Spatial, to discuss Walmart’s recent foray into online gaming. In a panel dubbed “Branded cosmologies: Walmart’s spatial paradigm”, Breton and Valintina discussed how the two companies teamed up to create an interactive spatial experience for Walmart’s consumer base.  Breton described his role within the legacy retail brand as “finding new ways to meet customers outside of the traditional four walls of Walmart”.  “By four walls, I don’t just mean our stores. I mean beyond our website and the app and meeting customers on places like Spatial, where we’re spending time playing games and we’re providing them opportunities to engage with our brand, discover suppliers, and actually shop,” he elaborated. In September 2022, Walmart first launched onto the online gaming platform Roblox with the debut of two experiences: Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play.  Last year, the retailer also launched Walmart Realm, a 3D virtual shopping environment curated by digital influencers and built upon the Emperia metaverse platform in partnership with Sawhorse Productions. Walmart’s latest effort to provide consumers with a fresh and explorative way to shop was with the launch of its first web-based gaming title, Walmart Unlimited. Walmart Unlimited’s limitless shopping potential  Walmart Unlimited is a three-episode miniseries designed for an 18-plus audience. The first episode, which was released in February, follows the main character Milo, as he navigates through a virtualised version of a Walmart store and explores the brand’s products that are available for purchase in real life.  “It’s important to note that when we talk about commerce in the game, it’s very intentionally integrated… The interface is very friendly; you can walk up to these virtual products and it looks familiar to what you would see on Walmart.com,” Breton explained. “For us, the future of the definition of an influencer or creator isn’t just somebody that’s producing content on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. It is this growing demographic of developers, be it game developers or developers who are making virtual items. As demand for that type of content is increasing, we believe that the future of commerce is in gaming and on emerging platforms, it’s completely untapped.”  In addition to giving shoppers a fresh new way to experience products, Breton also pointed out that a gamified shopping experience tends to capture consumers’ attention more effectively.  With platforms like TikTok, retailers typically have consumers’ attention for 30 seconds at the most — the length of an ad. But with Walmart Unlimited, Breton noted that the company has seen individuals playing the game for at least 35 minutes per episode. In an “attention economy”, as Breton referred to the current era of retail, it is essential to find new ways to capture and keep hold of the consumers’ focus.  Which is why Walmart’s foray into adaptive retail opportunities will be of key focus for the retailer.  Walmart’s adaptive retail journey Adaptive retail refers to the process of retailers adapting dynamically to the changing preferences, behaviours and needs of consumers through the use of advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) or augmented reality (AR).  “To be transparent, when we talk about adaptive retail, the work that my team does is only scratching the surface in terms of what’s possible,” Breton said on the panel. For example, he pointed to how Walmart has been tapping into AI to improve operations, such as optimising the supply chain experience. “Adaptive retail is a much broader term,” Breton clarified, “but the work that we’re doing is really focused on that next generation of consumer that is spending time on platforms like spatial like Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite. Platforms where they’re socialising with friends and discovering brands for the first time.” With brands like Walmart, which are largely viewed through a bricks-and-mortar lens, Breton explained that it’s essential to figure out ways to engage with consumers on a well-rounded, omnichannel level.  “Beyond the store but also beyond the app and the website, it’s important to find these platforms where they’re spending their time and give them an opportunity to engage with our brand, in some instances for the first time, on their terms, and providing them with a positive experience with our brand that translates to real world sales. Either directly on that platform, like we’ve done in Spatial with Walmart, unlimited, or on our website, our app or in our stores,” he elaborated.  “Adaptive retail is allowing us to show up on these platforms in a really meaningful and thoughtful way and changing the way that people think about us.”