The future of retail technology: How VR shopping is revolutionising retail experiences

Today, retailers are aiming to turn traditional shopping into exciting personalised experiences. This evolution is being driven by increasing digital adoption and rising consumer demand for total clarity before they buy.

In this environment, leading retailers are increasingly turning to immersive technologies – particularly virtual reality (VR). This shift is creating a new kind of shopping experience: VR shopping lets customers explore products and stores in ways that were impossible before. A 2025 peer-reviewed study analysing data from 855 Middle Eastern fashion customers found that virtual reality retail positively influences purchase decisions, substantially elevates customer engagement and reinforces brand loyalty.¹

What's more, these tools are more accessible than ever. Technology such as Meta Quest and Meta Horizon managed solutions make immersive retail experiences scalable, accessible and profitable for businesses.

Below, we look at some of the innovative ways that retailers are using VR shopping to change the shape of the retail industry.

How is VR in retail expanding the traditional showroom?

VR is taking customers beyond the traditional retail showroom. These technologies bridge the gap between physical and digital stores – creating what's known as "phygital" experiences – and give shoppers access to a retailer's full inventory and product range. This allows customers to build confidence in their purchase decision before the item is even manufactured or delivered, such as through:

• Virtual configurators: Customers can swap out every component – from paint colour to interior trim – in a fully interactive 3D environment.
• Digital twin showrooms: Retailers can create virtual replicas of physical showrooms or dealerships that can be accessed globally.
• Exclusive consultations: VR can be used to conduct private, remote consultations for luxury purchases, providing white-glove service without requiring travel.

How CUPRA is using immersive showrooms for their retail strategy

When the launch of the all-electric CUPRA Tavascan was delayed in 2024 due to supply chain issues, CUPRA faced a challenge: securing crucial sales appointments and inspiring an emotional connection before the vehicle arrived on the dealer floor.

To address this, CUPRA partnered with MSM.digital to build an MR experience on Meta Quest, deploying 580+ headsets across key European markets. This served as a crucial sales tool, letting customers step inside the virtual vehicle – all while remaining physically present in the dealership.

This solution helped salespeople bridge the critical gap between presales and physical delivery, increasing customer engagement by up to 30%. Crucially, the immersive shopping experience provided the sales enablement needed to generate revenue without relying on physical inventory.

"The mixed reality experience wasn't a fancy 'nice to have'," says Giuseppe Fiordispina, Marketing Director, SEAT Deutschland. "It fulfilled a real customer and dealer need and helped to secure sales."

What are the key VR showroom applications for retail?

• Sentio: Simple, cloud-based platform for client presentation and BIM collaboration, making it easy to transform 3D designs into immersive VR experiences.
• ShapesXR: An enterprise-grade design and prototyping tool that allows teams to ideate and collaborate in 3D. This is useful for quickly developing XR apps and reducing the production costs of visualisation prototypes.
• Unity: Creates immersive virtual showrooms and interactive 3D product configurators. Customers can explore product ranges, customise options and interact with items – just as they would in a physical shop.

How are retailers using VR for virtual try-ons and visualisation?

Immersive shopping technology is proving to be a cost-saver for retailers, tackling one of retail's biggest pain points: product returns. Most online returns are due to issues with fit, colour or size. VR directly addresses this consumer uncertainty by projecting an accurate, scaled 3D model of a product onto the user's real-world environment.

These virtual product views help shoppers make more informed choices and reduce returns – as reported in Deloitte's 2025 US Retail Outlook report.²

• Virtual try-on: Shoppers can see how products – from lipstick shades to eyewear – look on them without physical contact. Early implementations of these virtual try-ons are showing increases in customer engagement by up to 47%.³
• Space visualisation: Customers can place accurate digital models of furniture or appliances in their own homes. This improves purchase confidence by eliminating guesswork regarding dimension and aesthetics.
• Reduced waste: By significantly reducing product returns, retailers can lower their carbon footprint and decrease energy consumption across the supply chain.

How are retailers using VR to improve business operations?

Beyond enhancing customer shopping experiences, VR is transforming the core of retail operations. Immersive technology is moving past the consumer-facing front end to deliver business value in the back end. This shift allows businesses to achieve efficiency and precision in ways conventional methods can't.

• Immersive employee training: VR creates realistic simulations for complex retail scenarios, such as managing busy periods or operating specialised equipment. This learning method has significant benefits. A 2025 Total Economic Impact™ study by Forrester Consulting found that enterprise organisations using Meta Quest headsets accelerated onboarding times by 25% and reduced task worker training times by up to 75%.⁴
• Merchandising optimisation: Using digital twins of store layouts, teams can analyse and optimise shelf placement, product displays and customer flow virtually, before implementing changes physically.

