Al-Futtaim Automotive has become the latest brand in the UAE to enhance its ‘phygital’ offering with the launch of an immersive and interactive virtual showroom.
The company is aiming to remodel the automotive retail experience and meet the needs of more experiental-focused consumers by instantly transporting customers into a lifelike and spacious virtual showroom displaying a variety of models.
It does this through a special VR headset that customers wear, which, has been developed in collaboration with Verse Estate, a Dubai-based VR-technology company. Al-Futtaim Automotive said in a statement that it has named Verse Estate as their ‘Phygital Experience Partner’ with a commitment to driving innovative mobility experiences into the future.
Inside the showroom
Caption: Al-Futtaim
Inside the virtual showroom, customers immerse in a real automotive buying experience by surveying the entire virtual space, seeing all the models displayed inside and out, exploring each car’s details and features – and even going to the extent of customising the car on display to a certain extent.
Al-Futtaim Automotive said it has currently launched the virtual showroom for BYD, the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) brand, building on two core pillars of the business strategy: Customer Centricity and Digitalisation.
Speaking on the launch, Katib Belkhodja, Director of Customer Centricity, Al-Futtaim Automotive, said, “As automotive market leaders, we already have a formidable presence with a wide network of showrooms. To add to that, we have launched e-commerce platforms with a seamless end-to-end purchase journey, and developed a strong digital ecosystem that helps us get accurate, personalised insights on what the customer is looking for. The immersive showroom was the next big move and has become an essential piece of our digital ecosystem. Moreover, it’s a tangible illustration of our promise of always keeping customers at the forefront of our business.”
He added: ‘Now we don’t need to wait for the customers to come to our showroom, but rather we can take the showroom to our customers wherever they are, and this is planned with multiple roadshows with our BYD virtual showroom this year.”
The experiential economy boom
With one of the highest technology adoption rates worldwide, UAE’s customers have a strong affinity for innovative, digital-led experiences. Salesforce’s ‘State of the Connected Customer Report’ 2023 states that 83% of UAE customers say that the experience a brand provides is as important as its products and services.
Dubai is heavily vested in the experiential economy with the Dubai Metaverse Strategy aiming to position the emirate among the world’s top 10 metaverse economies. The UAE’s metaverse market is expected to grow exponentially with a cumulative growth rate of 28% per year.
Nabil Bouali, Co-Founder, Verse Estate, said: “The adoption of virtual, immersive and metaverse solutions is no longer confined to tech-sector focused enterprises, and this is clearly demonstrated in the exciting initiative launched from an industry leader like Al-Futtaim Automotive. Developing their BYD Virtual Showroom has been a remarkable journey, and we are proud to create this industry benchmark for other brands to follow.
He added: “It’s an opportunity to reshape automotive experiences and engage with each and every customer on a new level – and we are honoured to be their Phygital Experience Partner.”
UAE citizens can explore the BYD Virtual Showroom installed in the new flagship BYD Showroom & Discovery Center, located at Dubai Festival City, as well as at the Al-Futtaim Stand at COP28 Green Zone from 30 November to 12 December 2023, Expo City Dubai.
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