Walmart: the new Bitcoin-based strategy
Walmart said that crypto and the metaverse are at the center of the company’s business strategy and that it will use digital assets, such as Bitcoin, in its physical and virtual stores.
Walmart and the company’s strategy focused on Bitcoin and the metaverse
The famous American retailer, Walmartappears to be increasingly convinced of the future of the blockchain industry, saying so the company’s business strategy will be centered on crypto and the metaverse.
In a interviewchief technology officer, Suresh Kumarsaw it digital assets will be used by the company in the near future, both in its physical and virtual stores. Here are Kumar’s exact words:
“Crypto will become an important part of how customers shop. We want to make sure that we make it as frictionless for customers to be able to shop, and to be able to buy, and how they can get value out of it. […] I think a lot of the disruption is going to happen in terms of different payment methods, different payment options.”
Basically, Walmart’s CTO thinks so the use and sale of digital goods can enable the company’s consumers to discover new products as their habits have become increasingly changing and trendy.
It is no coincidence that as early as last year, Walmart together with the company Coinstar launched one pilot project that allowed people to buy BTC in their stores through installation of 200 Bitcoin ATMs.
Walmart and the launch of immersive experiences on Roblox
Kumar’s comments echo some of what Walmart announced last month: the launch of Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play, the two immersive experiences in the Roblox metaverse.
Welcome to Walmart Land! 👋 You are invited to Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play, two new immersive experiences in the metaverse mega-platform, Roblox. Grab your headsets and jump in: pic.twitter.com/UYrPrQ2Lo2
— Walmart Inc. (@WalmartInc) 26 September 2022
“Welcome to Walmart Land! 👋 You are invited to Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play, two new immersive experiences in the metaverse mega-platform, Roblox. Grab your headsets and jump in: https://bit.ly/3SxApNr.“
Basically, Walmart Country offers the Roblox community of more than 52 million daily users its fashion, style, beauty and entertainment items.
Specifically, it is a series of experiences involving a virtual item store (or “verch”) for one’s avatara physics-defying Ferris wheel that gives users a bird’s-eye view of the world, and unlockable tokens and badges that can be earned in various games and competitions.
Simultaneous, Walmart’s Universe of Play is the virtual destination dedicated to virtual toys and adventuresfor example, electric mobility devices, or hoverboards, that an avatar can use to travel faster in the universe.
Registered trademark applications include NFT and issuing its own cryptocurrency
Last December Walmart allegedly used to register multiple trademarks which applies to both the world of NFTs and the metaverseas well issuance of own cryptocurrency.
The trademarks filed express the retail giant’s intention to also create its own virtual marketplacewhere it can sell virtual goods.
Roughly speaking, this is a direct commitment from Walmart to have its own metaverse, with its own virtual stores and its own crypto-wallet with its own cryptocurrency.
The Roblox Metaverse and the Different Brands
Walmart has joined the ranks fashion brands that have chosen Roblox to expand into the metaverse.
The last is Tommy Hilfigerthe famous American fashion house, which has embarked on this new journey that combines the real with the digital in its fashion shows.
But also Burberrywhich in July last year had launched its limited edition virtual bag collection on Robloxpriced at 800 Robux (9.99 euros).
Not only that, while Roblox’s islands seems to have also conquered brands in other industries, such as e.g Spotifythe music streaming service, other brands such as Heineken have decided to launch their products on other metaverses, with Silver Beer appears in Decentraland.
In any case, while Roblox is booming, their subscriptions fell 4% this quarter. The ROBLOX token, which can be traded within the metaverse, also saw a small drop in trading.
However, none of this seems to be stopping the expansion of the California-based company’s free-to-play metaverse. In fact, in a research study, the world of Roblox seems to be particularly popular among 17- to 24-year-oldsand the company sees this trend growing over the next two years.
