A new report from Digiday reveals Roblox players will be able to buy real-life items from Walmart within the platform itself.
The Walmart Discovered server, which goes active later today, will let players visit a digital replica of the store. There, they can try on in-game items and load an "ecommerce experience" that links to the retailer's website.
Companies like Meta and X have openly talked about wanting their platforms to be one-stop destinations for banking, socializing, and more. With this Walmart partnership, Roblox Corp. is making a statement and (challege) to other companies with those aims.
Roblox is at an advantage and disadvantage here. The platform is big with teens and young adults, but this may raise further questions about it exploiting its own playerbase.
In the eyes of Roblox's economy VP Enrico D’Angelo, this test will be a "key step" in how creators and players interact with the platform. With virtual shopping already key to Roblox, the company hopes to "learn what resonates with Gen Z customers the most when it comes to shopping for physical items."
Walmart's brand experience director Justin Breton stressed the checkout process would be "very safe," and it's only available to Roblox players age 13 and up. Upon buying an item, the "virtual twin" will be given to the player on Roblox right away.
"There is a traditional sort of checkout flow where you put your name, your address and your credit card information," he said. "That’s all powered by a Walmart API that handles all of the information super securely. And once you hit checkout, you’ll get your confirmation email from Walmart."
Per Digiday, Roblox Corp. is planning for more ecommerce tests beyond Walmart. Other retailers or partners weren't named, but the outlet speculated those future experiences may be distinct from Walmart's.
Whatever form those other attempts take, D'Angelo was upfront in saying Roblox's economy will end up "modeling the physical world. [It'll] go above and beyond by overcoming physical limitations and offering added value to shop on the platform."
Should Walmart Discovered's storefront take off with players, it won't be removed after the test wraps in May. Instead, it'll expand and likely end up a default commerce provider on Roblox as a whole.
"Hopefully, there’s a future state where Walmart’s powering commerce in Walmart Discover, but in other experiences," said Breton. "I think the future’s bright, and there’s a lot of opportunity to use our learnings to inform a different road map for the future."
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