Fashion brand, Lacoste, has launched a summer virtual store. Containing elements exclusively available to Le Club Lacoste and its UNDW3 (Web3) members, the brand is aiming to create a deep sense of community and shopper loyalty appreciation by offering a unique retail experience that extends beyond its physical stores.

Strolling from the beach and straight into the crocodile mouth, shoppers can explore Lacoste’s latest summer collection of clothes, shoes and accessories. A short elevator journey leads the users to an outdoor space, featuring additional products, all in a pool-deck setting that overlooks the beach.

Throughout the experience, created by virtual retail technology developer, Emperia, visitors will be able to explore a crocodile scavenger hunt that leads them to an underwater VIP space, accessible exclusively to Le Club Lacoste and UNDW3 members, unlocked by an email login or a Lacoste NFT.

The space features an exclusive co-created UNDW3 collection, a unique product of collaboration with Lacoste’s UNDW3, web3 community members, which took place back in March, and to be released this summer. Each physical garment includes a digital twin and an AR feature, available by scanning a QR code. The mini treasure-hunt game, scattered throughout the experience, will continue into the exclusive VIP room, rewarding participating community members with special prizes each week.

Emperia’s platform allows retailers to both build and maintain cutting-edge shoppable, virtual experiences, while leveraging data monitoring in order to optimize in-store virtual user experience, brand engagement and conversions.

“Our ongoing work with Lacoste and its advanced view of eCommerce and customer loyalty has given birth to new technologies that yield an improved user journey which connects the dots between virtual and physical retail,” said Olga Dogadkina, Co-founder and CEO at Emperia. “From using the iconic crocodile shape as a general store aesthetic to carrying various design elements into the virtual store and adding exclusive features, accessible only to loyal shoppers, we continue to push the envelope together, producing virtual shopping experiences that go beyond the look and feel and make digital shopping into an integral part of the brand’s eCommerce strategy.”

The new virtual store comes on the heels of the brand’s holiday virtual experience, launched late 2022, which won both Lacoste and Emperia a Webby Award in the Metaverse, Immersive & Virtual Retail & Shopping category, in 2023.