RM: That’s a pretty big statement. Retail brands like Brookstone
are doing that now with a stand-alone virtual storefront. Are you talk-
ing about that kind of initiative?
SV: I don’t know if that’s going to provide the right experience or
not. I think you really have to be in a wider virtual world. Because the
biggest thing that the virtual world can provide, a shopping experi-
ence that the web can’t, is social shopping—which is part of what a lot
of people like to do.
You’re still going to go for efficiencies and order a book from
Amazon. But 3-D will bring some benefit to some types of products
and customer service can be addressed there in a more user-friendly
fashion.
RM: As technologies like Google Earth makes it possible to go into
virtual worlds ...