Why Ralling Co-Creative Communities Will Disrupt Retail

The hype surrounding cryptocurrency and the metaverse has waned, but the idea of empowering people to co-create, curate and influence brands remains powerful.

The values and decentralized mechanics of Web3, often described as a new phase of the internet built on blockchain and token-based economics, continue to challenge traditional concepts of loyalty and membership in retail. This is deepening possibilities for design through collaborative dynamics. Altering how brands interact with consumers, the steady transition from hype to utility will involve embracing the tangible value of Web3 strategies.

With community now an essential brand metric, the opportunity is clear. Up to 79 per cent
of consumers have established relationships with brands through memberships, retail subscriptions or loyalty programs, according to PYMNTS. In a broader shift, mass culture is also giving way to niche collectives, echoed by a Horizon Media study where 91 per cent of 18–25-year-olds agreed that ‘mainstream’ pop culture no longer exists.

Cover and above: Held in Fortnite, Airphoria is a first-of-its-kind immersive gaming experience envisioned by Nike to serve the future of sports fandom.

These forces, along with Web3 principles, are disrupting retail. Passive consumers are levelling up into engaged community participants, leading to a nascent style of decentralized commerce that invites users to co-design branded products and storefronts. But the impacts of this trend are not merely virtual; they extend to physical and spatial design too.

DECENTRALIZED PRODUCT DESIGN

Design and innovation have become more participatory over time, notes Robbie Allen, a senior strategist at experience design agency YourStudio. ‘We’re seeing more and more examples of creatives using technology to imagine hyper-personalized versions of brand worlds and products — and it’s now happening whether the brand invites them to or not,’ he says.

Buying and selling fashion NFTs is made possible with The Fabricant’s Marketplace platform.

Meanwhile, digital fashion house The Fabricant has been experimenting with co-creation since 2019, when its Free File Drops (FFDrops) garnered 40,000 downloads. For the Fabricant, this extends its reach through iterations of its base collection, and fosters collaboration within its community. ‘We have a very active community of creators,’ says Nirmala Shome, head of marketing and growth at The Fabricant. ‘We believe it’s important to empower them to express their style through our co-created collections and through sharing our 3D files, along with running workshops and incentivised challenges.’

Similarly, in late 2022, Nike debuted its ‘Dot Swoosh’ platform to house Web3 projects, citing a remarkable $185 million in revenue from virtual goods. It has been conceived as a place for people to buy and trade phygital products, unlock access to events, and co-create collections.

USER-GENERATED RETAIL SPACES

Beyond products, individuals are redesigning retail environments for themselves, often bridging gap between shopping and gaming. This is primarily happening online as the value of user-generated content accelerates popular game-creation platforms like Roblox, which achieved $2.2 billion in revenue in 2022.

‘In the same way that consumers are now co-creating products with brands, it’s exciting to consider how co-creation can extend to space as well, with consumers owning more digital and physical environments,’ explains YourStudio’s Allen. ‘Retail spaces can shift from static monoliths to reactive, localized, interactive and personalized ones.’

Experimenting with user-generated retail formats, Forever21’s Shop City campaign invited people to create digital storefronts in Roblox.

Forever21’s Shop City campaign allowed people to create personalized digital storefronts in Roblox. With this project, Forever21 experimented with dynamic, user-generated retail formats and virtual spaces. Users could build, stock and operate their own virtual franchises, including fully customizing their store design, and curating what items they wanted to sell.

Digital integration is also rising in stores, demonstrated by the increasing amount of space dedicated to interactive digital experiences, and mobile online-to-offline modes. Expanding on this, gamified access, or the tiering of retail experiences, could result in token-activated zones on the shopfloor that are unlocked by certain levels of engagement.

STORES AS DIGITAL EXTENSIONS

Brands are poised to reimagine their physical stores as extensions of their digital communities. Even the design of retail spaces may be influenced by community preferences, with members participating in decisions like store layout and visual merchandising via voting systems. San Francisco’s DeStore – the first brick-and-mortar store owned and operated by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) – is a prime example of this. It envisions a blockchain-backed future for physical retail. While some details about the project’s logistics remain unclear, the general premise is that ownership is represented through corresponding NFTs, which grant access to a Discord server where holders can vote on everything from product selection to store aesthetics.

Located in San Francisco, DeStore is owned by a decentralized autonomous organization, the first retail space of its kind.

‘Tokenized benefits and models we’re seeing some retailers employ, such as decentralized autonomous organisations, are starting to unlock new forms of elevated membership, where consumers aren’t just rewarded for their participation but actually share in the success of the brand and retail space,’ says Katy Shand, a senior strategist and researcher at YourStudio.

As this becomes more commonplace, the convergence of creativity and consumer engagement will become a cornerstone of retail, foreshadowing a future in which stores better reflect the collective identity of the community they serve.

Source: FRAME