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Cyber-shopping in virtual world of the West End
Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Editor26 Nov 2009
Welcome to the virtual West End - where you can do your Christmas shopping without huge crowds, driving rain and overstretched sales staff.
The NearLondon website, being launched today, allows online shoppers to "stroll" through Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street.
It contains "live" photographs of shopfronts. At each store users can click on items they want and then be taken to its website to purchase them. They are then sent to the customer. The project has the backing of dozens of retailers including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Liberty, adidas, Levi and Karen Millen.
NearLondon's 12 staff spent three years measuring buildings and photgraphing shop-fronts to create the online world. They plan to add the entire West End to it in the coming months, including a virtual cinema in Leicester Square. Currently, billboards on the screens can display video, while buses pass down the streets.
Founder Alex Wrottesley said: "In the run-up to Christmas we hope the virtual version will make shopping a lot less painful. We want to radically broaden the appeal of virtual worlds. At the moment, things like Second Life don't have the mass appeal or the graphical power to do what we can.
"We are also working with retailers to design store interiors, which don't necessarily have to replicate the real store. For instance, for a sports brand you could actually be transported to a stadium, or for a fashion brand you might see a catwalk show." Unlike rival Second Life, NearLondon also uses glowing diamonds rather than avatars to represent people. "We are focused on getting people to shop, and having avatars really detracts from that," said Mr Wrottesley.
Jace Tyrrell of the New West End Company, which represents retailers, said NearLondon would give international shoppers access to flagship stores: "This will complement the on-street offer and maximise profits for retailers online."
A spokesman for M&S said: "Smart retailers know that maximising both online and store offerings helps increase footfall. NearLondon will enable customers to take a virtual tour of our offers before they visit."
