Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) is in focus on Monday after the retail behemoth partnered with Roblox Corp (NYSE: RBLX) to take a shot at “metaverse”.
What’s in it for Walmart?
The multinational wants to capitalize on more than 52 million daily active users on Roblox.
Its virtual store in the digital world will primarily feature products actually available at its real-world stores. The idea is to test if these metaverse experiences help boost the real-world sales.
Other than that, the retailer plans on launching a bunch of games, music festival, and a blimp that rains toys in the metaverse. It’s calling the two experiences “Walmart Land” and “Walmart’s Universe of Play”.
Wall Street recommends that you buy Walmart shares as they have upside to $151 on average. Last month, the Bentonville-headquartered firm reported market-beating results for its fiscal second quarter and raised its guidance for the future. (read more)
Would it help Walmart make money?
For now, Walmart is not aiming at making money out of the metaverse experiment and wants only to explore new ways to better engage its audience. According to William White – its Chief Marketing Officer:
How are we driving relevance in cultural conversation? How are we developing community and engagement? How are we moving the needle from a brand favourability [standpoint] with younger audience? That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.
Later, though, the retail company might charge brands for inclusion, he confirmed.
Roblox has been the platform of choice this year for several others interested in penetrating the metaverse, including Nike. Its shares are up more than 5.0% on the news this morning.
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