Tehran(Bazaar): Paul Skeldon in interview with Bazaar News Agency said: Metaverse has huge implications for pretty much all consumer facing industries. Retailers will be able to interact with consumers and perhaps allow them to virtually try things on and, ultimately buy things.
Paul Skeldon is a freelance retail, telecoms and technology journalist and analyst, specialising in mobile, marketplaces and media. He is currently one of the editors at InternetRetailing.net, the leading online news source for the retail industry, a research analyst at RetailX and managing editor of Telemedia-news.com, the leading news service for the value-added telecoms market globally. His first book – M-commerce – was published by Crimson Business Publishing in 2011. His second – the DIY Guide to eCommerce – was published in 2017. Paul also regularly ghost writes blogs, white papers and ebooks across a range of subjects from ecommerce, to logistics to telecoms and media. He is also managing director of video and podcasting content creation company, Videobaby Media, and has worked with numerous brands and publishers to produce video and audio content.
Bazaar:How do you see the future of Metaverse technology?
Skeldon :The metaverse is at a very nascent stage so predicting its future is tricky. For now, it looks very much like something that will link together gaming, social media and marketing, but is set to also pull in retail. In the short term it is likely to be a novelty – poorly rendered virtual rooms where you can interact with other people – but once it gets going, it could well be the next stage in social media, allowing virtual interaction between people many miles and continents apart. This has huge implications for pretty much all consumer facing industries. Retailers will be able to interact with consumers and perhaps allow them to virtually try things on and, ultimately buy things. Games will become super interactive and immersive, while marketing could be lifted to a whole new level. The interesting thing is who will be facilitating this? Facebook wants to be there, Apple too. Amazon is likely to also play. What may yet happen, however, is s new tech company could corner the market. Just imagine, in 20 years time we no longer talk about FANG (Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google) but another tech giant?
Bazaar:Which countries have invested more in this area? And are they leaders in this field?
Skeldon : Investment is currently accelerating. The US has seen the largest amounts invested, as far as I know, however percentage increase in investment has happened in the UK, with investment in VR tech companies up 95% in three years. But investment will soon be international as the metaverse will be global (even further field if, in the next 20 years, we start to have people living on the moon or mars. Sounds fanciful, but I believe that the metaverse ultimately will be the way that all communications take place in the years to come.
Bazaar:What effect does Metaverse have on the digital economy?
Skeldon : The impact of the metaverse on the digital economy could be huge. If, as I believe, the metaverse will be how the internet is used for all communications and activities then its impact will be total. In the short term, the metaverse is set to something that will initially be a place to start to market to tech savvy consumers and to tie up brands and gaming. In time, these brands will start to sell on the metaverse – virtual goods to start with, then real ones – and eventually it could the place where social media, ecommerce and marketing all converge.
Bazaar:What effect does it have on cryptocurrency investment?
Skeldon : Where any sort of selling takes place there will be a role for cryptocurrency. Currently, with the metaverse as it stands, non fungible tokens (NFTs) such as found in blockchain backed crypto currencies are a shoe-in for a payment tool in the metaverse. Both are new and both are niche - they are made for each other. As the metaverse becomes more important and pivotal to ecommerce, crypto is likely to find a natural home. If the metaverse branches out into services such as adult or quasi-legal/dark web areas, naturally crypto will be the way to pay. In the mainstream, all payment mechanisms will look at how to work in the metaverse, so it won't necessarily just be the preserve of cryptocurrencies.
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