Carrefour buys a parcel in the Metaverse, soon the races in VR?

The Metaverse, everyone is talking about it. Especially since Facebook changed its name to Meta, virtual reality has become a real business for the firm with occluded, and that she announced that the future of the Internet would certainly rely on virtual spaces. Even if we haven’t arrived there yet, we must admit that the Metaverse attracts enough attention for many brands to invest in it.

This is the case of Carrefour. The French distributor announces that it has acquired a virtual plot in The Sandbox. And more precisely in the Metaverse version of the game. The announcement was posted on Twitter by the brand’s e-commerce and digital transformation manager. The image that accompanies this article comes from the short video that accompanied his message. It announces the forthcoming opening of an interactive virtual space. And there is even the address to get there: 33,147.

To fully understand the impact of this announcement, let’s go back to The Sandbox concept. It is a sandbox type game graphically very similar to Minecraft. It is developed by the eponymous studio which belongs to Animoca Brands since 2018. During this takeover, Animoca announced that it wanted to transform The Sandbox into a Metaverse. In this virtual space, brands and developers will be able to buy virtual land via an NFT more or less large and develop playful, commercial or even informative experiences. Warner Music has purchased space there to hold virtual concerts.

If you therefore go to the Metaverse map of The Sandbox, you can discover that Carrefour has purchased a relatively small piece of land (even if it is not the smallest): the plot measures 3 units wide for three units length. But everything being virtual, the dimensions are relatively large. On the description of the land, it is indicated that Carrefour bought in the Metaverse the equivalent of 30 supermarkets. All the same ! The goal is to create innovative digital commerce experiences.

What will Carrefour do in the Metaverse?

This obviously means everything and nothing. But we imagined what it could mean. The most credible hypothesis is that ofa giant virtual supermarket Amazon type with all possible products. Agribusiness. Clothing. Accessories. Computer science. Electronic. Telephony. Leisure (virtual or real). Toy. Furnishing. etc

Consumers would come there to see the products and buy them before they were delivered. “Corners” for brands could be integrated, like department stores like Galeries Lafayette. Let’s not forget that this experience must be playful to attract players who will wander through the Metaverse. We are curious to know how Carrefour will integrate game mechanics into a supermarket.