It looks like Walmart is ready to make the leap into the metaverse. According to a report by CNBC.
The retail giant filed several trademarks on December 30, as CNBC suggested, of plans to start selling virtual goods including electronics, toys, appliances, sporting equipment, clothing, home decor and more.
There is talk of offering customers the ability to buy and sell a digital currency, as well as NFTs. Meanwhile, another request details potential “fitness training services” and “health and nutrition courses” that could take place in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality environments (VR) – the company has added to its name and logo. Filed a separate filing for use. In VR and AR.
Walmart also filed trademarks for “Verse to Home”, “Verse to Curb” and “Verse to Store”.
As reported by Bloomberg, Walmart has also filed trademarks for the names “Verse to Home”, “Verse to Curb” and “Verse to Store”, a sign that Walmart is creating a virtual shopping experience (which Hopefully it doesn’t look like the one made for the company in 2017).
The filings are publicly available on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site, with some of the retailer’s digital advertising effort listed as “Walmart Connect.” You can access the filing by searching for “Walmart” or “Walmart Connect” on the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS).
“Walmart is constantly exploring how emerging technologies can shape the shopping experiences of the future,” said Carrie McKnight, a Walmart spokeswoman. Edge. “We have nothing more to share today, but it should be noted that we regularly file trademark applications as part of the innovation process.”
Last August, Walmart posted a job posting for a cryptocurrency product specialist, one of the first signs of Walmart’s growing interest in the metaverse. Other retailers are also joining the Metaverse movement, with Nike looking to capitalize on NFTs and virtual sneakers, Adidas selling in its Metaverse NFT collection, and Gap offering the NFTs of its hoodies.
It appears that Walmart is entering the metaverse with plans to build its own cryptocurrency and collection of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
The big-box retailer filed a number of new trademarks late last month indicating its intent to manufacture and sell virtual goods, including electronics, home decor, toys, sporting goods and personal care products. In a separate filing, Walmart said it would offer users a virtual currency, as well as NFTs.
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Walmart filed the applications on December 30.
A total of seven separate applications have been submitted.
In a statement, Walmart said it is “continuously exploring how emerging technologies can shape the shopping experiences of the future.” It declined to comment on the specific trademark filing.
“We are testing new ideas all the time,” the company said. “Some ideas become products or services that make it to customers. And some we test, iterate and learn from.”
[The filings are] super intense,” said Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney. “There’s a lot of language in it, which shows that there’s a lot of planning going on behind the scenes of how they’re going to address cryptocurrencies, those metaverses.” And how are we going to address the virtual world to come. Or is he already here.”
Gerben said that ever since Facebook announced it was changing its company name to Meta, indicating its ambitions beyond social media, businesses are racing to figure out how they fit into the virtual world. Will be
Nike filed several trademark applications in early November that previewed its plan to sell virtual branded sneakers and apparel. Later that month, he said he was teaming up with Roblox to create an online world called Nickeland. In December, it bought virtual sneaker company RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”) for an undisclosed amount.
“All of a sudden, everyone is like, ‘This is getting super real and we need to make sure our IP is protected in space,'” Gerben said.
Gap has also started selling NFTs of its iconic logo sweatshirt. The apparel maker said its NFTs will cost around $8.30 to $415, and will come with a physical hoodie.
Elsewhere, NFT debuts from both Under Armor and Adidas sold out last month. They are now skyrocketing on the NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Apparel retailers Urban Outfitters, Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie & Fitch have also filed trademarks in recent weeks detailing their intention to open some kind of virtual store, Gerben said.
A report by CB Insights outlines some of the reasons why retailers and brands want to create ventures that can potentially offer new revenue streams.
The launch of NFTs makes it possible for businesses to “tokenize” physical products and services to help reduce online transaction costs. And for luxury brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, NFTs can serve as authentication for tangible and more expensive goods, noted CB Insights.
Gerben said that as more consumers become familiar with the metaverse and goods stored on the blockchain, more retailers will want to build their own ecosystem around it.
According to Frank Chaparro, director of crypto-information services firm The Block, many retailers are still struggling with being late to e-commerce, so they don’t want to miss out on the metaverse.
“I think it’s a win-win for any company in the retail sector,” Chaparro said. “And even if it turns out to be just a fad, it doesn’t do much reputation damage trying to do something weird like giving out NFTs in sweepstakes to some customers, for example.”