America’s leading retailer Walmart is looking for new opportunities to grow. Cryptocurrency seems to be their next question mark.
An article published online by CNBC reports that Walmart established several trademarks in December last year, a move that many believe to be the beginning of a big online business. As the Covid-19 pandemic caused a new trend of online shopping, Walmart seems to be learning new business tricks.
However, rather than only taking its consumer goods online like Amazon and eBay, Walmart is seemingly diversifying to a new line of business.
Surely, the company will not overlook the prospects of selling virtual goods such as home decorations, toys, electronics, personal care products, and sporting apparels. But it will also make a great leap towards one of the fastest growing online business – cryptocurrency.
Walmart is preparing to offer virtual currencies and NFTs to its consumers worldwide.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has already admitted that Walmart submitted seven trademark applications as of December 30, 2021.
There is already a vigorous planning to establish a cryptocurrency business, which will be a crucial component in the company’s inevitable metaverse.
Walmart has traditionally been selling its products through convenient stores within neighborhoods, they are now entering to the inevitable virtual world. In the metaverse, the business will give its customers an opportunity to walk through a virtual space of retail stores and cryptocurrencies.
A lot has happened in the business world in the past 3-5 years as companies try to find their way into the virtual space.
Facebook already changed its company name to Meta as it plans to diversify beyond social media. Nike also filed its trademarks in November to sell virtual sneakers and apparel. Gap, Under Armour, and Adidas have also started selling NFTs.
Walmart is planning to follow suit by introducing its own NFTs and cryptocurrencies in the metaverse. NFTs give customers ownership of virtual representation of underlying assets.
As competition increases, companies try to find new ways of making money, milking their cash cows, retiring some dogs, and possibly investing in their stars. Here is an opportunity for companies that have long been operating physical stores to venture into new business areas with question marks.
It will be a risky worth taking for Walmart; after all, NFTs are becoming a new trend that all retailers and luxury brands will venture into sooner or later.
NFTs are promising. They will allow businesses to tokenize physical products and reduce the costs of online transactions. Everyone in the world is now trying to find space and identity online, and retailers will have no choice but to create a metaverse of products online.
Will this leap of faith be a worthy venture, or it will only drain Walmart’s bank accounts?