Lacoste has opened a new virtual store in partnership with Emperia to showcase its summer collection and expand the exclusive experiences tied to its NFT-based UNDW3 (pronounced “underwater”) loyalty program.
This is the brand’s second virtual store; the first was a holiday-themed store that Lacoste launched with Emperia in December 2022. The goal of the new store is to “create a deep sense of community and shopper loyalty appreciation by offering a unique retail experience that extends beyond its physical stores.”
Visitors to the store virtually stroll from the beach into a crocodile’s mouth where they can explore Lacoste’s summer collection of clothes, shoes and accessories. An elevator ride leads the users to an outdoor space featuring additional product offerings in a pool-deck setting that overlooks the beach.
Throughout the experience, visitors will be able to take part in a crocodile scavenger hunt that leads them to an underwater VIP space, accessible exclusively to Le Club Lacoste and UNDW3 members
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Le Club Lacoste is the brand’s more traditional loyalty program, while the UNDW3 program is the brand’s new Web3-based loyalty offering, which launched in June 2023 and is tied to the previous release of the UNDW3 NFT collection.
The underwater VIP space, which can only be unlocked with an email login or Lacoste NFT, features an exclusive co-created UNDW3 collection developed in collaboration with UNDW3 community members back in March 2023. Each item in the co-created collection will include a physical garment, a digital twin and an AR feature that can be accessed by scanning a QR code. Additionally, the treasure hunt game continues in the VIP room, and community members who participate will be rewarded with special prizes every week.
Interactive Web3-based loyalty programs like the one Lacoste is building are becoming an increasingly popular use case for NFTs, because the underlying digital technologies offer the potential to engage and interact with communities in new, more intricate ways.
“Our ongoing work with Lacoste and its advanced view of ecommerce and customer loyalty has given birth to new technologies that yield an improved user journey which connects the dots between virtual and physical retail,” said Olga Dogadkina, Co-founder and CEO of Emperia in a statement. “From using the iconic crocodile shape as a general store aesthetic, to carrying various design elements into the virtual store and adding exclusive features accessible only to loyal shoppers, we continue to push the envelope together, producing virtual shopping experiences that go beyond the look and feel and make digital shopping into an integral part of the brand’s ecommerce strategy.”
