An innovative collaboration between Stockmann, Mobile Pay and Zoan enables shopping in virtual reality

Stockmann plc, Press release 19 November 2019
 

Stockmann, MobilePay and Zoan present a whole new kind of virtual shopping concept at world’s leading startup gathering Slush in Helsinki 21st to 22nd November.

In this virtual reality shopping experience, users can explore nordic design from Stockmann’s selection, mostly Artek and Iittala products. The virtual store was specifically designed for VR and integrated with payment and delivery options.

“For example Alibaba and Amazon have tested buying in VR as an additional feature to their online stores, but this kind of combination is new. For products like design items, virtual shopping can offer a lot more than traditional 2D-based online shops. In virtual reality you can turn the products around, change the colours and really feel the space,” Miikka Rosendahl, founder and CEO of Zoan, explains.

The VR shopping environment is not a traditional store. Instead, the user walks around in a beautiful 3D-modeled virtual home and can choose to take a closer look at the products they are interested in. Nearly all products found in the virtual home can be bought at Stockmann. Payments inside the VR shopping experience have been made possible by integrating the MobilePay app into it.

“The buying behaviour of consumers is in constant, rapid change. Virtual stores offer a natural continuum to the digitalization of commerce, and also in this environment, MobilePay offers an easy and safe alternative for payments”, Anniina Heinonen, CEO of MobilePay, states.

Antti Tanaka, Head of Omnicommerce Development at Stockmann, shares that the virtual shopping experience to be presented at Slush is a new and exciting venture for the company:

“This is a unique opportunity for us to learn about the commercial process in the VR world and to present our selection of quality Finnish design in a completely new way. With Christmas around the corner, we also wanted to bring along our partner Save the Children, creating a virtual possibility to donate and make an impact on the education and hobbies of the children.”

The virtual visitor also has a chance to get to know the Save the Children campaign. The goal is to enable equal opportunities for Finnish children and youth to study and have hobbies. Reeta Partanen, the Partnership Manager of Save the Children, is excited about this because the possibilities of VR in communications and fundraising for NGOs have been discussed for a long time.

“This is a chance for us to test what kind of reactions a difficult topic like poverty of children in Finland will cause. Of course, we are also eager to see if the experience will create a desire to impact the situation by donating.”

More information:
Antti Tanaka, Stockmann, Head of Omnicommerce Development, antti.tanaka@stockmann.com, +358-400-676760
Anniina Heinonen, CEO, MobilePay Finland Oy, anniina.heinonen@mobilepay.fi, +358 50 422 3122
Miikka Rosendahl, Zoan, CEO & Founder, miikka.rosendahl@zoan.fi, +358 40 963 4977
Laura Olin, Zoan, CMO & Partner, laura.olin@zoan.fi, +358 40 351 6808

Stockmann

Stockmann offers a diverse and high-quality selection of fashion, beauty and home products for a wonderful everyday life. We inspire our customers to make sustainable and responsible choices. Stockmann has 8 department stores in Finland and the Baltic countries and the online store stockmann.com. Further information can be found at stockmanngroup.com.

MobilePay

MobilePay is the leading mobile payment solutions in the Nordics and it is free for customers of all banks. The application works on the most common smartphones, all cards and transactions, such as peer-to-peer payments, e-commerce, smaller shops, big chain stores, applications, NGO fundraisers, recurring payments and paying bills. MobilePay Finland is a part of the MobilePay group. During the first three quarters of 2019, the number of transactions grew by 129 per cent compared to the same period in 2018.

Zoan

ZOAN is the leading VR & AR startup hailing from Helsinki. ZOAN has grown into a 50-person team from Europe, Latin America and the US, and the company keeps scaling its operations further. ZOAN has attracted globally recognized awards and keeps transforming industries by creating real-time digital twins and virtual experiences.