How Mondelēz is using VR to reduce design time and improve R&D

An example for retailers comes in the form of Mondelēz International. The global snack company is using a bespoke VR digital innovation centre called Simoja to accelerate product development and collaboration.

By integrating tools such as Arthur for sketching and prototyping directly into the environment, Mondelēz was able to reduce the 3D concept design phase from weeks to hours. This initiative allows over 1,000 coworkers to collaborate remotely and has also improved consumer testing by allowing tasters to sample products within a high-fidelity virtual living room.

As Jay Gouliard, Senior Vice President, Mondelēz notes, "VR has also helped increase the inclusiveness of our workforce. We can bring developers from all over the world together to immersively collaborate and co-create."

What are the key VR applications for retail business operations?

• Arthur: Combines spatial collaboration with AI, enabling teams to ideate, prototype and plan in interactive 3D spaces.
• Arkio: Improves store operations by enabling teams to rapidly design, collaborate on and review virtual store layouts and product displays.
• ThingLink: Creates immersive training scenarios with interactive 360° media and personalised learning paths.

How are retailers using VR to create virtual events and brand experiences?

Retailers are using VR to reimagine events – turning product launches, fashion shows and brand activations into immersive experiences that reach global audiences. VR events remove the constraints of physical venues while creating deeper emotional connections with customers, laying the groundwork for presence in the metaverse. These benefits include:

• Immersive and interactive environments: VR creates fully immersive virtual venues where users can attend product launches or branded events with 3D spatial audio and realistic avatar interactions.
• Global accessibility: Virtual events break down geographic, physical and economic barriers, allowing a worldwide audience to participate simultaneously in exclusive experiences.
• Enhanced customer engagement: VR shopping events turn attendees into active participants rather than passive viewers through gamified and personalised experiences.

What is the role of NFTs and digital assets in VR brand experiences?

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) play an important role in this immersive shift by proving ownership and authenticity. They can be used to create digital twins of physical products, linking each real item to a secure digital record. The Business of Fashion reports that as of 2024, 21 of the top 50 global fashion brands have launched NFTs, with sportswear brands leading this digital shift.⁵

As brands deepen their presence in these environments, the underlying technology becomes increasingly important. Meta Quest and Meta Horizon managed solutions enable brands to offer highly personalised and secure interactions.

What are the key VR applications for virtual experiences?

• Zoom: Hosts live, interactive VR events and virtual expos. Retailers can connect with global audiences for product launches and experiential marketing campaigns.

The rundown: Five takeaways about VR in retail

VR training is a powerful tool for enterprises looking for cost-effective training solutions that improve business efficiency. Here are five key takeaways:

VR is a vital tool for enterprises seeking cost-effective retail solutions that boost efficiency and customer satisfaction. Here are our five key takeaways:

1. Significant cost savings: VR shopping reduces the need for physical product samples and, crucially, cuts high e-commerce return rates.
2. Accelerated confidence: Immersive experiences close the "imagination gap" by proving a product's size, fit or function. This speeds up the consumer's purchasing decision.
3. Improved operational efficiency: VR training reduces onboarding time for staff. MR provides real-time, hands-free guidance for inventory and support tasks.
4. New revenue streams and data: VR unlocks sales through digital product offerings and generates unique behavioural data for next-generation merchandising.

Get in touch with Meta for Work

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Keep reading about working in virtual reality (VR):

What is the best VR headset for work?
How VR is revolutionising team-building
Six innovations shaping the future of work

Sources

1. Sarkis, N., Jabbour Al Maalouf, N., Saliba, E., & Azizi, J. (2025). The impact of augmented reality within the fashion industry on purchase decisions, customer engagement and brand loyalty. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2025.2470187
2. 2025 US Retail Industry Outlook, Deloitte Consumer Industry Center, January 2025
3. Keshav Agrawal. AI-enhanced intelligent fashion e-commerce: Virtual try-on and personalised style recommendations in action. World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 2025, 15(01), 2142-2150. Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/wjaets.2025.15.1.0475
4. "The Total Economic Impact of Meta Quest", The Total Economic Impact™ Report, Forrester Consulting commissioned by Meta, June 2025. Results are for a composite organisation based on interviewed customers.
5. "The Five Strategies Defining Fashion’s Future in the Metaverse", Business of Fashion, January 2025 https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/technology/five-strategies-defining-fashion-industry-metaverse-future-through-nfts-ai/