Love shopping but hate the crowds? The answer may be Near’s virtual Oxford Street. They’re taking the world’s largest and best loved shopping areas and recreating them in the virtual world, Second Life-style with a focus on shopping. Reports are that big names including M&S and Liberty have signed up to display their shop windows in NearLondon, as they do in their bricks and mortar stores. Users can then go directly through to the product or shop online from this virtual Oxford Street, to view more details and buy.
I found that only some stores, e.g. Accessorize, had their various branches identified through NearLondon’s location search. This is a little disappointing given that lots of chains have more than one shop in the Oxford Street area and you may prefer one over another. I looked up M&S (reportedly part of NearLondon) and the search came up with just one result. This didn’t give me specific address details (other than Oxford St.), so at first glance it was unclear whether I was going to the M&S flagship store near Marble Arch or their other branch, the Pantheon, also on Oxford Street. Additionally, many shop windows appear blacked out with just the Near logo displayed. Presumably these shops haven’t signed up with Nearworld yet; but as a user, my experience is somewhat diminished by this.
Once more shops take part, this could be useful for inspiration, when you have an occasion to buy for but need a bit of help getting started, or when you’re simply checking out which look’s in this season. I haven’t tried it myself but NearLondon also lets you go shopping with your friends virtually, which could work if you’re all in different places.
Personally, I’d miss the delights of walking down Oxford Street in person such as unexpectedly bumping into an old friend or the delectable smell of Belgian waffles by Bond Street tube. But should I ever leave London (and perhaps this is their target audience, tourists who love London shopping), I’d more likely go for a nostalgic trip down Oxford Street virtually.
Are you a NearLondon user? Are you tempted to give up the stress of London shopping? Let us know your thoughts.
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Hannah Barltrop commented on 16 January 2010 at 1:54 pm
Hi,
I just read your article and tried to check out the nearlondon.co.uk website, but I couldn’t see anything about virtual shops, only places near land marks. However I did find a site called superhighstreet.co.uk which seems to do what you’re describing, although I think the design element is still in the early stages.
Anyway, I think it’s a really cool idea to be able to virtual shop and see what shops are where. Haven’t we all been in the situation when you’re sure you’ve seen a particular shop down a high street and been miserably disappointed (after drudging out in the pouring rain) when; either the shop is not there or it’s there but doesn’t have what you want. I think the only downfalls of shopping this way is you don’t get the instant gratification of having the item you purchased that day or being able to physically see and touch the item before buying. I never seem to get the same pleasure shopping when I’ve had to wait for things to come through the post.
Mru commented on 25 January 2010 at 4:37 pm
Thanks for your comment Hannah. Sorry about the delay in responding; I’ve been on holiday.
Please try Near’s URL http://www.nearglobal.com, which should let you download and try their virtual high street experience. Thanks also for the superhighstreet tip, I had a very quick look and it’s definitely interesting.
Alex commented on 2 February 2010 at 5:09 pm
Thanks for your comments - and thanks Mru for the great article.
We’re just about to launch an updated to NearLondon that adds hundreds more shop windows, more detail and a real day and night cycle!
If you log in after Feb 16th and the new content should automatically install…
For regular updates please join the NearLondon group on Facebook!