With the existing industries seeking a refreshment in their current ways of sales and customer engagement, Web3 elements like NFTs and the metaverse are emerging as interesting options to explore. Gucci, the Italian luxury line of bags, shoes, and apparel, that had already taken its first steps into Web3 with NFTs, is now set to give its NFT holders quite the pleasant surprise. The approach that Gucci is taking with its fresh initiative, is novel and could be the start of a new trend for its competitors to try.
Gucci is reportedly letting the holders of its Vault Material NFTs swap their digital token with a limited-edition physical product, like a purse or a wallet at no additional cost. Last year, the Gucci Vault Material NFTs were distributed to the holders of Gucci’s ‘Holy Grail’ NFT collection as an extra reward.
These Vault Material NFTs were mysteriously airdropped by Gucci into the wallets of those who owned a collectible from its Holy Grail collection.
Soon after, these NFTs began to appear on sale on the OpenSea NFT marketplace flaunting a prince point of $600 (roughly Rs. 49,000) per NFT.
For months, receivers and buyers of Gucci’s Vault Material NFTs had been wondering if these NFTs accounted for something, and now they have their answers.
:rocket: Exciting news from #Gucci :tada:
As part of their innovative NFT strategy, they’re rewarding lucky NFT holders with exclusive physical products like wallets and bags!:heart_eyes::handbag:This special offer is unavailable to other customers, making it a truly unique experience. Way to go, @gucci:clap: pic.twitter.com/jOBnNHWYil
— RICHKIDOF.BTC (@richkidofbtc) July 24, 2023
This initiative by this vintage, high-end brand could elevate the level of bond that luxury brands share with the NFT sector. Up until now, labels like Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, and Ralph Lauren among others have released NFT collections, but none of them have given their NFT holders a chance to swap their digital collectibles for physical luxury products.
However, the overall NFT sector has recorded a slump in sales these recent months. Owing to back-to-back interest rate hikes in the US as well as regularity uncertainty shadowing the global Web3 sector, investors exited in plenty, negatively impacting the digital assets sector.
Sales of NFTs rose by a massive 117 percent in February 2023. Around March, the valuation of the global NFT market climbed to its nine-month high since June last year to over $2 billion (roughly Rs. 17,200 crore).
The March dip in the crypto sector however, triggered by bank failures in the US and recession, ended up pulling down the NFT sector along as well. Around 5.8 million total NFTs were reportedly sold in March compared to almost 6.5 million NFTs in February.
Despite the element of volatility attached closely to the sector of NFTs, big brands have not been shying away from engaging with the Web3 community via NFTs.
As of August last year, it was estimated that a total of $260 million (roughly Rs. 2,074 crore) were collectively bagged by high-end luxury brands including Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana with the sales of their NFT pieces last year.
