Meta Consumerism: Holiday Gifts, Digital Goods, & Virtual Expression
Meta Consumerism: Holiday Gifts, Digital Goods, & Virtual Expression
Holiday sales were up significantly in 2021. Retail data came in ahead of expectations – the American consumer is healthy, they’re spending money, and they love to give gifts at this time of year. They’re also increasingly shopping for those gifts through digital mediums and purchasing digital gifts. We expect this trend to continue, especially with the expansion of the Metaverse and digitization more broadly. Younger generations are also significantly more comfortable with digital spending; digital spending should increase as Millennial earnings power increases and wealth transfers to Millennials start to accelerate.
Over the past two decades we’ve transitioned from shopping in the stores, to shopping online, to shopping on our phones on the go. The shopping mall experience has become an in home experience, and the in home experience is increasingly becoming an online or digitized experience. Not only are we shopping for physical goods online, we’re also now starting to spend more of our walletshare on digital goods – or forget even digital goods – just digital leases or subscriptions.
But spending within digital environments, a shift of consumption from physical goods to digital goods, we think there’s incredible opportunity in that space. The power of the American consumer will shift from buying physical items to buying goods in the Metaverse and other digital spaces – that’s an investment opportunity we want to be a part of.
In order to invest though we have to understand a few things.
- Why are American consumers spending money in the Metaverse?
- What will people spend their money on?
- How will technology shifts change shopping experiences across platforms?