Strategy aims to add $4 billion to GDP, support creation of 40,000 virtual jobs, attract 1,000 technology companies to the emirate
metaverse1 year ago
From browsing through the latest designs of hoodies to watching movie trailers, Khaleej Times enjoyed spending a few hours inside Dubai's first virtual mall. The Mall of the Metaverse will represent Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) in Decentraland and is the perfect playground for their increasingly Web 3 savvy clientele.
Inaugurated last month, the mall is in the initial phase of development as the group looks "closely" at customers' needs and expectations. “We are a customer-centric and innovative company; thus we want to make sure we are available to our consumers wherever they are whether in a city or in a virtual world,” said Fatima Zada, director of Omnichannels and Digital, Majid Al Futtaim Shopping Malls
Once we arrived at the mall in Decentraland, the first step was to take a mandatory photo at the entrance of the mall which has the signature MAF logo. We walked into the building which had a smaller version of Ski Dubai at the entrance. The poster of a little kid enjoying the snow made us smile. However, we didn’t know how to pass on the smile to our avatar. To the right were some arcade games from Magic Planet.
Going to the left, we walked past Vox Cinemas, but not before watching two trailers on the big screen. After enjoying snippets of the Hollywood film 'Antman and the Wasp: Quantico' and the Bollywood movie 'Shehzade', we moved to the elevator which had a huge signage of iFly above it.
Inside the mall, customers' avatars will find Carrefour, VOX Cinemas, THAT Concept Store, Ghawali and Samsung Store, "with many more brands and exciting features in the pipeline".
We went to the THAT store on the first floor. A brand-new hoodie was on display. Clicking on it took us to the website of the store which had several similar hoodies to choose from. Next to it on display was an all-in-one virtual reality headset Oculus Quest 2.
Our next stop was on the second floor which had a Carrefour store. Stacked with fresh food, beverages and personal care items. Clicking on a food item on the rack took us straight to the online Carrefour store. We managed to snag a good deal on sunflower oil just in time for Ramadan.
Our last stop was the rooftop floor. With colourful ring lights, a cool wave-shaped structure in blue and purple and beautiful designs, the rooftop was funky but at the same time had an open top allowing us to watch the clouds float by on Decentraland. There we found kiosks of Ghawali and Samsung.
While the MAF in Decentraland is simply a platform that directs customers to its online shopping areas, Fatima says there are “exciting times ahead” as customers can expect more, depending on what they want.
“As we observe current user interactions with our Mall of the Metaverse via their respective avatars, we can then optimise our experience accordingly,” she said.
“We will also work closely with the Virtual Asset Regulation Authority (VARA) to assess how we can perhaps explore the purchase of wearables and NFTs if we believe there is a market for it.”
Currently, payments are accepted as debit or credit cards but that could change soon. “In the future, we will be able to link to the MetaMask wallet as the platform is on the blockchain, so shoppers will be able to use crypto,” said Fatima.
ALSO READ:
Strategy aims to add $4 billion to GDP, support creation of 40,000 virtual jobs, attract 1,000 technology companies to the emirate
metaverse1 year ago
It is important to educate ourselves and make sure the metaverse is 'open and transparent, and not owned by few,' Dr. Mark van Rijmenam asserts
metaverse2 years ago
More than 120 speakers will participate in the conference across four stages in over 60 sessions
metaverse2 years ago
Adnan M Kashwani says that it will enhance the workplace experience, transform the future of work, and raise new questions to be answered
metaverse2 years ago
This initiative is aimed at connecting people globally and cutting the costs that entrepreneurs have to face when doing an on-site event
metaverse2 years ago
The centre is open to the public from Saturday to Thursday and the experience also includes innovative shows using drones and hologram technology
metaverse2 years ago
Facebook parent Meta is spending billions of dollars each year to build what it sees as the next evolution of social computing. New York Times technology reporter Kashmir Hill spent two months in this immersive, three-dimensional world to find out why
metaverse2 years ago
Dubai Municipality is now using AR, wearable tech and the metaverse to train their officers before sending them out into the field
metaverse2 years ago