Need to Know
08 : 06 : 23

US – At its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), US tech giant Apple announced Apple Vision Pro, its hotly anticipated augmented reality headset. ‘It’s the first Apple product you look through, and not at,’ CEO Tim Cook said of the device, which the company is calling a spatial computer.

Apple Vision Pro is predominantly controlled with the eyes; users browse rows of app icons in an operating system called visionOS by looking at them. They can also use their hands and voice. Apple Vision Pro positions itself primarily as an AR device, but it can switch to full VR at the turn of a dial. The headset will retail for £2,809 ($3,499, €3,269) and will be launched in early 2024 in the US before becoming available in more countries later in the year.

Apple’s VR headset has been highly anticipated as the tool that would bring VR and AR engagement to the mainstream. We previously highlighted in The Betterverse how consumers and businesses could create new progressive digital spaces thanks to VR technology. So far, the Apple Vision Pro has received accolades for its sleek design and user-friendly interface. But there are valid concerns about its high price, potentially limiting its availability to a wider audience.

Japan – The Conran Shop has opened its new ‘locally edited’ concept store in Daikanyama, Tokyo, placing designers and artisans from Asia in the limelight.

One of the original concept stores where anything from furniture to flowers and books can be bought, The Conran Shop has opened the first in a series of retail spaces with an updated creative vision – focusing on locally edited spaces that are deeply rooted in the culture of the region. For the debut concept store in Japan, the shop follows the company’s ‘plain, simple, useful’ philosophy, carrying a hand-picked selection of items and decorated with pieces designed by about 60 Asian makers. The same careful curation is applied throughout the store, from the playlist created by a local record shop to the tea bar located in the basement, where a tea master serves organic brews, wagashi sweets and tea-infused cocktails.

The Conran Shop has imagined the store like a home, where visitors feel at ease and relaxed, a living space more than a retail space – what we call a fourth space, blurring home, retail and leisure, and engaging visitors at a deeper and non-commercial level.

US – According to a survey by US-based research agency Coresight Research, online apparel returns in the US cost retailers a staggering £30bn ($38bn, €35bn). The study revealed that the average return rate for online apparel orders was 24.4% in the 12 months to March 2023.

The findings are based on data collected from more than 100 decision-makers at US-based fashion companies and retailers. Some 45% of respondents stated that over the past two years, apparel return rates had increased. The primary reasons consumers gave for returning clothing were size and fit.

As discussed in our EQ-Commerce report, it is important for e-tailers to take a more emotionally intelligent and intuitive approach to selling online by making product searches simpler, courting virtual tastemakers and offering more phygital interactions.