[Talk given at Tsukuba Global Science Week and at ECEC Workshop - Tsukuba, Japan - September 2017] --- In this session, we review current trends around virtual reality for both research and industry areas. We share our experience of market acceptability and reception to immersive shopping experiences. And finally we talk about user expectations and how current technology can commit to those. --- Author : Cecilia Lejeune

1. Trend and Future Vision of Virtual Reality
in E-commerce
Cécilia Lejeune
Rakuten Institute of Technology Paris
September 26th, 2017

2. 2

3. Online Shopping
3

4. Offline Shopping
4

5. 5
Physical
Space
Virtual
Space
Physical
Space
Virtual
Space
Two different shopping
experiences in two spaces
One continuous shopping
experience in two spaces
Mid-term future of online and real store shopping

6. Long-term future of shopping : Virtual Reality
6

7. Current trends in Virtual Reality
7

8. How is VR consumed ? By who ?
8

9. 9
Big Players
In 2014 Facebook paid $2 billion for Oculus, which last year released the $600
Rift headset aimed primarily at hardcore gamers.
Google has released affordable VR options like Cardboard, and in November
2016 released Daydream View a $79 headset that's compatible with the new
Pixel phone.
Apple has filled for patents and made VR-related hires in recent years, though it
hasn't made its intentions in the space publicly known.

10. Adoption rate forecast
10

11. Market Interest for shopping in Virtual Reality
11
of consumers are interested in66%
shopping via virtual reality
63% expect virtual reality to
change the way they shop
(Study by Walker Sands)
will be using VR to buy products online
32 million people
By 2025, Goldman Sachs estimates that

12. 12
E-commerce
BUY+ - A buzz concept video
Amazon’s job offer : “You will envision the future of
Amazon's VR solutions and guide our creative and
technical teams to produce compelling, world-class
experiences”
In November 2016, Amazon Studios hired former
Tribeca Film Festival head Genna Terranova to lead
the development of its VR content.

13. 13
E-commerce

14. How to design something to be used in 10 years from now ?
14

15. DIKW Pyramid : from Data to Wisdom
15
DIKW model, after a 1989’s paper from Russel L. Ackoff, entitled ‘From data to wisdom’

16. Drawings and storyboard in 360°
16

17. User Experience Study - A Successful Partnership
17

18. Different type of interviews
18
They adopted the
technology already. So
what about adding a
service of shopping to
it ?
Early VR Adopters
Gather pair feedbacks :
what do they think of
that idea ? Is it relevant
to them and why ?
VR Professionals
Get into a public event
and test random people
interest for both virtual
reality and shopping
mixed together ?
Public
Gather experimental
data after task
assignment and
feedbacks about the
prototype itself
Prototype Testers

19. Main interviews take-aways about VR & Shopping
19
- VR is a niche-market : gamers are not shoppers
- VR professionals warned us users would not be ready before a long time
- public loved very much the idea, but is not ready to invest right now and
doesn’t have technological skills to use such an app
- prototype testers gave us very precise feedbacks and highlights. They loved
the application, got immersed in it and enjoyed the time they spend
shopping. But it is too soon for them to use such a service daily.
Expected results : it is too soon

20. Rakuten Virtual Boutique
20

21. 21

22. 22
Rakuten Virtual Boutique
An imaginary universe that adapts to your
browsing, a smart assistant to guide you and
answer your vocal searches and intuitive
interactions
A Virtual Reality shopping platform built as a
new experience, a new way to do shopping

23. Rakuten Virtual Boutique
23

24. 3 Walls to break to go further
24
Fear to invest on the long-term for compagnies who can
“Will it work ?” SyndromeDŽ
Public awareness to the medium, and later public adoption
Hardware improvements of virtual reality
(Performances, comfort, price)

25. A bridge towards adoption
25

26. VR for fans
26

27. 27
Virtual Reality Mobile Game
Perform actions as well as your FCB idols did on historical
matches !
Leverage the FCB fanbase to make them discover Rakuten
Includes a virtual reality showroom to buy with RSP
User tests validated our first prototype :
- Users both football-fans and non-fans are immersed
- VR and non-VR users find it easy to use
- the gaming aspect successfully drives them to the shop

28. 28
One proposal to shape the future of shopping using VR
On the long-term, we think that users will be looking for unique
experiences to live, even in their shopping activities
Our prototype is a showcase of what could be the future of shopping.
We hope our work on shopping will contribute to global research for design
and interactions in virtual reality
Many researches are still to be conducted before we reach the complete
shopping virtual reality platform : social, customisation, payment and others

29. THANK YOU
cecilia.lejeune@rakuten.com

30. Annexes
30

31. 31
Virtual Reality Market

32. Rating between 1 and 5
32
Easiness Entertaining
Usefulness Comprehensiveness

33. Revenue forecast
33

34. UpComing Challenges
34

35. 35

36. 36

37. 37
Rakuten Ecosystem
90 million
members in Japan

38. 38
22 Application Test
20 Forms Filled
Average age : 30 yo
September 2017 in Paris
User Panel

39. User Tests
39
+ : Immersive, innovative, different, intuitif, fun
- : Empty, not intuitif, hardware too hot, resolution too low, not finished
Type of product interested to buy : 1. Clothes, 2. Art & Furniture, 3. Movies & Music

40. User Expectations
40
A large choice
of product
Complete
textual infos
Multimedia
Informations
User Feedbacks
User Tests of the Rakuten Virtual Boutique, September 2017

41. User Expectations
41
To be easy to use Visual aspect Gaming aspect Realistic visual
of products
User Tests of the Rakuten Virtual Boutique, September 2017