Kinset is a virtual world with focus. Well, it is not technically a virtual world. You won’t find any flying prims or Orcs here but what you will find is true to life mockups of retail storefronts.

Kinset is a Boston startup that is trying change the retail landscape by allowing store owners to create mockups of their stores that virtual consumers inside of. I have a hard time believing that there is really a thriving market in the industry of virtualizing the gnawing frustration of the brick and mortar shopping experience, but that does not mean that doesn’t mean that Kinset isn’t a really great idea.


Kinset

Where Kinset really shines is in its ability to model large structures. With the service, you can test drive new store designs and merchandise layouts without having to build an entirely new shop or take a weekend to tear one apart. From watching the video, it doesn’t look too terribly difficult to implement either. You have some standard drag and drop components, and it looks like once you are finished you can import your merchandise catalog to place on their virtual shelves.

For consumers who want to experience Kinset, you will have to download their free “shopping browser.” That is where my love affair with this product ends. Shopping online is supposed to save you time. If you are forcing users to download an entirely new application and then fiddle with it for a while before ever buying anything, I am having trouble seeing why anyone would go through the trouble when Amazon is only a click away. The software itself is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but still it seems more like a weekend diversion than a new shopping paradigm.


Web 2.0 Roundup

If you are a retailer who is looking to focus group a new layout, or an online marketer who wants a new widget to wile away the hours with, Kinset is a must see. If you are a consumer who has always thought Amazon was too impersonal, try it out. For everyone else, maybe in the next version they will add zombies or something.

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