Amazon enables virtual shopping for Prime Video merchandise
Amazon’s is diving deeper into the metaverse with an immersive shopping experience built around a popular Prime Video streaming series.
The e-tailer is offering web-only Virtual Campus Tour and Virtual Campus Store metaverse environments extending from its Prime Video streaming series “Gen V.” The virtual experiences are accessible from the “Gen V” detail page.
The Virtual Campus Tour offers an interactive digital visit to the fictional Godolkin University campus where the show is set, leading to a student union housing the Virtual Campus Store. At the store, U.S. consumers can purchase merchandise including Godolkin University merchandise and dorm room products (consumers outside the U.S. can still take the virtual tour).
An interactive virtual residence hall also offers dorm room products for sale to U.S. consumers. Approximately 150 items are available for sale in total via the metaverse experience. Customers can click an item they want to buy, then click “Buy Now” to complete the purchase on the Amazon e-commerce site.
“The new experience will extend the worlds of Prime Video titles creating convenient, culturally rich environments for customers to discover, learn, experience, and consume more of their favorite stories,” Amazon said in a corporate blog post.
The interactive experience is available in English only.
Amazon expands metaverse presence
Amazon is beginning to let customers buy real goods from storefronts in virtual worlds. In May 2023, the retailer introduced Amazon Anywhere, an offering which enabled customers to shop and buy physical products from Amazon for the first time within virtual environments, such as video games, augmented reality (AR), and third-party mobile apps.
Amazon launched the feature within Peridot, a new mobile game from Niantic that features artificial intelligence (AI)-powered virtual pets and overlays of augmented reality (AR_ imagery on “real world” environments. After seamlessly linking their Amazon account to Peridot, customers can discover and purchase Peridot-branded products on Amazon directly from the game.
Customers will see product details, images, availability, Prime eligibility, price and estimated delivery date in the Peridot environment as they would in Amazon stores. After putting a Peridot product in their cart, customers can tap the buy button to check out via their linked Amazon account from within the experience. Products will ship to customers like any other purchase from Amazon, and they can track and manage orders via the Amazon app.
Amazon Anywhere follows the company’s September 2022 pilot of “Amazonmetaworld,” a metaverse of digital gamification experiences (without e-commerce functionality), in five Indian cities.