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Virtual Christmas Shopping: What Is It?

Virtual Christmas Shop

John Lewis has set the bar high for bringing the instore experience online this Christmas, with the addition of their own Virtual Christmas Shop. The great news is that there is still plenty of time to make the most of this fantastic use of technology in your stores!

Allowing shoppers to enjoy their Christmas browsing from the comfort of their own home, this brilliant interactive map has created the ultimate omnichannel offering.

Working in a similar style to Google Maps, shoppers can access the virtual store on their computer, phone or tablet. Easily accessible, this helps to capture the attention of shoppers with a wide range of preferences.

Based on John Lewis’ Oxford Street store, customers are able to click to move around the virtual shop floor and then select specific items to see more information. From here, they can click through to purchase online. It’s an effective, simple and hassle-free method of presenting customers with an attractive store layout, as opposed to using typical ecommerce layouts.

Virtual Christmas Shop

This interactive map means customers can enjoy the closest thing to instore shopping, without having to travel to the nearest shop. For customers, this means it is a convenient solution, while for retailers, it encourages online purchases while reducing the number of people in the store at any one time.

Dan Cooper, Head of Christmas at John Lewis & Partners, commented: “We know that Christmas might look a little different to our customers this year. This year we have created a virtual Christmas shop that will of course delight and inspire our customers but we have also focused on making it a simple journey that means they can tick off their list happily and safely.”

Benefits of an online virtual shop include:

  • Helping customers imagine products in situ
  • Creates an exciting version of online shopping
  • Allows users to browse in a virtual way
  • Can be accessed across multiple devices
  • Reduces queues and the number of customers instore

To view John Lewis’ virtual Christmas shop, click here.

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