Lowe's Enters the Metaverse

Phil: And there's one retailer. And even though we talk a lot about food, we talk about all retail. There's one retailer who decided to go, you know, full blast into the metaverse. Tell us about that. 

Sally: Lowe's has decided to jump into the metaverse and I'm very excited about this. And going back to what you were just talking about, talking about the businesses that were on the list, one of them that I noticed was wayfair. And so that also makes me think about what Lowe's is doing right now. These home goods companies, this is very, very important and innovative. Lowe's is going to be in the metaverse creating a world where people can go in that are working on designing things for their home, things for your yard, whatever you're doing to update, um, you can actually go into the metaverse and design your space and get a feel for it. And it seems like a really great idea. 

Phil: Yeah, I think so. And I haven't gotten in there yet and played around with it, but I will. It's gonna include lighting, patio furniture, area rugs, kitchen, and bath accessories decor. I mean, it's gonna be everything, digital representation of different home products, furniture. There's no cost to this. And I see two really huge benefits. One is we spoke a couple weeks ago about the problem that Target has with having too many TVs. Well, if we can, if we can take the data from people going into the metaverse and see what they're building in their homes, a certain lamp, a certain refrigerator, and so on, this is gonna help them plan their purchasing a lot better. So there's that huge benefit that they're going to get out of this as well as the benefit for us. 

Phil: And also when you go in, you can then take the furniture or anything else that's there, copy it and put it in your own virtual world. So let's say, you know, you're in a gaming thing or you've got an Oculus and you're using one of the rooms. Well, you could bring your own furniture if you want, and custom make that whole experience. What research is saying is that by 2026, a quarter of consumers, 25% of us will spend at least one hour per day in the metaverse that's according to Gartner. Morgan Stanley estimates that the total addressable market for advertising and eCommerce opportunities in the metaverse would be worth 8.3 billion. And here's why Lowe's is involved 697 billion of that in home and home related spending. So in my mind, there's no question that we're gonna see much more, coming out of the metaverse and more and more companies, you know, getting involved, they should. 

Sally: Absolutely. And it will be great to see the food world get involved. You know, I think about all of these, the popularity of home goods and home design, it's in television shows that we watch. It's on TikTok, you know, and the same is true for food. And so, you know, as technology is allowing us to do these types of things, you know, as we're watching a TikTok video about a food or a dish that we really like, wouldn't it be cool if we could click into the metaverse into a space where we can get those products, we can practice cooking that product somehow there's, there seems like some really great possibilities here. 

Phil: Yeah, absolutely. And coming up in a few minutes, we're gonna show, part of my interview with Wesley Rhodes, from Kroger, who basically invited me over for an Italian dinner in the metaverse that he was gonna choose all the ingredients and gonna have dinner with Leslie in the metaverse.