In-game shopping on Roblox takes big step forward with Shopify integration
An immersive gaming platform with a large Gen Z fan base is partnering with a Canadian e-commerce platform to allow its brands to sell physical items directly within the game.
Roblox has named Shopify as its first commerce integration partner. The gaming platform will soon pilot Shopify’s checkout feature, enabling developers, creators, and brands on Shopify to sell physical items directly within their Roblox games without ever leaving the Roblox platform.
This will open direct virtual commerce engagement between creators and brands and what Roblox says is a global audience of nearly 80 million daily active users as of the second quarter of 2024. In addition, creators on the Roblox platform will be able to sell directly to users via Shopify functionality.
"Commerce happens everywhere—from physical stores, to online, to immersive spaces," Shopify said in a corporate blog post. "One of the most relevant places for digitally-savvy Gen Z consumers in the world right now is Roblox, where millions of creators pursue entrepreneurship through immersive content creation. Now, we’re unlocking a new channel for their ventures."
An increasing number of retailers are launching experiences on the Roblox platform, which is hugely popular with valuable Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers. Most notably Walmart, which initially debuted in the metaverse by launching two new metaverse experiences on Roblox in September 2022, recently made its own history by becoming the first entity to sell select "real-world" items on Roblox.
Walmart’s IRL commerce shop in the experience enables Roblox users to check out the real world items chosen by its partner user generated content (UGC) creators, MD17, Junozy & Sarabxlla. Each purchase of a select real world item comes with a free digital twin that customers can use with their Walmart Discovered avatar, created by its partner UGC creators.
Users can try on and buy trending content and emotes in Discovered, tell Walmart what products they want to see featured, customize their virtual Walmart cart, and also showcase their favorite items. The Shopify integration will open this type of seamless shopping for “real” items on Roblox to more retailers.
Beauty brand E.l.f. is also a pioneer in testing real-world commerce on Roblox. Other retailers that have rolled out Roblox experiences in the past few months include Ikea (which became the first company to pay physical employees for working in the metaverse via its immersive Roblox store), LensCrafters and Pacsun.
"This is another example of how Shopify is shaping the future of immersive commerce and shopping," Roblox said in the blog post. "When entrepreneurs have more spaces to connect with fans, they have more opportunities to succeed. That is what we power at Shopify."
