The Chinese VR market has experienced a significant growth over the past two years due to the low-cost VR hardware and software developments and mainly driven by the use cases in entertainment, and retail and marketing applications, according to ABI Research, which forecasts that the market will grow at a CAGR of 46% to reach 20.5 million HMD unit shipments in 2022.
Entertainment applications such as video and gaming are increasing the consumer VR adoption rate in China. Nearly 60% of the VR headsets were sold to consumers in 2017. Investments made by Chinese online media companies such as iQIYI, Tencent, and Youku are driving VR adoption by consumers in the region. As competition between Chinese video streaming services accelerates, VR is being used as a differentiation tool to stay ahead. Chinese online video companies have launched VR content to their customers. There are several significant burgeoning VR technology opportunities that will grow the Chinese VR Market as well. ABI industry analyst, Khin Sandi Lynn, said:
“China’s huge e-commerce
market also creates a large opportunity for VR in the Retail & Marketing segment. Online shopping is a preferred way of shopping for Chinese tech-savvy millennials.”
VR technology catches the interest of shoppers since it provides more realistic product viewing experiences when shopping online. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba introduced the VR based shopping platform Buy+ which is integrated into the Alipay payment platform, targeting its 450 million daily online shoppers. Other Chinese retail companies such as Suning Commerce Group and Mei.com have also introduced VR technology to attract shoppers.
Education and location-based applications are the other areas with high potential for VR technology. Many Chinese schools are actively considering deployment of VR technology in academic programs and extracurricular programs such as sports. VR cinemas, theme parks and government-backed tourism cloud data service platforms are likely to drive location-based VR market in China. Lynn concludes:
“The Chinese VR market is mainly driven by consumer applications at present, with limited applications available for segments such as healthcare, manufacturing, or utilities and energy. Development of high-quality hardware and software is required for the high-accuracy and content-specific needs of these markets”.
