NEW YORK—Mastercard and Swarovski have launched a virtual reality (VR) shopping app.
The app, for Atelier Swarovski home décor line, “immerses consumers in a tastefully decorated home where they can browse and purchase the pieces with Masterpass,” Mastercard’s digital payment service, according to the company.
“This new shopping app highlights the value of the pieces, the story behind the inspiration, the complex manufacturing process, and the designers’ creative journeys in a new and engaging way. Masterpass enables consumers to check-out from within the VR experience without having to add payment details,” Mastercard explained.
Consumers can place their phone into a compatible VR headset to enter the experience, which lets them walk through the five areas of the virtual home to browse designs by famous artists.
“Atelier Swarovski Home is a masterfully crafted collection that is most dynamic when experienced first-hand,” said Nadja Swarovski, member of the executive board, Swarovski Crystal Business. “As our e-commerce business continues to grow, this partnership allows consumers a fully immersive shopping opportunity to interact with the product and then purchase seamlessly within the experience. The cutting-edge VR technology allows consumers to fully realize scale and engage more deeply with design details before making a purchase – anywhere. We’re grateful to have Mastercard join us for this exciting, first-time endeavor.”
How it works:
- Upon launching the app, consumers will be prompted to log in and begin an authenticated, secure session by using their Masterpass account credentials
- After starting a session, consumers will be able to navigate through the home’s different rooms and browse through the collection by moving their heads left to right or up and down
- Once the consumers decide and select the piece from the collection that they want to purchase, they can add it to the cart and check out by focusing their gaze on the Masterpass button that appears at the bottom of the product description
- When the consumer exits the application or the session detects that the headset has been removed, the consumer will be automatically logged out of their Masterpass account to protect against unintended purchases
“At Mastercard, our goal is to provide consumers with the choice to shop when they want, how they want in a manner that is as seamless and secure as possible,” said Linda Kirkpatrick, EVP merchants and acceptance, Mastercard. “This means that merchants need to be able to engage their customers across multiple, technology platforms – in-store, online, in-app and via virtual and augmented reality. The Swarovski VR app is an example of how Mastercard is bringing safer and richer retail experiences to life to address the full range of merchant and consumer needs.”
The virtual interactive experience was created and developed by Youvisit. The app will be available for download from the iTunes app and Google Play stores in October, Mastercard said.
“There’s no question that immersive technology will transform how consumers shop online, and we are really proud to be the platform Swarovski and Mastercard selected to become first movers in this space,” said Abi Mandelbaum, CEO and co-founder of YouVisit. “Consumers are going to love this first-of-its-kind virtual shopping experience.”