Made launches virtual apartment for “see-now-buy-now” experience

Design-led retailer Made has revealed a virtual reality (VR) apartment to showcase its latest home collection as a “see-now-buy-now experience”.

Made is an online store, though it does have showrooms where customers can view its range of furniture, lighting and home accessories.

The virtual apartment has been designed by Made’s in-house creative team using the Matterport VR platform and 3D photographic scans of the apartment.

It recreates Made’s showroom in Amsterdam, which has been furnished with the latest collection. The real-life apartment is set in a historic building dating from the 19th century.

How does the virtual apartment work?

The experience is available in a variety of formats. You can view take a virtual tour on a desktop browser until late November 2020.

Customers can also pick up a free Google Cardboard headset from one of seven Made showrooms across Europe. They can then download the Matterport app and scan a QR code to explore the VR apartment using the headset.

There are four rooms inside and visitors can point and click with the headset to explore the range of products. Within each room, the season’s “key trends” are shown, including “Nordic Move On” and “Luxe Maximalist”, Made says.

On the browser version, there are design details embedded throughout the experience. This provides context for the range – explaining where products have been made or the inspiration behind them, for example. There is also a virtual measuring tool which allows you to take measurements in the apartment.

Part of the “see-now-buy-now” experience means that customers can click through on the products and purchase them. This is not yet available on the VR platform, but can done in the browser experience.

Alternatively, there is also an Augmented Reality (AR) filter available on Instagram where fans can “look through a portal into the apartment”, Made says. A “selfie mode” is available so that users can experience the rooms in 360 degrees and take photos of themselves in the apartment.

“Completely rethinking” retail

Made chief creative officer Jo Jackson says that the company is “completely rethinking” the ways it presents its products and how it engages with customers.

“Digital technology has become more important than ever in helping us stay connected, and the pandemic has made us work even hard to offer our audience something innovative and inspiring to experience,” she adds.

The virtual apartment is the “start of something new and exciting”, she says. “Our virtual apartment enables us to maintain a dialogue with our customers across the globe, while introducing the brand to a much wider fan base beyond what a physical space can offer.”