Asia being one of the fastest growing luxury goods market in the world, it is a logical consequence that brands set up luxury metaverse activations. In today’s digital world, luxury goods companies are aware that latest technologies can optimize their brand value. And the metaverse is just an example of a digital area of brand activation. The metaverse being an extension of real life into the virtual world is on the way to becoming inevitable, due to the availability of state-of-the-art technologies and the growing interest among consumers. And luxury brands are taking full advantage of this opportunity by understanding the value of their products in a digital environment, in Asia especially.
Asia- conquest territory for luxury brands in the metaverse
This continent is one of the largest markets for luxury goods in the world and China will certainly become the largest market in the world by 2025. Asia is also home to many young consumers who are comfortable with the virtual world, due to their high rates of technology adoption. To take advantage of this, luxury brands must capitalize on the growing demand from Millennials and Gen Z by quickly embracing digital marketing approach such as providing diverse experiences around content, online shopping, gaming, entertainment, virtual interaction so in general, opt for metaverse activations.
From 2020 to 2025, the Asian luxury goods market is expected to increase. According to Statista, the Chinese industry sector in 2020 reached $39 billions US. The increasing demand for luxuries has led to a trend towards emergent luxury brands based on technology and innovation. This has created opportunities for digital transformation for luxury brands in order to better connect with their consumers in Asia in general. As a matter of fact, China represents one of the largest luxury goods markets in the world, and it is predicted to become the largest in the world by 2025. Covid 19 has demonstrated that China’s consumers spent US$73.6 billion on luxury goods at home in 2021, up 36% from 2020.
Moreover, consumers are constantly seeking new ways to experience and engage with luxury brands. As technologies such as NFTs are becoming more and more established, it is important for luxury brands to adapt in order to stay relevant in today’s digital landscape. According to a Deloitte Report on Luxury Goods, Millennials and Gen Z together are bound to reflect more than 40% of the overall luxury market by 2025. This shows that the increasing digitalization and virtualization of the fashion industry builds a path of vast opportunities for growth.
How can luxury brands leverage metaverse activations in Asia?
An interesting development in the Chinese market is how some luxury brands have been incorporating NFTs and metaverse into their strategy. The metaverse and NFTs can be utilized as a means to stand out as well as an opportunity to collaborate with other brands.
The future of luxury is digital and for many, buying NFTs is synonymous with purchasing luxury goods. Brands have the opportunity to create their own virtual worlds and experiences that provide new ways for consumers to interact with their products. They are also using video games and other advanced technology platforms to make their clothing more accessible.
- Gucci brand as a case in point sold four sportswear line for characters in the app game Tennis Clash, considered in the most leading games on Google Play in 2019. The brand as well provide the gamers with a link allowing them to buy the same sportswear in real life.
- Tmall for instance, a Chinese e-commerce platform created its first “Double 11 Metaverse Art Exhibition” which introduced a brand-new shopping experience on its Tmall/Taobao mobile app. This exhibition in collaboration with some luxury brands such as Burberry or Coach, provided users with eight limited NFTs only available during Double 11. Those brands were able to leverage the technology of Tmall’s Double 11 Event to make the event feel more real and intimate for its customers. Burberry prepared an interactive animation featuring its deer mascot, which was wearing a limited physical and virtual edition scarf, available on Alipay program. The 1,000 units of the NFT deer with the limited edition scarf were sold out at $454 during the first day of presale.
When the biggest asian metaverse platform takes a step further in web3
Hong Kong, known as the hub of both culture and technology, is leveraging its position to leave a mark in the metaverse. There have been multiple NFTs art showcases in the city, including Asia’s largest NFT exhibition “ARTAVERSE” with more than 100 exhibitors, and K11 MUSEA’s “METAVISION”, exhibiting more than 200 NFT works.
Art Piece by MonoC
Gusto Collection, one of Asia’s leading marketing groups in metaverse, created a virtual female character called MonoC (mo.noc on Instagram). MonoC’s artwork, Drowning in Love, was influenced by by the art auction process itself (in Hong Kong) and came together at the end of the week long auction by collecting around 100,000 live data points in real time as the bidding progressed on all 50 lots. The painting was eventually sold for HK$189,000 or US$24,000.
Recently this year, the most used and broad based metaverse in Asia called Zepeto launched a blockchain project ZepetoX. It aims at being a Web3 metaverse allowing users to create, trade virtual assets, as well as engage in social interactions in an immersive virtual space. With over 320 million registered users and over 2.5 billion virtual items sold, ZepetoX is Asia’s largest metaverse, providing opportunity for 3 billion people globally to join the metaverse community.
By working with the Solana blockchain, ZepetoX aims to build a virtual world that lets users create, own, and trade digital assets. Its open source technology will enable thousands of creators to monetize their creations, socialize with each other, and express themselves through customizable avatars, virtual lands, gaming experiences, DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Administrations) and NFTs in general, in a 3D open world.
Luxury brands are broadening the scope of their marketing activities from select locations to a global playing field. Today, fashion houses are not just producing clothing, as they were before, but have become increasingly involved in virtual reality and gaming, blurring the lines between real-world and digital spaces. Luxury brands have everything to discover in the metaverse, and Asia is the proof of the growing interest of it all.
To learn more on metaverse activations, read DIFFERENT TYPES OF METAVERSE
Or download our white paper ENTERING IN THE WEB 3.0 – A GUIDE FOR LUXURY FASHION IN THE METAVERSE
