Virtual mall

How does a virtual mall work?

You open a virtual mall from a link, like any web page. The browser downloads a model of the building and draws it live through the WebGL standard, which uses the graphics chip in your computer or phone. According to Can I Use, the current version, WebGL 2.0, is supported by about 97% of browsers in use (as of 17 October 2026), which is why no plug-in or app is needed.

The most demanding spaces — showrooms meant to look photographic, for example — can be delivered differently: the scene is rendered on a server and the browser receives a finished picture, much like cloud gaming. Both approaches are explained in our guide What Is a 3D Virtual Mall?.

How is a virtual mall different from an online shop or a showroom?

	Online shop	Virtual showroom	Virtual mall
Brands and shops	one shop	one brand	many shops in one building
How you browse	a product grid and filters	one brand’s space	floors, shop windows, shop interiors
Other shoppers	invisible	usually invisible	visible as avatars
Buying	the shop’s basket	anything from catalogue to basket	product card and basket

The term is sometimes used interchangeably with “virtual showroom”, but a mall brings many shops together in one space, while a showroom presents a single brand. A virtual mall also differs from a 360° virtual tour: in a tour you jump between spherical photos, while in a mall you walk around freely as an avatar.

Is buying in a virtual mall real?

That depends on who runs it. If the mall leads to a real shop’s checkout, the purchase is an ordinary distance contract. In Great Britain the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 apply, and the cancellation period for goods normally ends 14 days after they reach you.

Example

A working virtual mall is the Aderlo Gallery in Aderlo City. In the MVP (October 2026) two are open: in London, on the Thames, and in Warsaw, with shops selling real Aderlo products and a premium showroom. You enter at mvp.aderlo.city with your Aderlo account, and orders are fulfilled by Aderlo.

Related term: immersive commerce — the wider name for shopping where you step into the space of a shop.