The Immersive Wire - 24 October 2021 (Sunday edition)

By Tom FfiskeCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday 

// 24 October 2021

Dune is epic. I sincerely hope they commission a second film.

Out now on the Oculus Quest and Quest 2.

MAIN STORYVR/AR retail experiences - an account from a first-time visitor

Editor's note: Below is an account of a VR/AR retail experience, as told by a duo who haven't seen experiential retail with immersive tech before. I hope the perspective is helpful for everyone reading the newsletter, to see how they can tweak their own works to capture more of the public's interest. If you find it useful, consider forwarding it to a colleague.As I entered Situ Live, a shop in Westfield Shepard's Bush in London,  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Was it going to be a futuristic space with VR and AR dominating the storefront and taking center stage? Was it going to be completely different from every store I had ever been in? It was with all these questions in my mind as I walked into a store that looked much like other stores from the front.Yes, it did have a rather lavish MC20 Maserati as you walked in but your initial opinion would have been of a slightly better lit version of an Ikea mixed with an up-market Currys. But then you start to go a little deeper into the store you start to notice the little QR codes attached to everything, there is something critical missing but I didn’t realise it immediately. It then struck me that there were no prices on anything or anywhere to be seen. There was no staff urging me to buy products and not advertisements pushing or pulling me over to their respective displays. The process was to scan the QR code of the product you liked and then you would buy it straight from the supplier. (Editor's note: This tells me that QR codes should have better situational directions to indicate how they should be used.)

As I settled into this new rather pleasant reality the whole effect of the store became apparent. The store was separated into zones or ‘theatres’ as they called it and in each of these theatres they have a ‘storyteller.’

• The storyteller then takes the user on a journey through the theatre space based on the products they have on display, in keeping with the overall theme of innovation.

• I was very skeptical at first as this seemed all a bit too pie in the sky for my liking, but as I watched a cooking demonstration in the ‘kitchen theatre’ it did make me smile with the innocence and authenticity of it all.

• The storyteller/cook was definitely no Nigella Lawson but she made up for it with her sparkling performance and bubbly personality all topped off by the ‘super easy to use’ Bosch food mixer.

• The product placement is definitely not subtle but somehow I didn’t mind that as again I was lulled into a pleasant experience of feeling that I was just chatting to an old friend while she was cooking, all that was missing was a glass of wine!

They obviously had the obligatory VR ‘theatre’ space this time sponsored by Facebook showing off the Oculus. This again was very tasteful done but this was one area that felt like a bit of a tack-on and was not too dissimilar to all other VR experiences in various other high street shops/retailers. Situ Live is built to show off the often more traditional products which have been given a technical uplift whereas for something like VR it doesn’t quite fit. Most other aspects of the store were new and interesting but the VR experience, not helped by COVID restrictions, seemed to fall a bit flat. I have played the same games before, have tried the Oculus a number of times as have many members of the public and even the storyteller did seem to find it slightly trickier to get the ‘audience’ engaged in something we have all seen/experienced before. (Editor's note: Oof.)It boils down to would I go back to Situ Live or even more importantly would I buy products because of my experiences in Situ Live and the simple answer is, yes. The store itself makes me feel at home in a way like Ikea does but then gives me the tech feel/innovation of something like a more homely Apple store. By Theo Baldwin-Evans and Maya Wheldon. More details on Situ Live. 

The hit PC VR and LBE party game Loco Dojo is Unleashed on Oculus Quest!

“Just what Quest needed!” says ThumbCulture, giving the game their Platinum Award.

“I didn’t realise I wanted to be bellowed at by Brian Blessed in VR until now!” says another happy customer. Average review score: 85% VRGameCritic, Average Oculus Store Score: 4.5/5

Whack bats, ride pigs, sling snakes, and more only on Oculus Quest & Quest 2.

Carl Goodman, VR manager at Kantar

What is your background? I’m from a traditional design background but I’ve been working with computer graphics since the late 1980’s, for TV, print, online and mobile games. I’ve been involved in a couple of start-ups in these areas. I’m now working in the consulting division at Kantar although I spend most of my time with Unilever in their insight and innovation centre, frequently developing real-time, VR and video projects using mostly Unity HDRP for research and simulations.

What are you working on, and what’s a key learning that you’ve had from it?I’m working on a number of projects that are looking at shopper behaviour and interactions in the increasingly important online-to-offline domain. At one end of the spectrum, it’s about how digital and the sharp uptick in online grocery shopping as a result of the pandemic will affect the retail landscape. At the other, it’s sustainability, and how to persuade shoppers to make better choices in terms of packaging, meat-free products, and goods with lower environmental impact. The difficulty is of course most retailers and manufacturers are still wrestling with these things themselves, so being able to visualise both retail environment changes and new product development in real-time enables a higher degree of experimentation. This is often supported by qualitative research, and apart from moderated sessions we frequently use biometric research, most especially eye tracking.

I think one of the key learnings is how quickly ‘professional’ and ‘consumer’ technologies are converging and how much impact this can have on industries that have previously been quite entrenched in their behaviours. Retailers are aware they need to change to survive, and retail spaces need to evolve to continue to provide value in an age when it’s as easy to order online as it is to pop down the road to the shops. Using AR to create reasons to visit specific locations is certainly one opportunity, especially when those spaces are going to have to become more experiential to compete with the convenience of home delivery. One of the reasons most online shopping interfaces lacks appeal is because retailers have been actively afraid these delivery services will undermine huge investments in bricks and mortar. The pandemic has caused them to re-appraise, along with the realisation that its consumers, finding themselves forced into behavioural changes, who are now setting the pace.

