The Tool Desk
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Which report is behind the headline?
The likely source is Coresight Research’s Immersive Experiences in Retail: Driving Sales Through Enhanced Shopper Engagement, published October 24, 2023. Coresight conducted the study in partnership with Obsess, a company that sells immersive commerce technology. Its survey covered 150 U.S. brands and retailers in fashion, beauty, consumer packaged goods (CPG/FMCG), and home.
The study reported that 61% of respondents had invested in virtual stores. Among those virtual-store investors, 88% reported a moderate or significant increase in total sales. Coresight’s release also said 86% of respondents would definitely increase investment in immersive experiences over the next 10 years. A later summary of the study reported that 93% would probably or definitely increase investment within three years (Infinite Reality’s report summary).
These are survey findings and investment intentions, not a census of retailers, market-wide spending figures, or proof that an immersive feature caused a sales increase. Obsess’s role as a technology partner is relevant when weighing the results. The evidence supports a conclusion that surveyed brands saw immersive experiences as important and reported positive outcomes; it does not establish that every brand will earn a return from them.
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What counts as immersive e-commerce?
Immersive commerce is a collection of shopping tools and formats, not one technology or synonym for the metaverse. The useful way to distinguish them is by the customer problem each is meant to solve.
- Virtual try-on and augmented reality (AR): Let shoppers preview clothing, makeup, eyewear, furniture, or other products on themselves or in their surroundings.
- Interactive 3D product visualization: Allow rotation, zoom, configuration, hotspots, or demonstrations to reveal details that static photography may miss.
- Personalized product journeys: Use customer data or AI to tailor recommendations, product information, bundles, or guidance.
- Shoppable video and livestreams: Combine demonstrations or entertainment with a direct path to product pages and checkout.
- Social commerce: Bring discovery and, where available, purchasing into social platforms.
- Gamified experiences: Use participation, rewards, quests, or unlockable content to support engagement or a launch.
- Virtual stores: Create interactive 3D environments inspired by a physical store, campaign, event, or brand world.
- Conversational shopping: Use AI assistants to help shoppers find, compare, configure, or purchase products.
The dividing line is utility. A room-placement tool that helps someone judge whether a sofa fits can reduce uncertainty. A visually impressive 3D environment that loads slowly but tells the shopper nothing useful may add friction rather than value.
Why brands are paying attention now
Product pages have to reduce uncertainty
Online shoppers cannot handle, try on, or compare products in person before ordering. Interactive previews can help with questions about fit, scale, color, finish, configuration, or how an item works. They are most defensible when they provide information that could change a purchase decision—not simply another visual layer.
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Discovery and purchase are spreading across channels
In its 2025 U.S. e-commerce research, DHL reported that 69% of surveyed shoppers had purchased through social media, while 61% expected social platforms to become their primary shopping destination by 2030. The first figure describes reported past behavior; the second is an expectation, not a forecast of what consumers will actually do. Together, they show why brands are considering formats that bring discovery, demonstration, interaction, and buying closer together. See DHL’s 2025 E-Commerce Trends Report findings.
Shoppers show interest in AI-enabled help, not necessarily virtual worlds
DHL reported that 60% of surveyed U.S. shoppers wanted AI-powered shopping features, including virtual try-on and voice search. That supports testing practical assistance, but it should not be treated as evidence that consumers broadly want headset-based shopping or elaborate digital environments. In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted in October 2022, McKinsey found stronger consumer interest in applications that augment the physical world, such as at-home try-ons, than in purely digital environments (McKinsey’s analysis of commerce in the metaverse).
Attention is not the same as a profitable experience
Immersive features can attract attention, but brands need to know whether that attention leads to completed purchases and profitable repeat behavior. Coresight/Obsess identified measures such as click-through rate, average order value, and net promoter score. A business case should also examine conversion, returns, support contacts, repeat purchases, acquisition cost, and the cost of producing and maintaining the experience.
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Where immersive tools may have the clearest use
The strongest use case depends on what shoppers need to see, understand, or decide. These are plausible fits, not guarantees of performance.
| Category | Potentially useful experiences | Customer problem to address | Risk to manage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion | Virtual try-on, 3D garment views, virtual showrooms, shoppable video | Fit, styling, product discovery, and launch information | Inaccurate fit previews can undermine trust or contribute to returns. |
| Beauty | AR makeup previews, guided consultations, personalized routines, live demonstrations | Seeing shades and learning how to choose or use products | Lighting, skin-tone representation, and recommendation quality affect usefulness. |
| Home and furniture | Room placement, 3D visualization, configuration, virtual tours | Judging scale, fit, color, and appearance in a room | Useful previews depend on accurate product models and reliable performance. |
| Consumer electronics | Interactive demonstrations, comparison tools, configuration, guided selling | Understanding features, specifications, and compatible accessories | Visual spectacle can make essential comparisons harder to find. |
| Luxury | Digital showrooms, private appointments, immersive launches | Storytelling, product discovery, and controlled access to experiences | Gimmicky execution or excessive exposure can weaken the intended impression. |
| CPG/FMCG | Gamified launches, social commerce, livestreams, loyalty experiences | Participation, awareness, and repeat engagement | It can be difficult to connect attention to incremental sales. |
| Automotive | Configurators, AR visualization, virtual appointments, remote demonstrations | Exploring options and personalizing a high-consideration purchase | Content production and integration can be demanding. |
What the survey establishes—and what it does not
The Coresight/Obsess study is useful as a snapshot of what surveyed U.S. brands and retailers were doing and planning in 2023. It reports meaningful adoption, executive interest, and positive sales outcomes as respondents described them. But reported association, stated intention, and causal evidence are different things.
