Title: Venturing into metaverse - the future of marketing! A qualitative study understanding consumer adoption of metaverse in a digital world

Authors: Vijay Kumar Jain; Preeti Sharma; Shipra Agarwal; Vijay Prakash Anand

Addresses: Department of Management Studies (SoLAM), DIT University Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India ' Department of Management Studies (SoLAM), DIT University Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India ' Department of Commerce, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Dehradun, India ' Jaipuria Institute of Management, No. 1, Bombala Institutional Area, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur Rajasthan, India

Abstract: Metaverse is seen by businesses as a cutting-edge way to interact with clients and generate new business prospects. Metaverse is one of the methods for creating a brand that appeals to consumers' emotions and encourages success, demand, and enduring client loyalty. The objective of this study is to determine the drivers that propel consumer acceptance of the metaverse, which enables businesses to engage with clients in ways that set them apart. The current study identifies the relationships between the drivers of metaverse adoption and prioritise them using the interpretive structural modelling (ISM). The study reveals that enjoyment, perceived quality satisfaction, ease of use and hardware requirement are most important drivers for metaverse adoption. The findings of the study will help retailers to give their customers highly customised shopping experiences by bringing physical objects into virtual settings. It will further help marketers to promote metaverse marketing further as it provides companies with a unique chance to investigate new avenues for expansion, consumer outreach, and frequent shopper engagement.

Keywords: digital ownership; augmented reality; non-fungible token; NFT; augmented personalisation; immersive environment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2026.154009

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2026 Vol.17 No.4, pp.450 - 471

Received: 31 Aug 2023
Accepted: 04 Nov 2023
Published online: 10 Jun 2026 *

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