The Home Depot enters the metaverse via popular gaming platform
The Home Depot is building an immersive metaverse experience for kids on the Roblox virtual gaming platform.
The home improvement giant is launching a new experience in the Roblox Redcliff City environment that challenges kids to collect virtual materials to build projects. Known as Virtual Kids Workshops, this offering marks Home Depot's debut in the metaverse and is inspired by the retailer’s in-store Kids Workshops program that provides hands-on home improvement clinics for children.
To participate in this experience, players will enter Redcliff City and visit The Home Depot's new metaverse storefront, where they will be greeted by a virtual store associate. Players will be offered the choice of three projects to build with varying difficulty levels: a birdhouse (easy), a mini-flower garden (medium) and a small car (hard).
Then, players will participate in a scavenger hunt, collecting materials from the digital storefront’s virtual aisles. Once all virtual materials are collected, players will assemble their project in the dedicated Kids Workshops space.
Users can leave the Home Depot Roblox store with their virtual project and use it throughout the Redcliff City experience. The retailer’s in-person Kids Workshops, held the first Saturday of every month, will offer unique codes that can be redeemed in Redcliff City.
"We are taking the Kids Workshops experience to a new level in the metaverse, inspiring more future doers by meeting them where they are," said Molly Battin, senior VP and chief marketing officer at The Home Depot. "Our Virtual Kids Workshops offer the familiarity of The Home Depot – a weekend trip that many young people already experience with their families – and combines it with the discovery, problem solving and fun that Roblox is known for."
Roblox proves popular metaverse commerce platform
Featuring millions of daily global users and a high degree of popularity among Gen Z consumers, Robox is used by a wide variety of retailers to offer metaverse experiences. These include food service retailers Chipotle and Dave and Buster’s, as well as apparel retailers Pacsun and H&M and specialty toy retailer Build-A-Bear.
At the end of fiscal year 2022, Atlanta-based The Home Depot operated a total of 2,322 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, and Mexico. The company employs approximately 475,000 associates.