H&M's Roblox experience touts expression, recycling

Into the metaverse

H&M is by no means the first retailer to enter virtual platforms like Roblox and Decentraland. Walmart, Albertsons and Build-a-Bear all recently made forays onto the popular gaming platform in the final months of 2022. If the last two years were prologue, more are likely to roll out, as well. But H&M happens to be the first activation of the new year, so let’s take this opportunity to break down a few keys to its approach:

Digital to physical: You can’t buy H&M clothes in Roblox. But having a presence can still help H&M influence sales. Engaging in activities on Roblox helps to build tastes and habits. Trying on clothes and meeting up with friends are the same activities one would engage in at a physical mall, so there’s potential that those activities will extend into the physical world, as well. "At H&M we want to encourage the emerging generation of digital natives to express themselves through fashion both off and on screen,” said Max Heirbaut, global head of brand experience for the metaverse at H&M.

Linking values: Sustainability is a primary concern for the younger Generations of Z and Alpha that make up the largest share of the audience on Roblox, and H&M is centering it here. Offering education and building incentives into the experience helps to put circularity alongside fashion in the virtual world, even if that record of doing so is less clear for fast fashion in the physical world. In effect, it is gamifying this environmental awareness, and building it in from the start of its presence in the digital space.

New styles coming soon? One reason retailers such as PacSun are seeing promise in Roblox and the metaverse is that it can offer a space to crowdsource new products as it observes the virtual clothes that are created. H&M didn’t say outright that it will look to the Roblox world for this purpose. But the fact that players can design their own styles would lend itself well to this function in the future. Fast fashion is known for sourcing from social media, so why wouldn't retailers look on Roblox for the latest creative styles, as well? After all, untethering physical parameters has the habit of unlocking creativity.