Reports Show Consumers Might Not Be Excited to Invest in NFTs – WWD

The metaverse, NFTs and cryptocurrency seem to be all the rage as of late, with social media suggesting that everyone is investing and a growing number of celebrities, athletes and brands showcasing their assets.

However, despite the hype, a new survey conducted by Klaviyo, the email and SMS marketing platform, has found it may be just that: hype. In fact, 40 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24 years old said they don’t understand the concept of NFTs while another 32 percent of this cohort said they’d never consider investing in them.

And looking at cryptocurrency, just 18 percent of respondents said they are currently investing. And while 39 percent said they felt crypto is not worth investing in, 43 percent said while it could be worth investing in, they don’t currently do it.

Moreover, when the company asked consumers if they would like to shop for favorite brands and products in the metaverse, nearly half admitted they don’t know what the metaverse is and 17 percent believe that it is just Facebook. Of those aware of the metaverse, a staggering 78 percent said they believe it’s “marketing hype,” while 14 percent reported they believe the metaverse is a virtual shopping site.

An additional 30 percent of those aware of the metaverse said it’s “an augmented reality world” and 27 percent said it’s “the future of the internet.”

Meanwhile, a similar report from Cardify, the consumer data insights company, also found a general lack of understanding of the metaverse, NFTs and cryptocurrency. The company’s research aims to understand what NFTs mean for the everyday public and looked specifically at Millennial and Gen Z consumers.

So, what do people understand about NFTs? In its survey, Cardify found for 56.7 percent of the general population and 41.5 percent of crypto owners, the answer is “very little or nothing.” In fact, only 32 percent of the general population were able to correctly define an NFT compared to 51.8 percent of crypto owners who were able to correctly define an NFT.

Overall, people are most familiar with art NFTs (47.9 percent of the general population and 67.2 percent of crypto owners), although nearly 38 percent of the general population and 46 percent of crypto owners also said they are familiar with collectible NFTs, followed by metaverse NFTs (28.9 percent and 40.9 percent) and game NFTs (25.2 percent and 31.4 percent).

Unsurprisingly, when asked about interest in buying an NFT in the future, crypto owners were more likely to say they would make an NFT purchase (65.6 percent) when compared to a member of the general population (46.7 percent).

Looking at what consumers are willing to pay for NFTs, there is also significant price sensitivity among the general population. Cardify found that 40.2 percent of the general population said that $25 is the maximum price they would be willing to pay for an NFT, decreasing slightly among crypto owners — although 72.8 percent of crypto owners would still prefer to pay less than $200 for an NFT.

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