If you are interested to see how the world of ecommerce will merge with virtual worlds, you should check out the Hunter Douglas website as it uses Adobe Scene7 technology to allow some serious visualization. You may be expecting a cartoonish environment but instead you're presented with real looking rooms in a house allowing you to visualize how your blinds will look before you purchase.

Interestingly just last week a friend was telling me she purchased expensive blinds for her house based on a salesperson's promise they would look good. Later she was disappointed when she saw them in her house.

I suppose this sort of technology will increase sales and reduce returns and the percentage of unhappy customers.

Adobe has really done an admirable job of positioning itself in areas of the internet where the static meets the dynamic.

I also think Scene7 technology is worth watching closely as it intersects with virtual worlds to grease the wheels of online commerce.

See also:

Virtual Customer Interactions written last fall by yours truly

Disclaimer: It is worth mentioning the 5-6 times I visited the Hunter Douglas site this weekend, I received an image server error. This could be due to high volumes of users due to the recent publicity of this site.