Lotte has partnered with a domestic artificial intelligence and digital twin technology developer VAIV to create the metaverse version of the department store's online commerce platform. Using the virtual world platform, customers can shop and try on different products as they would do in the real world. The metaverse allows users to engage in various activities without physical restrictions by offering virtually-created spaces. Users can experience the virtual world by creating their own avatars using a smartphone, PC, or a virtual reality (VR) headset. The virtual world technology can simultaneously connect multiple users at a time so that they can explore and interact with the new world and its inhabitants including other users. A digital clone is literally a virtual duplicate of the real-world original. Digital clones of stores, buildings and characters are recreated in metaverse environments. The metaverse commerce platform should be available in the first half of 2022.