Last week, Forever 21 said it was celebrating its “Metaverse” anniversary by launching a fashion line inspired by its experiences in the Metaverse.
The F21 Metaverse collection follows Forever 21′s success in virtual product testing. The new line of sweatshirts, t-shirts and other merchandise has been influenced by the retailer’s virtual offerings, including Forever Beanie, the #1 selling item in Forever 21 Shop City on Roblox. The new limited edition is available at Forever 21 stores and forever21.com starting at $14.99.
The retailer is also currently offering limited edition accessories for sale on Roblox to promote the new collection, with new F21 items hitting shelves every day starting December 9th.
“Our original goal with Forever 21 Shop City was to expand the way we interact with shoppers and make our products accessible to everyone,” said Forever 21 CEO Vinnie Park. store, we’re thrilled to bring this beloved product and the entire F21 Metaverse collection to life.”
Forever 21′s experience with Roblox over the past year has convinced the company that there is “interest in its product both inside and outside of social gaming.”
Consumer research conducted by Roblox users found that 70% of Gen Z gamers use ideas from brick and mortar store shelves to equip their avatars on gaming platforms. Forever 21 is exploring the possibilities of combining virtual and physical objects in both environments.
Roblox reported that daily active users in its core markets in the US and Canada grew 17% year-on-year in the third quarter. The fastest growing consumer group in these countries are consumers aged 17 to 24, a key age group for Forever 21.
Forever 21 isn’t the only retailer using Roblox to connect with consumers in the Metaverse. In September, Walmart launched two immersive apps on its gaming platform, Walmart Land and Walmart Game World. They represent the retailer’s first attempt to connect visitors with virtual goods (AKA verch) that are real life on walmart.com and its stores.
Forever 21 was acquired by Authentic Brands Group, Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners in 2020 after filing for bankruptcy.
Deliberation Question: Do you think gaming platforms like Roblox are a logical starting point for retailers to test the waters of the Metaverse? Does the experience of Forever 21 show that virtual worlds offer real opportunities for retailers?
Access to the Metaverse using gaming platforms is still ongoing, but the results are unknown. Brands like Forever 21 are making speculative investments in what could be an effective sales channel for their products and brand building. However, while Metaverse and gaming platforms are evolving so quickly, I believe it will be years before they generate significant revenue for most retailers.
Small steps, of course, but with encouraging results. Forever 21 seems to have the right mix of real-life brand awareness, marketing savvy, and range on the Roblox platform. I’m not sure how much this can scale yet, but I’m impressed with their intuition and early implementation of this brave new virtual world. Perhaps this strategy will serve as a model for other early adopters of the Roblox meta space. I think it’s time to take a closer look at this space.
I remain skeptical about the “metaverse” in general, but I think that games are a logical starting point for brands like Forever 21, whose main target audience is 18-24 year olds. These games provide an experiential destination, allowing young shoppers to participate in unique experiences that they cannot find anywhere else. Can these actions be converted into monetized transactions (revenue) over a long period of time? My intuition tells me no, but I’d like to be proven wrong!
So, in the words of Matthew Ball, who recently wrote a book called The Metaverse – in his own words – “it doesn’t exist yet”: That’s very nice. Roblox is essentially a gaming platform.
At least FE21 has reason to be hopeful for those who want to spend time in a fantasy world: teenagers are their customer base… It’s hard for me to imagine that this works for Walmart (or most other adult-oriented retailers, for that matter). it went). ) ).
As you might guess, I think it’s mostly new (at best). But I think it illustrates well why scale matters in retail: the (possibly significant) fixed costs of developing these platforms can be spread over a wide base… which small retailers cannot.
This could be a fresh start for Forever 21 as it was one of the first retailers to experiment with the metaverse. But as a former employee, it seemed like a useless promotional tactic aimed at impressionable teenage consumers. Other fast fashion retailers such as Inditex (ZARA), ASOS and others have increased investment in the digital business with more fashionable products. I see Forever 21 as a litmus test for other brands to offer more than 3 items for the original metaverse collection.
How likely is it that more retailers will run Metaverse marketing campaigns in 2023 than they did in 2022?
Post time: Dec-14-2022