Can Virtual Worlds be used to prototype real world business?

W.J.ProctorThe University of Hull Scarborough Campus 2006

Introduction & Background

Investigation into using Virtual Worlds as business tools.

What are the current uses of Virtual Worlds?

What you can do in Virtual Worlds?

Presence of real world business’.

Virtual World Currencies.http://www.secondlife.com

Hypothesis

Virtual Worlds could be a great asset to real world business’.

Test products virtually before they are released onto the market.

Help business’ develop marketing strategies.

http://www.vrtainment.com/

Process

Online survey, 13 questions. Comparing shopping habits

in the real world with perceived shopping habits in a virtual world.

Looked at the type of goods shoppers would buy and how much they would spend on them. www.wjproctor.com/research

Results

43 sets of results gathered over 1 week period.

27% would take part in a virtual world.

Different types of item sell in virtual worlds and real worlds.

Real World goods vs Virtual World goods

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Real World Virtual World

Electrical Goods

Books and Magazines

Clothes

Food

Stationary

Home Furnishings

Results Cont’

Correlation between users spending in virtual worlds and real worlds.

Influences in both worlds very similar.

People would look for virtual representations of items they own, and real world representations of virtual items.

Real world spending Vs Virtual World Spending

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Rea

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(£)

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Virt

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orld

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Real World

Virtual World

Results Cont’

Respondents who would use a virtual world, thought there would be a wider product range in virtual worlds than the real world.

Respondents felt they would get a similar level of satisfaction buying virtual products.

Product Range in Real world vs Virtual World

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10%

20%

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70%

Potential Real World Users None Potential Real WorldUsers

Real World

Virtual World

Results Analysis

Only certain product types could cross the real world, virtual world boundary. Clothes and Home Furnishing.

There would be a market for virtual representations of real world items.

Other pointers seem to suggest that virtual worlds would mirror the real world quite closely from a business perspective.

Further Work

Setup a business in a Virtual World mirroring the real world, in terms of items sold.

Investigate the use of Virtual Worlds and a User Interface for online shoppers. Able to walk around and shop in malls for real world products.

Conclusion

Shopping Habits of Virtual Worlds mirror Real Worlds.

Clothing and Home Furnishing items would be the best selling items.

Over the next 5 to 10 years business could invest in virtual worlds.

Virtual Worlds have the potential to be used as business tools.

Questions?

Please feel free to ask questions!

Thanks