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Remember when a digital Carolina Herrera gown sold for $5,000 on Roblox in 2022? Or when a limited-edition digital Gucci bag ultimately resold for the equivalent of thousands of dollars on Roblox in 2020? Burberry, Coach and Fenty Beauty were among the other fashion and beauty brands selling digital iterations of their physical offerings to digitally savvy young shoppers.
But as artificial intelligence has skyrocketed to the fore, luxury fashion and beauty brands have placed their metaverse strategies and experimentation on the back-burner. Now, Roblox has a new offering to get them back into the fold: the opportunity to sell real, physical goods on the Roblox platform.
From 15 May, approved brands, creators, merchandisers and intellectual property holders will be able to sell physical products within shoppable Roblox experiences, in partnership with Shopify. Under Roblox’s new ‘Commerce APIs’, users will be able to purchase physical goods in-platform, and get a digital replica for use on Roblox as well.
It’s a big move for a company that built itself on the platform of immersive, digital-only experiences. But it’s also a logical next step, argues Stephanie Latham, VP of global brand partnerships and advertising. “Shopping for digital items is already endemic to our platform. They are purchasing digital products while they spend time with friends and dress up, so contextually relevant physical products are a natural extension of that,” she explains.
For creators, it’s a monetisation opportunity, adds Latham. For users, it’s a fun and organic way to buy physical goods from experiences they’re already spending time in. “And for brands, commerce provides a way to build purchase intent and interest in products, reaching the unique Gen Z audience that comes to our platform,” she says.
Roblox boasts 97.8 million users a day — and 50 per cent of Gen Z users are very or extremely likely to consider a brand in the physical world after trying items on virtually, per Roblox’s 2023 Digital Expression report.
