It will take time for e-commerce giants to target large-scale commercial VR shopping

In September, Alibaba's “Taobao buy+” program was not on schedule. Jingdong announced on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival that it had established the first “VR/AR Industry Promotion Alliance” in the e-commerce sector, set up a VR lab, and released an APP “VR shopping galaxy”. ". At this point, whether it is the domestic Ali, Jingdong, or overseas Amazon, the e-commerce giants are aiming at VR shopping.

In 2016, known as the first year of VR, VR/AR technology was also favored by the capital market. Apart from the start-up companies and projects, the scene-based experience in the technology also allows e-commerce companies to rely on online channels. A new way to enhance the user experience, Alibaba, Jingdong, Amazon and other retail giants to become industry pioneers. However, during the interview, a number of industry insiders told the “China Business” reporter that the large-scale commercial use of VR will take time, but it is not optimistic about the changes brought about by the combination of the technology and e-commerce.

VR shopping favored by electricity suppliers

As one of the hottest technology areas in 2016, VR/AR entered the field of vision, and e-commerce giants have thrown olive branches of cooperation.

At the Taobao Shopping Festival two months ago, the appearance of “Buy+” once brushed the circle of friends, although only products such as underwear were displayed. According to Alibaba’s official plan, the user test of Taobao Buy+ will be launched in China this month. Alipay will also launch VR payment function. In terms of function, Taobao Buy+ can provide users with a 360-degree panoramic immersive shopping experience. According to the "scan" to understand the product's price, quality, try on evaluation and other information. It is understood that "Buy +" not only provides links such as "replacement of size/color," "buyers show," "store show," but also virtual tour guides and social roles.

Jingdong also recently announced that more than 30 upstream and downstream companies such as Intel, HTC, and Storm Mirror have established the first VR/AR industry alliance in the area of ​​e-commerce. At the same time, JD.com has entered into a procurement cooperation with Storm Mirror and Nvidia, which will sell 15 million VR heads and 18 million VR cards in 3 years.

Compared to Ali and Jingdong, Amazon is relatively low-key. In August, Amazon revealed its intention to enter the field of VR in the future through a job advertisement. The original said: "In 2016, we will collaborate with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR gaming headsets to release entities and online augmented reality shopping experiences, and land on Nintendo's next-generation gaming machines that have not yet been formally announced."

Zhao Zhenying, a researcher at the National Engineering Laboratory of e-commerce transaction technology, believes that the biggest benefit of VR/AR technology in e-commerce is the increase in GMV conversion rate brought about by the increase in consumer experience, and the industry’s GMV conversion rate has become increasingly stable. In the downturn, e-commerce companies are testing VR shopping in essence to explore ways to break through the development bottleneck.

It takes time to cost more than the conversion rate VR commercial

Although VR is a hot topic, in the opinion of Lu Zhenwang, an e-commerce analyst, it is not suitable for all e-commerce companies.

“At present, the pattern of domestic e-commerce is basically laid, the number of new customers is decreasing, and GMV's conversion rate is declining. On the one hand, customers are seeking cheaper prices from their former pursuit of experience. On the other hand, the scale of e-commerce users is approaching saturation. "Zhao Zhenying said," Domestic e-commerce companies currently face three major difficulties, namely, high customer acquisition costs, uneven quality of goods within the platform, and high logistics costs. VR can bring upgrades to shopping scenes, and can experience virtual reality. The scenes make the scene on the line better and the effect is only icing on the cake.”

Some industry insiders told reporters that VR shopping in the electricity supplier business, there are benefits to improve the conversion rate, in terms of consumers have the advantage of shopping experience, consumers online shopping, the understanding of the goods will no longer stop at Only at the level of viewing text and graphic information, can 360-degree, all-round observation of the inside and outside of the product to understand, and even trial.

However, if VR shopping is to be realized, the cost increase may be higher than the increase in GMV conversion. Zhao Zhenying revealed that the cost of VR shopping is conservatively estimated to be 3 to 5 times that of the current flat display, but the conversion rate promoted by this technology will hardly offset the increase in the cost of new technologies.

"As far as we know, the GMV conversion rate of Alibaba's two major platforms is about 1%, and the conversion rate of JD.com's VR shopping can be up to 0.2% to 1%. That is to say, if Ali goes online, VR shopping, GMV conversion The rate has increased to 2% at the most. If VR shopping is to be used commercially, besides technology, it will also take a lot of effort in terms of cost. This will take at least two to three years, said Zhao Zhenying.

Although it will take time for VR shopping to be fully commercialized, many people in the industry have stated that self-operated e-commerce companies may have more advantages in R&D, promotion and maintenance.

“If the online VR project is planned, self-operated e-commerce providers will have inherent advantages because they only need to display relevant products on their shelves and commodities, while platform-based e-commerce companies need the businesses in the platform. With such technical capabilities, it faces more difficulties in terms of cost and coordination,” said Zhao Zhenying.

Technology is still immature

Although VR/AR is favored by capital, it is still far from the upper line of business. Analyst Yang Fan of Analysys think tank told the “China Business” reporter that from now on to the official commercial use of VR shopping, it will take at least two years.

As we all know, VR has a mobile phone box, one machine and PC helmet in three forms. According to Yang Fan, the price of mobile phone boxes is relatively low, but the function is the weakest among the three. It can only provide simple entertainment functions. The one machine has a performance experience, but the price and cost are high, and the selling price is often more than 10,000 yuan; PC type Helmets have the best experience. The disadvantages are the wired devices, they are not portable, they have a limited range of activities, and they are expensive.

"If it is to be used in e-commerce, the mobile phone box will become the most important terminal, but at present, the user experience of multi-dimensional display of VR product development companies including HTC, Storm Mirror, Sony, etc., the technology is still not mature enough. There is a lack of performance display and experience, and more than just a 360-degree model display. In addition, the method of reducing costs has not yet been found, which also makes it difficult for such terminal equipment to enter the homes of ordinary people." Yang Fan said, "Current VR / There is a large gap in the R&D personnel of AR, which has also affected the progress of commercial VR to a certain extent.”

Apart from the R&D institutions of terminal equipment, related supporting service companies and institutions are also lacking. "VR shopping will increase costs for consumers and e-commerce companies. Consumers need to pay for the cost of purchasing consumer terminals. Companies need to pay for the costs of research and development, promotion and maintenance, and they need to have relevant mature VR technologies and equipment. The service companies and industry environment, but VR technology is not mature, the industry in addition to HTC, storm mirror, Sony and other giant companies, the rest of the companies are mostly startup companies, the prospects are unknown, R & D strength, service capabilities are doubtful." Yang Fan Say.

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