I’d say it’s quite apparent online retail lacks both engaging design and appreciation of consumer technology, and in terms of SWOT analysis, this is a very large threat. Consider a consumer in 2022 using an iPhone 14 over 5g; how satisfied are they going to be scrolling through page after page of text-based taxonomies to find the products they want? It’s not hard to imagine some well-funded start-up with a combination of both streamlined distribution and enhanced user experience severely disrupting the current retail landscape. UI, UX and XR aren’t merely ‘nice to haves’ in this context; they’re some of the most powerful levers available to excerpt significant industrial change.

If you had to give one piece of advice, what would you give? It’s extremely dangerous to underestimate the impact emerging technologies have at an industrial level. This might sound obvious, but it’s deeper-seated than it first appears. An example might be the Seybold conference in 1989, which I attended. Although I didn’t see it myself, fistfights broke out on the conference floor when True Type fonts were announced and businesses that had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in typesetting technology realised, they were going to be undercut by cheap PCs. The principle of S-curves seems to apply to XR today, where initially crude technologies disappear for a while before re-emerging in a more developed form and dominating the market. What appears originally as incremental change ultimately resurfaces as a step-change.If you want to know more about Carl, check out more info here. 

Jobs boardINTERNSHIP, US. The intern will be primarily focused on developing proficiency in the use and application of tools designed for experiences in VR/AR headsets. GRIP-IE interns will assist the Get Real management team and clients in the design, development, and implementation of features within both internal and partner platforms. Interns will follow industry best practices including continuous improvement through code reviews of existing and new code. GRIP-IE interns will also be responsible for managing communication with software vendors on a variety of topics including bug identification, feature requests, troubleshooting, and documentation materials. Click here for more. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, UK. Here at CIRCUS (an award-winning creative agency, specialists of Virtual Brand Experiences) we're on the lookout for an enthusiastic B2B Business Development Manager on a part-time, remote basis. If this sounds of interest and you love all things virtual, we'd love to tell you more. Click here for more. SENIOR WEBXR ENGINEER, US. Build a human-centric metaverse with a stellar team at www.urnowhere.com. Full-Time Position, Fully Remote Team, Core hours (10AM-5PM EST). NOWHERE aims to revolutionize gathering with patent-pending video presence technology that allows serendipitous social mingling between conversations with friends or colleagues at conferences, meetings, or parties all within dynamic web environments. Nowhere combines expertise from veteran founders, experience experts, engineers, game designers, theatre-makers, VFX artists from Windmill Factory to build a healthier digital future. Please share with anyone you think might be interested. JOIN NOWHERE.VR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER (Unity3D, C#), London. Valkyrie Industries, an early stage haptics start-up, is looking for a talented and experienced Unity3D developer with a passion for VR to join the R&D team. You'll be involved throughout the development cycle and must be able to evaluate new technologies, develop new experiences from scratch and optimise existing projects. Click here for more. FULL STACK DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Software Engineer with 4+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (Node.js), remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Software Engineer with 5+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team.  This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR DEVELOPER (VUE.JS), remote Position. Looking for an experienced JavaScript developer who is highly skilled with Vue.js. You will be joining our Web development team to develop and enhance customer facing Web Applications, where you will be responsible for following best practices to produce modular and maintainable code. Click here for more. QA LEAD, remote positions available. Looking for a competent QA Lead with 2+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated QA Team in Waterford.  This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY GAME DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Unity Developer to join our team with 5+ years industry experience.  The talented individual must have vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more.  SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER, remote position. Looking for a competent Product Owner. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UI DESIGNER, remote position. Looking for a competent UI Designer. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UX DESIGNER, remote position. Are you looking for a unique challenge working in virtual & augmented reality with a bleeding-edge technology company? Then read on. Click here for more.ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN DIGITAL MEDIA, UK. We are looking to appoint a dynamic and adaptable course director for our BA (Hons) in Digital Media to lead and deliver teaching, learning and assessment on the BA Digital Media and steer  its next phase of growth.  As well as a track record of academic leadership you will have extensive practical experience in digital media such as immersive storytelling (AR/VR/XR), modelling and animation, creative media design / production, or web / mobile app design and development. Click here for more.SENIOR IMMERSIVE LEARNING DESIGNER, UK. Make Real is looking to expand our digital learning team with a Senior Immersive Learning Designer. Your role will be to consult with clients in order to create exciting and imaginative design solutions. Your designs will affect behaviour change in order to deliver on specific learning outcomes, while being achievable within a set budget and timeline. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY DEVELOPER, UK. As a growing and exciting business, we are looking for full-time talented multi-disciplinary Unity developers to join our expert team in central Brighton. Our ideal candidates will have a broad range of technical experience with a proven track record of delivering interactive Virtual & Augmented Reality projects across a range of HMD & mobile hardware. Working as part of our existing team of designers and artists, the roles will primarily involve the delivery of VR/AR projects for our global clients. Click here for more. Display your vacancy in front of thousands of talented VR/AR professionals in just a few clicks. Click here for more info.

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That's all for this week! Want to have a chat, let me know about a news story, or talk business? Either reply to this email, or contact tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com. Have an excellent day!