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Imagine a day when a customer can visit a retailer’s Web site and search for products in the store’s virtual aisles.

That day may already be here. In many ways, virtual worlds such as Second Life provide customers with a very similar experience to that of a “real” store. It is likely that these game-like tools will be integrated into common Internet activities like searching for, evaluating and purchasing products.

Of course, it will still be some time before the online experience can provide customers with a sense of actually holding a product, feeling its weight or sensing its texture, but the three-dimensional nature of virtual worlds will enhance the way that businesses can engage with their customers.

Because virtual worlds offer businesses the opportunity to present products in engaging and interactive ways, these spaces will increasingly be important for businesses as places to design, develop and evaluate new product offerings. A case in point is the use a year or so ago of Second Life by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. to evaluate a new design for one of its hotel brands. By allowing anyone who used Second Life to visualize the floor plans, colors, aesthetics and other characteristics of the proposed designs, Starwood was able to conduct what amounted to virtual focus groups to garner feedback and suggestions for improving the designs for the new hotel brand.

Other companies have used similar tactics for different products. For example, Sears Holdings Corp. worked with IBM Corp. to build a virtual store that could create realistic representations of a customer’s kitchen or bathroom. Such a storefront not only allows customers to visualize how Sears products might look or fit in their home, but it also allows Sears to examine when and how its products succeed or fail.

Even small businesses have great opportunities to leverage the 3-D characteristics of these environments for designing and selling both real and virtual products. The economy in Second Life is largely driven by activity from small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Small businesses thrive in virtual worlds because they often are sufficiently nimble to identify business opportunities, develop solutions and respond quickly.

Large businesses such as IBM have demonstrated that virtual worlds can be effective for testing and refining products. The same product tests and refinements can be undertaken by small businesses on a smaller scale. For example, a small T-shirt business could test its designs in Second Life by selling them or giving them away. In a virtual world, copying, distributing and evaluating an article of clothing costs almost nothing.

It all adds up to real-world savings, and sometimes earnings, for those entrepreneurs who can extend their business reach into the virtual worlds.

Brian Mennecke is an associate professor of management information systems at Iowa State University.