prospective concertgoers can look all around the stadium, arena or concert hall before they put money down, checking out site lines and flying around from seat to seat with the touch of a button.
Streaming giant Hulu is also in on the VR game. The obvious way for a streaming company to wade into the VR wars would be with VR content, but that content does not really exist yet. That is no problem for Hulu, though - they’ve instead created VR viewing spaces, allowing VR users to watch Hulu’s content on a virtual TV in a virtual living room or movie theater. It is a clever way to use virtual reality as a differentiator, while Netflix (NFLX, Financial) may be able to deliver streaming content to your subway car, Hulu can take you out of the subway car entirely and show the content in a more relaxing (virtual) setting.
And the potential is huge in more traditional e-commerce spaces, too. Chinese retail giant Alibaba (BABA, Financial)Â announced its own virtual reality research laboratory earlier this year, which suggests that online shoppers may soon be able to virtually experience products before forking over their hard-earned money. That would be yet another blow to brick and mortar stores, whose dwindling list of advantages still includes being able to pick up the product and look at it. With virtual reality, inspecting the product and getting a sense of scale would be possible for online shoppers, too.
Alibaba won’t be the last to use virtual reality to put products in your hand before you ever buy them, and Rukkus won’t be the last company to use the same technology to put you in your seats before you buy your tickets. The innovation we are seeing in e-commerce around these technologies is moving extremely fast - at least as fast, in fact, as the innovation in gaming. So while virtual reality is certainly a ton of fun and a (literal) game-changer in the video game industry, it is not merely a toy. Virtual reality has the potential to change how we shop for everything from concert tickets to everyday essentials.
Disclosure: Stephen Lovely has no positions on any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
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