Metaverse, video commerce and Blockchain will redefine retail, technology leaders said at ICS 2022

Technology and business leaders discussed the future of Metaverse and cutting-edge technologies that will shape tomorrow’s retail at ICS 2022

Bengaluru: Business and technology leaders participating in a panel discussion at the Internet Commerce Summit 2022 in Bengaluru identified Metavarse, Video Commerce and Blockchain as the trends changing retail and consumer experiences.

Moderated by Anirban Chakraborti, Vice President & Chief Architect, Digital Business & Technology, Sangeetha Mobiles Pvt. Ltd., the leaders spoke on the topic “The New World Order: Web3, Metaverse & Business Opportunities”.

Speakers on the panel included, Ashish Sinha, Associate Director – Blockchain, S&P Global; Raveesh Bhatnagar, Head of Industry – FinServ, Meta; Vivek Sandhwar, COO, Being Human Clothing; Aparna Krishna, Program Manager, Biboxlabs; and Neha Suyal, Co-Founder and COO, Woovly.

Here are the key trends that emerged from the discussion:

Metaverse

“Metaverse is going to be an interoperable play connected to all kinds of digital wallets and blockchains,” said Raveesh Bhatnagar, Industry Head-FinServ, Meta. According to him, the four building blocks of the metaverse are: Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Digital Avatar and Commerce.

Video shopping

“We are a video commerce platform or a social commerce platform, where users come, discover content and they are able to learn about brands and products through video, unlike a very conventional e-commerce platform where they have to read and understand” said Neha Suyal , co-founder and COO, Woovly.

Social commerce, which includes video commerce, “is a way of selling by building trust. Trust can be built by an influencer or a housewife living in a community or an offline retailer selling in a store. The means of communication can be different. It can be a video commentary, live commentary, social media post or WhatsApp share,” she added.

Aparna Krishna, Program Manager, Biboxlabs differentiated pre and post pandemic situations in the e-commerce and education industries. “The most important thing companies have to keep in mind when doing something online is to create a trust, and then they have to offer something different, and the third is that the effort has to be competitive with a lot of options,” Aparna said.

Blockchain

Ashish Sinha, Associate Director-Blockchain, S&P Global explained the concept of Blockchain: “Blockchain is a way to decentralize the software applications that you use for businesses. When you decentralize, you actually remove the middlemen,” said Ashish.

Other trends

A change in consumption patterns and purchasing behavior were other trends the panel discussed.

Vivek Sandhwar, COO, Being Human Clothing, shared insights about the changing behavior of Gen Z and millennial consumers, that these generations don’t necessarily like to go to a store all the time. “65% of fashion products sold in India are first researched online and sold offline,” Sandhwar said.

“The consumer is keen to know more about how aware you are. The best way to build trust in brand awareness is through transparency, he added.

The panel was one of many insightful discussions on 13-14. December at the sixth edition of ICS in Bengaluru. The only event of its kind for the country’s e-commerce and m-commerce industry ICS is a convergence of new-age retailers from online retail, physical stores, product and service retail and omnichannel.

ICS 2022 was attended by over 100 business and thought leaders over two days. Leaders and experts from the emerging industry of e-commerce came together at ICS 2022 to share their valuable thoughts on the massive cross-channel transformation and the challenges and opportunities available to woo the connected customer.