Where is the Value for Businesses in the Virtual World?

Shenlei Winkler has a fascinating post today on where the value lies for companies in virtual worlds right now. Faculty often ask me what companies are in Second Life — and the implication is that if there are major apparel companies successfully doing business and making money in Second Life, then virtual worlds are worth looking at. When asked that question, I always feel a bit pained. I can’t answer that major apparel companies are making real money in Second Life. But I know, in my heart, that this is the direction things are moving in. But how to explain that to faculty? Shenlei has real mass-market experience — so she knows. She writes: Given the statistics out there, I think anyone can see that real mass market numbers just don’t equate with the consumer actually being in any one given virtual world at any given time, to receive a marketing message to ‘buy my stuff’.

In her post. Shenlei states what seems obvious, but isn’t for some reason — that we’re just not there quite yet. The mass market consumers are just not in virtual worlds yet in the numbers and concentration that would make it truly profitable. What we need now, according to Shenlei, are processes that make it easier for businesses to do business more efficiently in the virtual world. Shenlei’s Black Dress Technology seems poised to do just that.

The mass consumer just isn’t there yet. She will not be there until enterprise steps up and figures out how to use virtual worlds specifically to enable themselves to do business more efficiently and effectively, and then pays to harden the virtual world in a way that makes them ready for business, which will have the collateral effect of making the user experience consistently easy. Then and only then will we see mass market adoption of virtual worlds. Until then, enterprise enablement is the real value proposition for virtual worlds. Virtual worlds enabling enterprise to conduct business more efficiently.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Read about the Black Dress Technology Subsidiary (partner — IBM) here.

I want to thank Shenlei again for taking the time to come to TechDay and talk to us about the Gateway in Second Life for Fashion Industry folks. Read more about Shenlei’s presentation and how to to gain access to this invitation only orientation gateway for virtual worlds for fashion educators and professionals at Elaine Polvinen’s blog — FashionTech.wordpress.com.