The Development of the Metaverse and Commercial Real Estate

Any area of progress will have people who are hesitant. Innovation is not immediate, but instead takes years of constant experimentation to see the endless possibilities that come with it. In the 19th century, people thought that putting a man into the air would be considered impossible, and now the most common mode of transportation for long-distance traveling anywhere in the world is airplanes. Without the introduction and development of the airplane, people would still primarily be using boats to travel long distances. This example can be applied to several areas of the world such as coined money, medicine, and of course, commercial real estate.

The commercial real estate industry is no exception to this hesitation when it comes to adopting change. As of 2020, only 33% of businesses have integrated one to two solutions to improve their technological efficiency. This could be anywhere from communication with clients and coworkers to improving workflow within an organization. Commercial real estate may appear fairly consistent (or even backward sometimes) to some people, but new technologies are developing to help this industry explore new avenues that your company can take advantage of. One of those is the forever-evolving digital world known as the Metaverse.

What is the Metaverse?

You might think the Metaverse is some annoying and confusing app like Zoom, which could be true, but as people know with the airplane, it can take off to new heights and change the world.

Imagine a place where you could go anywhere, meet anyone, and do anything. Nothing is limited except what your mind can think of. This is what the Metaverse is: A combination of physical, augmented, and virtual reality that defies social, economical, and technological standards. It’s a shared virtual, 3D universe that allows anyone to have countless options that are not restricted to the physical world. Also, there is no centralized company or app controlling what you see, but rather it is all intertwined so businesses can seamlessly transfer profits and supplies from one place to the other.

Why Should the Commercial Real Estate Industry Care About the Metaverse?

1. Immersion For Businesses

The first stage every business must endure is to make sure that their target audience is aware of what the company is and how it works. Originally, companies would only be seen by whoever passed by them physically. Once you have your customer in a store, you do everything you can to immerse them so they feel as if they need your product. How do we do that now? The only way to do so via the internet is through the business’s website. They can now connect with millions of people across the world, but might still have trouble converting leads into customers even if the service is outstanding. Being part of the metaverse prevents this issue because it combines the ease of connection around the world and allows your audience to feel immersed. 

For example, you don’t feel the satisfaction when you have blueprints to the commercial property, you feel satisfied when you experience setting foot into that property and seeing it with your own eyes. Immersion is required for a company so it can lead to higher amounts of trust between them and their customers. People are starting to care less about how big your building is and more about how you treat them within that space.

2. Flexibility with Remote Work

In companies that have physical space, workers are strapped to cubicles and offices (let’s be honest, even having your own office is not that great), have unnecessary meetings, and many feel trapped. If you don’t think that’s at least somewhat true, you’re lying to yourself. For most jobs in today’s world, successful companies understand that not everybody needs to be in-person to complete a task. The concept of remote work is already in effect with multiple companies like Amazon, Verizon, and Twitter. Instead of you waking up, driving an hour to get to a meeting, then driving three hours back because of traffic, why not just get on your computer for a call instead? The Metaverse can do just that: Contribute the shift to remote work by facilitating smooth and easy collaboration and communication.

Adding the Metaverse to the remote work renaissance can further enable and drive additional overhead cost-cutting to increase the bottom line while providing another option for your team to meet. Everybody needs a team, and if your competitors optimize the Metaverse’s capabilities of instant communication before you, then expect your competitors to outperform you in organization, speed, and overall effectiveness.

3. Opportunities to Increase Profits

At the end of 2021, Tokens.com bought over 6,000 acres of digital real estate in Decentraland, a virtual part of the Metaverse that is a marketplace for digital real estate, for $2 million.

This stands as the biggest digital real estate purchase of all time, but why is this important?

Because since the purchase, the amount of value from this virtual “land” has increased over 500%, which is impossible on such short notice in the physical world. Value creation is clear. Demand will continue to pick up. 

Is it also important to mention that there is even more land in the Metaverse? We already know that there is an increasing demand for more space, specifically industrial space, in the commercial real estate industry, so this alternative can definitely present a new strategy to remain competitive.

Taking future opportunities that Tokens.com did, for example, can lead to a multitude of purposes for your company such as:

• Demonstrating diversified products and services easily to customers leads to growing your customer base
• Faster closing deals compared to the physical world, leading to an increase in revenue. 
• More room to grow your sphere of influence, which is not bound by the physical world anymore.
• Create more value for your property faster in digital real estate

In commercial real estate, these benefits in such a short time have never been experienced, let alone noticed. If you decided to take these benefits into consideration, imagine how much profit and overall revenue you could acquire for your real estate firm from having property on sale in the digital world.

No one knows where a movement like the Metaverse will go. The commercial real estate industry should be watching closely. We are talking about real estate after all. We know technology has the power to help fix problems and gets better with time. Don’t doubt the current stage it is in because of how it looks. Skeptics did the same with the airplane, and look what has happened since. 

One of the most common ways to beat your competitors is by going to where they haven’t gone yet. The Metaverse is your best bet doing so. Who doesn’t want more profits, higher work efficiency, and better customer loyalty? Only the businesses who want to stay at the starting line.