How Web 3.0 Will Change How We Are Sold To and How We Shop

January 10, 2019 – The evolution of the Worldwide Web will culminate with Web 3.0, the Spatial Web, coincident with the deployment of 5G telecommunications networks. What this means for those who use the Web to advertise products and services is the complete and utter disruption of current business practices.

Advertisers Be Web 3.0 Aware

The world of digital advertising in 2018 was worth $192 billion USD. Advertisers used social media and search engines combined with the tons of personal data these platforms collected to target advertising in what was slightly more refined than shotgun advertising on television.

But with the way the Web 3.0 will work and the promise of blockchain adoption with distributed ledger technologies, advertisers will find their ability to engage with consumers will be far more out of their control and in the hands of the users of the Web themselves. It will be Web users who will own and authorize any third-party use of their data and if blockchain becomes ubiquitous it will deny any third-party from being able to grab personal data or advertise to users without their authorization.

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications that will give users greater control over the “facts” being fed them from digital news sources will also impact advertising with consumers able to filter out sellers whose unverified claims make them suspect.

For product developers, it means the merit of what they create will bear more weight than the branding and slogans concocted by advertising firms for promotion.

The development of AI, when combined with augmented reality, will further alter our relationship with the products that companies create. Wearable AI technology will make shopping in a bricks and mortar establishment an entirely novel experience. You will walk in the front door and your AI on your say so will populate the virtual environment with digital content to go along with what you see physically in front of you. Products will literally communicate their features directly to you. The product may even, upon request, provide you with more detailed functions information, tell you its energy rating, its carbon footprint, pricing options, and more. If you choose the product the Web interface will execute the sale and if something big like a refrigerator or oven, allow you to specify the manner of shipment and arrival date. Of course, all of this information sent to you will be under your control as you set the preferences for communication through your Web 3.0 interface.

Of course, if trends continue as they are, then more of your shopping will be on the Web itself rather than in bricks and mortar establishments. In this space, you will have even greater control over what content is seen by you. You can personalize every aspect of your Internet activity. With you in control of the data feed, any advertisers will be working to your terms. And for those you allow into your personal Web space, it will mean product developers will seek to improve what they sell to you based on your personal specifications. This goes hand-in-hand with the emergence of 3D printing with the ability of manufacturers to create products that specifically meet individual consumer requirements.

The Arrival of the AI Personal Shopper in the World of Web 3.0

Consumers in the Spatial Web will be assisted by AI like never before. If you are shopping in the digital space for much of what you buy, your AI assistant will assemble over time, a comprehensive picture of what you like and what you don’t like. Even a visit to a bricks and mortar establishment will be tracked by your AI assistant which, based on your preferences, will help you shop.

Imagine your AI creating an avatar of you and then outfitting it with the types of clothes and styles you like to wear. You can then select what you like and proceed to execute an order with the financial transaction completed and delivery instructions fully automated. The AI assistant may even combine different styles that it knows are your preferences and if you like what it suggests execute made-to-order instructions to the designer who would then produce the finished product and arrange delivery.

Is this speculative or a reality. Ask Walmart who recently order 17,000 Oculus GO VR headsets for locations in the United States. The headsets aren’t to be sold. They are to be used initially to train staff, and later for customers to wear as they shop. Walmart recently filed two VR patents, one involving a VR headset, and the other a haptic glove (which gives the wearer the ability to feel an object in virtual reality). The idea is to give shoppers an immersive in-store experience even when they are not in the store. Amazon is also exploring augmented and virtual reality to enhance the online shopping experience on its site. So is Alibaba, the Chinese Amazon equivalent. And then there is the online emergence of Wayfair and IKEA who are using virtual reality applications to allow consumers to place a piece of furniture in a virtual equivalent of your living room space.

You either will love the Web 3.0 experience or hate it. But this is a good thing. You will be able to switch off what you hate and only pick the interactive experience you want. That’s something you couldn’t really do in the world of Web 2.0.