Virtual reality has many retail applications; helping visualise new concepts, showing NPD to a wide audience without the need for physical mock ups and visualising a variety of store environments without the bricks and mortar.
Reckitt Benckiser, the company behind major brands such as Finish, Vanish and Dettol are adding a new use for virtual reality technology by working closely with virtual reality experts Fifth Dimension to create a virtual reality store visit.
Why a virtual store visit? Mark Sidey, Global Sales Director for Reckitt Benckiser, explains:-
“We wanted to create a virtual movie depicting a typical store visit to train our Sales Teams globally in what they need to be looking for in store. It’s not just about our brands and the categories that we operate in, its about understanding the retailers Core Benefit Proposition so we can deliver more targeted in-store activity that is aligned to their strategies.
It’s practically impossible to take live footage in store and even if it was feasible it would be impossible to fully control the environment to show all of the necessary touch points.
What the virtual world does is offer us a completely controllable environment that we can use as a training & development tool where the various touch points are highlighted and explained.We approached Fifth Dimension because they have worked with us for a number of years and we can be sure of the most realistic imagery and the best service in the industry”.
As you can see, Reckitt Benckiser are not only innovators when it comes to consumer goods, they are also innovators when it comes to applying virtual reality technology to modern day challenges.
