KFC: KFC Re:Store

Gaming is the new going out, the metaverse the new shopping mall. As consumers spend more time and money in virtual spaces, how can bricks and mortar compete? Welcome to the KFC Re:Store, unlocking a fully shoppable experience at the intersection of craft, innovation and commerce. A reimagining of KFC’s retail footprint for one of the world’s largest economies.

EXPERIENCE

We created a virtual store experience hosted on China’s most popular platform for young people, QQ. Using Unreal Engine 4, the KFC Re:Store combines traditional Chinese craft, cutting edge technology and deep platform understanding.

We Made it Social: Users could dance, play, hang out with friends and a virtual Colonel Saunders. Within five weeks, we had 19 million visitors and 4.3 billion interactions. 850 million chats with Colonel Sanders took place, with over 6 million virtual selfies.

The Swag was A Hit: We created virtual clothing, virtual furniture, a virtual pet named Fengwan and of course virtual KFC meals. We even created our own currency, KFC Chicken Coins - another first for the platform. In just three days, 30 million Chicken Coins were distributed. In five weeks, 6,690,000 items of virtual clothing have sold.

We’re Making it Seamless: 180 million virtual KFC food items have sold in five weeks, but what matters most is turning the virtual store into a real world revenue driver. Vouchers from the Re:Store can be redeemed in the physical store and vice versa. In a world first for the platform, users can order in the metaverse and have their order delivered in the real world.

BUSINESS IMPACT

We created a completely new retail concept within the metaverse, building powerful relationships with customers who are no longer visiting our real world stores.

Almost 7M pieces of virtual clothing, 11M items of virtual furniture and 180M virtual KFC food items were sold. If the Re:Store were a physical store it would be outselling bricks and mortar KFC stores 1000:1.

But our ambition is for a virtual store that drives real world sales.

Re:Store as a fully shoppable experience, will give KFC a unique retail footprint in one of the world’s largest economies, serving one of the world’s largest populations. A store with a footprint, and an energized customer base unimaginable in the real world. KFC once again transforming the customer experience and establishing a new commercial model.

What’s more, the Re:Store is already driving offline sales. Every August KFC launch the "CP Burger," a key promotional moment. By promoting it in the Re:Store we drove sales 5 x faster than previous years, selling 4M burgers in just one week.

Who says play can’t be big business for the biggest brands on the planet?