All I want for Christmas is…nothing? Shopping for a dematerialized holiday with XR

• XR-based technologies such as digital-only clothes, NFT fashion items and AR try-before-you-buy filters could be about to transform online shopping experiences, making them more immersive than ever.
• We go deeper into this new reality in Ericsson’s ‘Everyspace Plaza’ – a collection of XR design concepts built by today’s consumers, exploring future ideas such as the never-ending virtual store, hybrid restaurants, and even hybrid gyms.

The holiday season is here, and like most parents I’m starting to feel the stress of the countdown to the holidays and the gift hysteria that goes with it (yes, gift giving anxiety is a thing). Giving is better than receiving, and some people really enjoy buying presents but when I ask my kids what they wish to get they say “nothing” or “money”. When they were younger, it was much easier. Younger kids just like getting stuff; particularly stuff that is noisy, flashy and wrapped in sparkly paper.

But today’s younger adults are different. They don’t seem to value getting things. Or perhaps they do but they value not getting things more. For me, as a teenager who wrote wish lists for stuff like a cassette recorder, brand jeans or band posters, this is a bit difficult to understand.

But I have a feeling this is a good thing.

Gen-Z and the vanishing Xmas lists

So why are Christmas wish lists changing?

Each generational cohort thinks and behaves differently and Gen Z (‘zoomers’ as they’re also called) are no exception. As the first truly mobile-native generation, Gen Z has come of age in an era of hyper-connectivity where shared- and subscriber economies are now considered the norm. Movies, music, mobility, transport – there’s a subscription for everything. So why would anyone need to own any of those things ever again?

In many ways we are already in a de-materialized economy thanks to the wave of digitalization reducing paperwork and office visits. In other ways, we have accelerated our material consumption, just think of the access we have to shopping whenever, wherever and whatever.

These lines between the digital and “real” world are constantly shifting. For example, the fashion company DRESSX found that consumers were returning their items not because they were unhappy but because they had already posted cool pictures on Instagram with the garments on.

In response, DRESSX transformed into a metacloset of digital-only clothes, NFT fashion items and AR looks offering digital only garments that is dressed on your portrait – without any physical production involved.

Now larger fashion brands, such as H&M are also now exploring this through AR filters and immersive online experiences. And Vogue has partnered with Snap to create three AR lenses for its Vogue World event, plus the chance to “try on” some of the designs on the Vogue Runway app.

 

Welcome to the XR shopping mall of the future

In last year’s 10 Hot Consumer Trends report, we explored a whole mall of dematerialized XR possibilities, a place where high speed connectivity can unlock a new era of digitalized consumption culture. We call it the everyspace plaza, and it includes XR spaces such as a ‘never-ending virtual store’, a hybrid restaurant that welcomes guests from around the world, and a hybrid gym that converses physical and virtual worlds.

Already today there are event sites where you get to use the latest VR equipment and private 5G networks to run free through immersive virtual reality adventures, such as this partnership between Verizon and Dreamscape.

So it is not unimaginable that other commercial sites, such as a shopping mall, would be the next place to offer immersive experiences, especially given the drawbacks of physical retail stores.

In our research, the most inspiring concept in the everyspace plaza was that of an indoor nature + park that could shift from day to day and give you immersive all-senses natural experiences. The longing and need for nature experiences is something we see coming through, and people didn’t back away from experiencing nature digitally if the time, cost and travel makes it otherwise inaccessible.

My hypothesis is that we do not want to exchange nature for digital nature – rather that we start seeing the opportunities of the digital realm to provide just as valuable experiences as the physical world.

Let’s come back to fashion. In the everyspace plaza, consumers also responded positively to the idea of a meta tailor – a place where you can purchase digital fashion for yourself or your avatar. There is even an immersive beauty salon where you can get digital make up, since you will be seen by others in their AR glasses. Next will we see them creating digital make-up for your physical self?

 

XR evolution – from VR and AR, to sensory and holographic communication

De-materialization and digitalization are two of the important puzzle pieces in building a sustainable society, and we are already on our path there.

We may see a true paradigm shift soon with the introduction of holographic and sensory communication enabled by future 6G and maybe even 5G Advanced.

In our latest Imagine Possible series, we speculate about how a future retail environment could look with holographic communication. For instance, shoppers could get holographic personalized assistance from any part of the world, as well as seeing a virtual replica of an item that could then be modified in real time.

Sensory communication, on the other hand, would take us beyond the audio-visual paradigm and allow us to utilize all of our senses while interacting with the digital world, whether that be touch, smell or taste. It may even allow other senses to be enhanced, such as having the ability to see through objects.

But with so many research challenges to address before we can achieve that vision, for now I will say have a jolly XR Xmas from me!

Explore more

Explore the report: 10 Hot Consumer Trends 2030 – The Everyspace Plaza

Blog post: Welcome to a world of immersive experiences with XR

Blog post: The future of Christmas is here – A message from 2050

Learn more about 6G and the Internet of Senses