Macro Trends 2022-2030

This series will walk you through important business trends, at macro-level, which are to be taken into account, since they will inform strategic decisions on various industries, so that a competitive positioning in the market is maintained and enhanced in the future.

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence As An Engagement Booster - Part 3

Date: June 13th, 2022

• Retail - the shopping experience can be either started or continued from the couch in the living room, having the opportunity to try before buying and to interact with various brands thanks to the help of virtual reality. Especially in the beauty area, trying makeup, a new hair color or a new hair cut would help customers decide better in the shopping process. The virtual world can be a continuation of the physical one in the buying process, allowing to customize a product, such as a pair of limited edition sneakers and even to interact in more complex buying scenarios such as buying a house and decorating it with various furniture or trigger a vehicle buying process, allowing for a test drive from the couch in order to convince. A beautiful landscape would be also part of the scenery, therefore all these technologies (VR, AR) will create immersive experiences, which will connect customers emotionally to the brand in a deeper manner. The customers are able to see a product from more angles and browse its details, such as for IPhone and for wine bottles, as the labels would tell their own story. With these technologies, people can also choose the right color for painting a room and even visit a property to experience it, all these steps helping people get more informed during the buying process, enabling them to take better purchase decisions in the end. Especially in the case of products with higher ticket sizes, augmented reality can help users customize a Porsche before buying with the help of the AR Visualizer 3D app or one can customize interior design before buying or renovating a home. A brand new wave of digital products such as clothing and shoes, used to customize avatars also make their way in the digital experience, being a way for self expression in the metaverse, in digital games and in other activities, such as building a digital avatar which will present videos or lectures on behalf of the author, for example.

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence As An Engagement Booster - Part 2

Date: June 7th, 2022

• Travel - the metaverse features already entered travel through virtual tours and other immersive travel experiences offered also during travel for first class passengers of some airlines, such as First Airlines. The new generation of advertising through the concept "try before you buy" will allow travelers to experience a place before reaching that destination and to immerse with it, to have an authentic impression of the destination they wish to visit. This can be a significant engagement booster for travel agencies, tour operators, hotels, resorts of all kinds. With the video, audio experience at an enhanced level already, accompanied by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), virtual bookings are possible, meaning that the booking process is already virtualized, with no need to type on any keyboard in order to input data. Booking return flights, asking various details about a destination, asking about room service and other concierge services, purchasing souvenirs, booking tours and activities in Virtual Reality (VR) from a hotel at a given destination are all ways to engage deeper with customers, increase retention and loyalty long term. Hotels can issue NFTs in collaboration with famous artists, pair them with points from their loyalty program in order to increase brand awareness and customer LTV. Augmented Reality (AR) can add more information about landmarks, museums, becoming a virtual city tour guide to be used simply at home for a virtual experience or on the spot at the travel destination. Map navigation at any location can be eased with AR, including in-door and out-door navigation. Augmented reality goes social as well, by pairing digital overlays with cocktails in an urban authentic cocktail experience, offered by Mirage by City Social.

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence As An Engagement Booster - Part 1

Date: May 11th, 2022

The metaverse is to be built and adopted mass scale when technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) reach maturity and are adopted mainstream. The metaverse will likely be an engagement tool, creating more immersive experiences in various industries, boosting customer engagement and this way, increasing retention and life time value. Here are some thoughts on how various industries might be affected and how various businesses can benefit by investing in these future technologies today:

• Education & Virtual Classes - currently there are many methods to teach online through various channels, study materials being presented mainly in written, audio or video format. Most recently, the video format gained popularity and increased the capability of students of various ages to retain what is being taught. However, the estimation would be that, if a student can interact with the material in a new way, powered by the metaverse and the artificial intelligence spotting the talents of the student and the best path to take for learning according to individual goals, issuing optimal recommendations to pursue a certain learning path, this would boost current engagement levels by 70%. The customization of the user experience could be performed per user, offering an immersive world of exploring a certain topic, tailored to the capabilities and interests of the student, of course, in alignment with the goals and direction defined initially by the teacher. The students can already interact with the metaverse via digital overlays placed on top of real life objects, allowing them to perform a dissection of a frog or to interact with the Cosmos, this way helping them to grasp astronomy and physics concepts better. They could travel, visit museums and perform an activity in the metaverse, learning by doing so to speak with the help of training enabled by advancements in virtual reality. There are already companies offering such experiences in the metaverse, using such technologies: