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Shopping, Playing, or Working: How Will You Be Spending Your Time in the Metaverse in 2026?

An hour a day in the metaverse by 2026

Published on Apr 27, 2022

The real world is undergoing a historic transformation. The world today is at the threshold of a profound technological revolution that will take the real world beyond the limitations of time. Converging technologies are shaping the reality of our everyday life and inching towards the metaverse of tomorrow. 

This metaverse will be an immersive, interconnected virtual world in which Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, and Cryptocurrencies will redefine the course of our life. We would be spending more time in the metaverse than in the real world. People will apply for jobs, earn a living, meet their friends, shop, and even get married using the virtual capacities of the metaverse. 

entertainment in metaverse

In the coming decade, the metaverse will experience a rise in the facilitation of higher education, job training, and workplace meetings. Businesses will rely on the power and reach of the metaverse to communicate details, provide services and collaborate. With metaverse, the world will be surrounded by surfaces that offer new realms of instantaneous virtual connections. Modern tools will help you build connections within the lifelike virtual space.   

Moving into the Metaverse 

A collective virtual space, the metaverse is created by the confluence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality. Metaverse is persistent and provides enhanced immersive experiences. It is device independent and can be accessed through any type of device. Metaverse transforms the real world with a kind of digital overlay. In this fully digital world, people will wear headsets to enter the space. 

Metaverse diagram

The metaverse will allow people to replicate or experience their physical activities. It will authorize enterprises with the ability to expand and enhance their business measures in unprecedented ways by shifting from a traditional business to a metaverse-driven business. 

However, given the adoption of metaverse technologies is still nascent and fragmented, organizations are more cautious while investing heavily in a specific metaverse. However, it is still too early to recognize which investments will be viable and will bear fruit in the long term. 

As per Gartner's latest report, 25% of people will spend at least an hour of their day in the metaverse for shopping, working, education, social, or entertainment by 2026. 

metaverse services

This metaverse hype will help new business models transition into an extended digital business, as no single vendor will own the metaverse. The entire metaverse will be device independent. With the metaverse immersing us in new virtual worlds, investments and technological advancement will soar, leading to the generation of new opportunities for change.

The Virtual economy of the Metaverse 

The metaverse will have its own virtual economy. It will be driven by virtually enabled digital currencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are unique digital tokens used to buy, own, and sell digital or physical items virtually, like music, art, and property. This rise in virtual currencies will impact every business that consumers interact with daily. 

Read more: Facebook's Meta Faces its Biggest "Existential Crisis"; Loses $230 billion market value in a single day 

digital world

Reality will be more inclusive 

As the access to the metaverse becomes more universal, several companies are developing both all-inclusive and niche solutions with a diverse range of users in mind. This broad network of emerging capabilities will help in overcoming social and economic barriers. It will aid in progress into an environment that will eliminate the gender gap, economic obstacles, and other inequalities. 

As the horizontal reach of the metaverse widens, virtual space is reshaping every type of experience in our lives. In this virtual world, employee, client, and third-party interactions will also take place in the metaverse. Businesses are now understanding the need to adapt and evolve as the metaverse is transforming industries and lifestyles. They are exploring their role in this new frontier. This power and reach of the metaverse are helping to potentially eliminate many of the constraints and biases of reality. 

Working in the metaverse

The Transition from New Business Models into Extend Digital Business

Today, the world is attending virtual classrooms, buying digital land, and constructing virtual homes, but in separate environments. Eventually, with metaverse, these activities will take place in a single environment. 

30% of the organizations are predicted to have their products and services ready for the metaverse. 

With metaverse, enterprises will enjoy the ability to enhance their businesses in virtual spaces and deliver better engagement, improved collaboration, and connection with their employees through immersive virtual workspaces. Businesses will not have to create their own infrastructure as the metaverse will provide the framework. In addition, with virtual events gaining popularity over the last few months, metaverse will aid in offering more collaborative and immersive networking opportunities. 

Multiple brands have announced forays into the metaverse, including Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. These metaverse initiatives will benefit the brands and help join forces with bother brands and digital creators & artists. 

What more can the metaverse offer? 

The Metaverse will attract a lot more action in the coming years

metaverse activities

In the coming years, the metaverse will enable businesses to expand and enhance their business models in unprecedented manners. By the year 2026, 30% of the businesses in the world will have their products and services ready for the metaverse. Organizations are beginning to develop digital business strategies to leverage the built-in infrastructure and be participants in the metaverse.  

Brands who traditionally invested in advertising space on websites and billboards are now acknowledging and investing in digital land in the metaverse. The prices for metaverse real estate have already soared by up to 500% after Facebook announced its metaverse plans. Conglomerates like Microsoft and Sony are among many firms that are preparing for huge evolution in the metaverse. 

Consumers are also purchasing digital land and constructing virtual homes or shopping in virtual malls via immersive commerce in the metaverse. While the adoption of metaverse technologies is still nascent and fragmented, organizations need to be cautious about investing heavily in specific metaverses. 

metaverse by 2026

Read More: “The Ultimate Dream of Social Technology”: What Is the Metaverse and Everything You Need to Know.  

Key Takeaways

  • A quarter of the world's population will spend at least one hour of their day in the metaverse by 2026, as per Gartner's new research. 

  • The activities will range from shopping, studying, and working. 

  • Businesses will undergo transformation to connect with their audience in this new virtual world. 

  • Digital tokens or NFTs will be used to buy, own, and sell things. 

Spending time in metaverse infographic

A New Future of Opportunities 

In the future, the metaverse is where a quarter of us will be performing our everyday activities ranging from working, studying, and shopping to socializing for at least an hour a day. 

The outlook for metaverse’s profound and fast-emerging impact cannot be magnified, as access to metaverse remains a work in progress for now. But these barriers to entry are expected to fade quickly. 

The metaverse will be a single virtual world that will merge the activities people perform every day digitally. From studying in virtual classrooms to building virtual homes, and buying digital land, in the metaverse, we could be doing all these things and much more. Metaverse will offer a virtual land or platform where a lot of people will gather, just like we do in the real world. 

With presence in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Toronto, London, Zurich, Pune, and Hyderabad, SG Analytics, a pioneer in Research and Analytics, offers tailor-made services to enterprises worldwide.  

A leader in the Technology domain, SG Analytics partners with global technology companies across market research and scalable analytics. Contact us today if you are in search of combining market research, analytics, and technology capabilities to create compelling business outcomes driven by technology.  


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