Inditex sends Pull&Bear to the metaverse
Following Zara’s venture into the metaverse last December through a collaboration with Zepeto and the South Korean fashion and design collective, Ader Error; Pull&Bear becomes the Galician group’s second brand to dive into the virtual universe. This initiative is consistent with the fashion retailer’s positioning, known for its frequent innovative and digital proposals.
The digital initiative was presented last weekend in an exclusive manner at Scrapworld, the streetwear and urban culture festival held in Madrid where Pull&Bear was assigned a designated booth. Inditex’s virtual reality project for the metaverse counts on a variety of features: from a virtual showroom to a fitting room, and even a surfing game that allows users to interact with the retail brand.
According to the brand, this immersive experience will soon be made available to users via the "Meta Quest 2" virtual reality glasses. A portion of this new universe will also be made available through a web adaptation, to which any user could have access to, offering them the possibility to navigate through the virtual world, try out the "Ready Player Me" configuration and even wear the Spanish brand's virtual clothing.
To carry out this project, Pull&Bear digitized a total of 6 looks plucked from collections that are “more geared towards generation Z.” The digital endeavour, developed in partnership with La Frontera VR and Meta Creative Shop, aims to create a "universe whose aesthetics and entertainment features connect with the company's youngest audience", where garments will be compatible with the Ready Player Me platform's apps and games, such as VRChat, Sommium Space, LIV and Animaze.
A brand dedicated to innovation and on targeting Gen Z
This isn't, however, the retailer's sole endeavor in the field of innovation. Pull&Bear has most recently been bidding on gamification, launching two games together with Facebook and Instagram. In addition, the chain has strengthened its omnichannel by introducing new features in the Pull&Bear app, such as a Click & Collect service or the option to create personalized video recordings for gift purchases.
Founded in 1991, the brand is positioned on the teen apparel market, alongside other Inditex-owned retailers such as Bershka and Stradivarius. It operates through its own e-commerce site and a total of 706 physical stores worldwide (of which 82% are self-managed and only 18% are franchised).
Pull&Bear is the Arteixo-based company's third largest brand in terms of turnover, trailing behind Zara (with a turnover of 19,586 million euros in the year) and Bershka (with sales of 2177 million euros), having recorded a 32% increase in turnover to 1876 million euros in 2021.
The Galician fashion giant, to be chaired by Marta Ortega starting April 1, increased its sales by 36% in 2021 to 27,716 million euros. This optimistic progression has, however, kept Inditex down 2% on the turnover recorded in 2019, the last fiscal year prior to the outbreak of the pandemic.
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