Gorpcore / A VRS™ by Sarradet

Tour Description:

This virtual store known internally at Sarradet, as a VRS™ (virtual recreation space) was developed to explore and showcase the possibilities of how we might rebuild the retail industry following its downfall in 2020 using 3DVista. To fully understand what we aimed to achieve, let me paint a picture for you. Imagine going to REI. When you enter the store you see a rock wall and tents set up next to a campfire. As you browse the isles, you run into a stranger who sparks a conversation about how amazing her last pair of climbing shoes were. After a few laughs and questions you try on a pair by their recommendation and begin to climb the wall. Even though you are a novice, all of a sudden you feel as though you are on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. You feel like the veteran climber that you had just spoken to and now inspired to embrace the lifestyle. Now, shift gears and let’s Imagine you are sitting in your bed opening your laptop to shop online from REI. The webpage loads and BAM! you are met with static product images, endless scrolling of product catalogs, and sure enough you are all alone. The difference in experience is night and day, but it doesn’t have to be. With that in mind we began our journey in building a prototype store to showcase how we can inspire the physical retail experience online. The most important piece of the physical retail experience is the journey of the consumer. To create a meanfuling and sensory-triggering journey for the user we used gamification, storytelling, and user interface development methods to engage the user on an empathetic level. Our first order of business was to disconnect it from the traditional online store experience and build it as a stand alone shopping experience. This meant that we had to offer the consumer a UI that had everything a typical online store would, without feeling traditional at all. We needed to provide access to a blog, about, and contact pages as well as social media without compromising the immersion of the virtual experience. To achieve this we designed and built a unique UI inside 3DVista utilizing: complex container systems, tabs, more than 15 unique viewers, custom buttons, cubic show/hide animations and so much more. One of the most important aspects of the UI development for this store was thinking about it as not only the “skin” but also building as much interaction as we could using “hotspots”. One of the most powerful ways we were able to achieve this was through the implementation of gamification. In order to bolster the empathetic connection with the users we developed a story and simple game for the user to enjoy and share with others or return to play again later. With the next generation of consumers being immersed in virtual worlds and games, this is continuing to grow in importance. Our game takes the consumer on a simple journey to save the stairwell from flooding with trail mix. Their success provides them with discounts and other early access benefits. The rewards are crucial, because they are the drivers of replay-ability and share-ability within a VRS™. We were able to achieve this only using the e-learning tools inside 3DVista. From a technical perspective this storefront required quite a bit in post production. We used Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Lightroom to illustrate, animate, stylize, and combine the 25 individual monoscopic panoramas into the four that you see inside the experience. Each level was shot with an Insta360 Pro 2 in a stationary position, while the model moved from one pose to the next. The illustrations and hotspots were developed in Photoshop and Illustrator before being implemented into the experience. We embedded the youtube video and pinterest board by implementing custom .html widgets with the new webframe feature. The value of developing a virtual store using 3DVista is straightforward, but I think it’s best to let the numbers do the talking on this one. After marketing this store we saw a 7% conversion rate, which is more than 2x the e-commerce average. If that does not convince you and your clients that you need to develop one of these I’m not sure what will. Creator: Jacob Sarradet For more VRS™ built using 3DVista: www.sarradet.com