Zebra Technologies Advocates Creating a 'Digital Twin' in the Retail Metaverse

A digital twin is the first step, according to Zebra Technologies, that will allow the retail environment to check what effect a multitude of variables produce: from how the color of the store influences what a product will look like depending on where it is located.

As they point out from Zebra Technologies, the metaverse is becoming one more option in the omnichannel strategy of the retail sector, but its integration has to be done progressively and intelligently, betting first on a 'digital twin' model.

currently, some stores in the fashion environment are creating virtual spaces where customers can enjoy immersive experiences and dress their avatars before buying a product. Proof of this is the recent celebration of the first Fashion Week in the metaverse, during which brands have shown their latest creations and trends.

The same thing is also happening in the automotive trading environment. (more details on Digital AV), in grocery stores, services, among others.

"There are many companies that are starting to work with the idea of the metaverse.”, Says Biswa Sengupta, technical and global head of machine learning at Zebra, who considers: "Will this option be attractive to consumers?? What if the strategy of 'build it and the customer will come in bulk' doesn't work?? The key is to do it progressively, adjusting the product-market binomial before opening virtual stores".

For this expert, "the metaverse can also be considered as a perfect virtual field of experimentation. A digital twin in which we can create, train and deploy the most innovative machine learning technologies, from computer view (CV), natural language processing (NLP) or reinforcement learning (RL), to develop new consumer experiences".

The first step to this, according to Zebra, should be building a digital twin, I mean, a kind of simplified metaverse; an environment that allows visibility of all assets (products, employees, distribution chain, Etc.) and collect information.

In this environment it is possible to use computer vision technologies, as the SmartLens Gen II by Zebra, to measure supply and demand in real time in-store, analyze which tasks are more priority or make decisions about future developments.

At the same time, whether the digital twin is rigorously constructed, "It will be possible to create synthetic worlds and various subsets to see what effect a multitude of variables have.: from what if the store is painted red instead of white, to hundreds of product permutations", underline from Zebra.

In this sense, argue that "smart and progressive adoption can lead companies to evolve from virtual experiences Current, to digital twin models and metaverse, reducing the risk of mismatches between the product and market needs".

Other articles on Zebra