With all due respect to directing duo The Daniels, Alo Yoga’s push into the virtual realm should have been called Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.
After dropping NFT doppelgängers of its physical Aspen ski collection earlier this month, the activewear and lifestyle brand launched a virtual experience on Tuesday that packs fitness classes, beauty content and styling features with shopping.
The tech, developed by virtual commerce platform Obsess, works across phones and computers as well as the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset. In essence, consumers can use whatever devices they’re most comfortable wielding to have whatever Alo Yoga-branded experience they’re most interested in. Then, if people want to purchase, there’s “seamless checkout,” the brand touted, suggesting that transactions happen in-world.
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Nothing breaks an immersive experience like getting kicked out, just to pay. And here, immersion is the whole point. According to Angelic Vendette, vice president and global head of marketing at Alo, the virtual store is the brand’s first that welcomes users of Meta’s VR headset.
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Virtual commerce, particularly for fashion and beauty products, tends to stay in the augmented reality or WebVR lanes, which suit mobile devices and computers. But so far, few brands have expanded into full virtual reality shopping.
In a statement, Vendette explained that the immersiveness “will help us reach and engage the Alo community wherever they are and allow us to share our spring launch, along with our core collection, in a 3D environment that feels unbelievably similar to shopping in one of our stores in real life.”
Danny Harris, Alo Yoga’s cofounder and co-chief executive officer, seems equally bullish about VR. He believes that “interactive shopping experiences incorporating VR are the future of e-commerce.” But it’s about more than just retail sales. It’s a way to transport consumers “directly into our world.”
Meta hopes other brands will see that, too, especially after its latest earnings report revealed that Reality Labs, the division responsible for Quest 2, the company’s metaverse development and other high-priority initiatives, clocked $13.7 billion in losses. Now it appears to be intently watching projects like Alo Yoga’s store.
“We’re excited to see the impact of this experience,” said Anand Dass, Meta’s director of metaverse content applications. “Obsess is transporting the digital storefront into virtual reality, and we are looking forward to learning how this could change the way consumers shop.”
Until then, Alo Yoga has a spring collection to showcase. The brand is offering members of the press virtual VR previews of the line on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Alo Yoga Flatiron store at 164 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Everything else — the virtual shopping, styling advice, beauty info and workouts — is available everywhere else (and yes, all at once) through the brand’s website.