Department store operator Mitsukoshi has announced that it will set up an online site inside the Second Life virtual world. The outlet will open on Second Life's "Japan Island" on July 19, making Mitsukoshi the first Japanese department store operator to open an outlet on the site.
Second Life, which has seven million users worldwide, currently only operates in English, but Mitsukoshi said it expects the number of Japanese users will increase, once the Japanese version of the site is launched. The 10,000 sq.m. outlet will look like a kimono shop of the Edo period, as Mitsukoshi is the successor to the Echigoya kimono shop that opened in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1673.
Mitsukoshi said it will not sell products at the Second Life outlet using the Linden Dollar, the virtual currency used on the site, but its own online shopping site will be linked with the Second Life outlet. Sales through the online shopping site to customers from the Second Life site is targeted at 40m yen ($320,000) in the first year.
Namnews - Friday 22nd June 2007
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