The metaverse doesn’t make sense for grocery retailers

The metaverse currently has no discernible value for supermarkets and CPG brands.

So says Viv Craske, Founder of Geeky Foody, a consultancy working with FoodTech and retail tech startups at seed, Series A and B stages.

In a LinkedIn post, Craske says: “People do not want to do their grocery shopping in a virtual supermarket in their spare time.”

“They do not want to interact with a virtual experience of your brand. They do not want to go to a bar to put on VR headsets and interact with each other.”

He concluded: “We've been here before with AR experiences like Blippar. That didn't make sense for grocery brands. And neither does the metaverse.”

Walmart

Earlier this year, we reported that Walmart was looking to enter the metaverse via the creation of its own cryptocurrency and a collection of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.

According to a CNBC report, the big box retailer has filed several new trademarks that indicated its intent to make and sell virtual goods. Whilst a separate filing revealed plans to offer users a virtual currency, as well as NFTs.

Walmart didn't respond to our request for comment.

A video had previously done the rounds on social media, supposedly showing “how Walmart envisions shopping in the metaverse.”

Responses were not positive, with people mocking the clunky visuals and utter naffness of the whole endeavour. 

In Walmart’s defence, however, the video was four years old. A quick Google search revealed that a digital agency made the clip for the retailer to impress influencers at SXSW 2017.

We’ll leave it up to you to decide what that says about social media and the heavily hyped metaverse space in 2022. We couldn’t possibly comment.