- Reported association: Virtual-store investors said their total sales had increased. The survey does not show that the virtual store alone produced the increase.
- Stated intention: Respondents said they planned to increase investment. Their plans do not demonstrate future spending or successful implementation.
- Causal performance evidence: To establish incremental impact, a brand would need a credible comparison—such as a controlled test—and financial results that account for costs. The cited survey figures do not provide that proof.
Sales may rise for reasons such as a product launch, seasonal demand, more advertising, better inventory, wider distribution, or a broader website redesign. The survey also does not show that virtual stores outperform ordinary e-commerce, that all shoppers want them, or that its results apply to every retailer or small business.
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How to decide whether to invest
Start with one customer problem
Consider an immersive feature when shoppers need to see a product in context, assess fit or appearance, compare configurations, understand a complex item, receive guidance, or participate in a launch. If a purchase is simple and primarily driven by price or convenience, clearer product information or a faster checkout may be a better use of resources.
Count the content and operating work
Before committing, estimate how many products need 3D models, who will create and maintain them, how frequently products and inventory change, and what happens when an item is discontinued. Check whether assets can be reused on the brand site, in social channels, in stores, or by sales teams. Accurate product data, inventory connections, analytics, consent controls, and accessibility are part of the work—not optional finishing touches.
Protect the ordinary shopping journey
An immersive feature should not make basic shopping worse. Check mobile load times, product-information clarity, search visibility, accessibility, checkout completion, and performance on older devices or slower connections. Offer a conventional alternative for customers who do not want to use video, 3D navigation, camera access, or AR. If a tool uses a camera or personal data, explain the purpose and obtain appropriate consent.
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Set a baseline and test incrementally
Define success before launch and compare the experience with a conventional version where possible. Track product-page engagement, add-to-cart rate, conversion, average order value, returns and exchanges, support volume, repeat purchase, acquisition cost, and gross margin after platform and content costs. Measure incremental lift, not just visits or time spent.
- Improve product photography, video, specifications, sizing, and product-page clarity first.
- Add interactive 3D to a narrow group of high-value products when it can answer a specific question.
- Test virtual try-on or room visualization where appearance, fit, or context materially affects choice.
- Explore personalization or conversational guidance if shoppers need help navigating options.
- Test shoppable video or social commerce where the audience already discovers products on those channels.
- Consider a virtual store when there is a clear storytelling, event, or brand-world reason and a plan to measure its contribution.
Costs, risks, and alternatives
Production and maintenance can outweigh the visual layer
3D models, animation, interactive scripting, device testing, and product-data integration can require substantial work. A virtual store may also need ongoing updates to navigation, promotions, inventory, analytics, and accessibility. Novelty can attract press or engagement without producing added sales, so separate attention from add-to-cart behavior, completed purchases, and profitable repeat business.
Accuracy and inclusion matter
AR previews can mislead if tracking is inaccurate, lighting assumptions are poor, color rendering is off, or size data is incomplete. Tools may work less well across different skin tones, body types, hair types, rooms, or devices. Brands should test across their intended audiences and environments, and avoid implying that a preview guarantees a real-world fit or appearance.
Platforms can limit control
Social commerce may help with discovery, but reliance on a platform can leave brands exposed to algorithm changes, attribution limits, checkout rules, and restricted access to customer relationships or data. A brand should understand what it can export, measure, and retain before shifting too much of the customer journey to a third party.
Do not let spectacle displace commerce fundamentals
Interactive content cannot compensate for poor product quality, unclear returns, high shipping costs, slow delivery, weak service, or bad pricing. DHL’s 2025 U.S. findings reported that 76% of surveyed shoppers had abandoned carts when preferred delivery options were unavailable. That is a reminder to compare immersive spending with improvements to fulfillment and the ordinary checkout journey, not to treat the two as substitutes.
The practical verdict for brands
Immersive e-commerce is an urgent capability to understand and test—not a universal instruction to build a virtual world. The 2023 Coresight/Obsess survey points to strong executive interest and reported adoption; more recent shopper findings support attention to useful AI assistance and social shopping. Neither proves that a particular 3D storefront will pay off. Brands should invest where an experience solves a real shopping problem, preserves accessibility and performance, and demonstrates incremental value against a simpler alternative.
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