Orchard Road to get virtual twin to woo younger shoppers

The model will mirror malls, shops, hotels from Wheelock Place to The Centrepoint

- Claire Huang Senior

The tills are not ringing like they used to and the footfall has eased at Singapore's prime shopping belt in Orchard Road, but a homegrown technology start-up is hoping it can chart a new way for retailers there to draw the younger crowd.

The firm, Alteredverse, has teamed up with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to create a virtual replica of the Orchard Road shopping belt.

The virtual model will mirror the malls, shops and hotels, spanning about 1km from Wheelock Place to The Centrepoint for a start, Alteredverse chief executive Alvin Yap told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview.

As it is, shoppers go online to do research before making a purchase so the virtual model, which targets those aged 18 to 40, is meant to help them in their decision-making process.

"We have a new generation of shoppers and gamers out there.

There are easily 500 million active players in online games like Roblox and Fortnite. What we're building is providing utility to the visuals, adding e-commerce, shopping capabilities and, at the same time, engaging this generation, making it a very different experience from traditional shopping," Mr Yap said.