How Will Virtual Reality Affect Businesses?

It wasn’t so long ago that we attended the RBTE and spoke to retail technology experts about the advancements while discussing the demise of the bricks and mortar store. This, investigation and discussion was held with the internet in mind, with data, analytics and automatic customer service. Now, there’s a new boy in town and it’s set to take businesses to a whole new level in a very short space of time.

At the moment it’s seen by consumers as a toy and many SMEs are dismissing it as a fad, as it has been and gone before. Personally, I believe this dismissal to be a mistake because when Mark Zuckerberg invests billions into the development of such an item, you know there’s a future that won’t bow out gracefully this time.

Of course, it’s virtual reality. Still, the headsets are clunky and rather expensive (although we reviewed one here for £25) but the integration into smart businesses is not slowing down, neither is the thirst of the masses who want virtual reality to stick around. The question is, just how will virtual reality affect businesses?

We joined forces with some of our favourite people at Cloudswave to pick their brains and to find an answer. between us, we agreed that virtual reality will affect businesses like this:

Development of the Personal Experience

If you follow The Consumer Voice, you already know we champion the personal experience 9we did before it became trendy!) VT will enable forward thinking businesses to expand on this offering and bring more to the buyer in the comfort of their own home. Customers could walk down personal shopping aisles, through personal streets such as the virtual one at BrandStreet and they could almost “try on” items to see if they fit. This provides the ultimate in convenience and personal experience and will of course, drive sales through the roof.

Elimination of Geographical Constraints

With a personal VT headset a consumer can access a store from anywhere, they can view and event and come up close and personal with a product. There’s no need for a physical appearance and we’ll see, as VT develops, that it should connect all four corners of the world like never before, making the furthest continents away, accessible.

A Real Virtual Workplace

Imagine the ease of interviewing candidates through VT? A physical HR location may become obsolete, while the strict panel of interviewers will be able to infiltrate the home of an interviewee! The limitations are off, Skype will become a thing of the past and the poorly connected video messaging will seem brutish and archaic.

Graphic designers and architects who grasp the virtual reality creativity tools will be able to guide their clients on a real tour of their work which leads me to..

Property and Holiday Sales

Estate agents and travel agents will be in their element. The best advice, when selling either, is to encourage the customer to envisage themselves living there, or holidaying there. There’s no better visualisation than a virtual reality headset. If done correctly, the experience could be so real that the customer actually feels as though they’re being ripped from what is rightfully theirs when the headset is turned off, thus leading to an instant sale.

It’s consumer psychology at its best.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as entertainment will advance, along with meetings of any kind. While some worry about the effects on real human interaction others will be powering forward embracing the change and making this the most profitable step in business since the dawn of the internet.

Be sure to check out our friends over at Cloudswave for the insights into the Internet of Things and the advancement of virtual reality headsets in business.