“Did you know Walmart sells Marc Jacobs fragrance?” asks Justin Breton, Head of Brand Marketing Innovation at Walmart, as we “walk” through a virtual garden where a comically oversized bottle of Marc Jacobs Daisy looks as if it’s growing out of the ground. Breton “picks it up” and the information about the fragrance comes onto the website’s page, along with the opportunity to place it in an online cart.

This is one area within Walmart Realm, Walmart’s immersive virtual commerce space, is a somewhat gamified metaverse experience that places the shopper decidedly outside of both a brick-and-mortar store and a traditional cart-only online shopping world. “We engage with younger customers [in Walmart Realm], that next generation of shoppers, and bring them something that feels familiar,” explained Breton. “And what feels familiar to them is social, is gaming, is this notion of immersive virtual spaces.” Breton said Walmart Realm will introduce users to products in a fresh way — and possibly for the first time. “They’re discovering products that they might not have discovered in a traditional e-commerce experience,” he said.

A partnership with Pinterest helped to shape what cutting-edge trends might appear on Walmart Realm and the company selected social media creator partners based on the trends they embody and the style of their social content. Together, they encourage laidback browsing online, steering shoppers towards clothing, furniture, and beauty products as they casually explore different areas in the virtual space or play one of the site’s many games. This week, Walmart Realm’s latest update features five virtual dorm rooms curated by social creator partners. They are more product-dense than past stores and feature “surprises,” said Breton, be it a dollhouse you can go inside, or sizable discounts. As for the games, they vary based on the dorm/store’s theme, and most are played for a few minutes, which Breton said encourages users to linger on Walmart Realm.

So far, users are mostly finding Walmart Realm through social creator partners and Pinterest. Once within the space, a randomizer button can take a user to any space on the site while a Discover tab lays the content from the stores in a more Pinterest-familiar manner that changes daily.

Walmart has long boasted strong online sales and currently ranks second on Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales, sandwiched between Amazon and Apple. Breton sees Walmart Realm as a way to hit a target audience from another vantage point online — and to have online shopping constantly evolving. Walmart Realm is currently a browser-based experience, with most users accessing it on their phones, but the platform will prepare itself for the future of immersive shopping. “As Oculus, Apple Vision Pro, and other connected wearables continue to become more mainstream, we will have learnings to introduce something that delivers on our customers’ expectations,” said Breton.

Walmart was an early adopter in the immersive commerce world, the first retail store to sell physical items within the online game platform Roblox back in May 2024. That same month, they launched Walmart Realm with three trend-themed virtual stores: the futuristic Go Chromatic, the under-the-sea So Jelly, and the goth Wild West Y’allternative, which brought Cowboy Carter vibes and a how-to beauty tutorial. (Breton said the type of offerings from creators will vary in the future based on user engagement and feedback.) All of those stores remain accessible on Walmart Realm and will continue to be as more stores begin to populate the Realm. Breton said users can expect additional shops around the holidays.