An interview with the authors of “The merchants of meta: A research agenda to understand the future of retailing in the metaverse”

In the article “The merchants of meta: A research agenda to understand the future of retailing in the metaverse” , Kiwoong Yoo , Roman Welden, Kelly Hewett , and Michael Haenlein address the new role of the metaverse, a strategic challenge that managers face today, of such significant complexity and uncertainty. The metaverse is gaining attention in the retail industry due to its rapid technological developments, and it is expected to reshape retailing in the digital world with a projected market of $800 billion by 2024. However, little is known about the metaverse from a customer, retailer, or brand perspective.

This article offers a new conceptualization of the metaverse that contains four dimensions: online collaboration, high consumer immersion, unique digital assets, and digital personas.

The authors also propose the concept of a transitory metaverse to understand the current stage of metaverse development better. The authors conclude by providing 27 directions for future research based on how the metaverse dimensions amplify three customer touchpoints in the digital experience for the three main stakeholders of any retailing exchange along the entire customer journey.

?Read the paper here:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2023.02.002 ?

Interested in the behind-the-scene of the paper?

We were delighted with an opportunity to interview the authors and obtain additional information about the discussed topic and the whole process of writing such insightful article.

This is such a novel and influential topic. Could you please share your insights with us about the story or inspiration behind conducting this intriguing research?

• These days the metaverse seems to be everywhere. Firms invest in it, consulting companies talk about it, and a plethora of people have written blogs about it. Nevertheless, we often forget that the metaverse is still in its early stages. The excitement largely stems from the fact that the metaverse has the potential for retailers and brands to establish a presence in this virtual world and engage with customers in new ways. By understanding how the metaverse will change over time, retailers can get ahead of the game and take advantage of new opportunities. It's a unique chance for retailers and brands to connect with an entirely new group of consumers – comparable to the emergence of eCommerce two decades ago. That's why we believe researching retailing in the metaverse is essential. It presents a significant opportunity for retailers and brands, has unique characteristics that impact consumer behavior and brand strategy, has the potential to transform retail, and is likely to become increasingly important in the future.

As many (older) traditional brands look to capture younger consumers, how should they begin looking at strategic partnerships to both maintain their brand equity while growing relations with a new audience?

• The metaverse is different from both traditional retailing and online retailing. To gain rapid understanding – which is critical in this fast-moving space – strategic partnerships can be an effective way for traditional brands to connect with younger consumers in the metaverse. By partnering with relevant and engaging partners, creating immersive experiences, and leveraging influencer marketing and branded content, traditional brands can maintain brand equity while expanding their reach to a new and growing audience. For instance, our paper discusses how brands can work with virtual influencers (AI generated) such as Lu do Magalu to connect with consumers or utilize non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to encourage and incentivize consumers to engage with their brand.

The gaming community is full of communities where devout consumers place high value on stats, items, competitions, and special events. What strategies can brands take to create authentic relationships with these communities?

• It can be challenging since authenticity requires truly understanding what these platforms offer and what customers expect in such an environment. Based on our analysis, to create authentic relationships with gaming communities in the metaverse, brands should first take the time to understand the gaming community they're trying to engage with. Furthermore, brands should strive to understand the community's culture and find ways to add value without appearing solely interested in selling products or services. For example, brands can create authentic, engaging experiences through interactive games, virtual events, and unique social media campaigns. We discuss Wendy's as an example in our article. By creating a game mode in Fortnite called "Food Fight," players can actively participate in Wendy's mission against serving frozen beef by destroying freezers full of burgers. This interactive gameplay is more effective than traditional advertising, as it allows players to act out the brand's mission more immersive and in an engaging manner.

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How can managers apply the findings of your studies into practice? Do you have any recommendations for managers who want to use the findings of your research?

• We recommend that managers develop a metaverse strategy that aligns with overall brand and retailer objectives while considering unique aspects of the metaverse. With over 50 different metaverses to choose from, each with different characteristics and consumer demographic profiles, careful selection is crucial. Once a strategy is in place, a virtual presence can be established through branded spaces, immersive experiences, or products that resonate with consumers. To foster engagement, managers should create experiences that encourage customer participation and potentially partner with influencers or metaverses. It is crucial to stay relevant by continuously adapting strategies and offerings to meet consumers' changing needs and preferences within the ever-evolving metaverse.

What are the main challenges for researchers interested in studying this topic? Which were the main issues you encountered?

• Researching the metaverse poses several challenges. We identify the four most important ones: First, it is a highly technical and complex environment that requires expertise in various technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and blockchain. Second, the metaverse is still in its early stages, and standardization across different metaverses is lacking, which makes it difficult to generalize findings across contexts. Third, the limited availability of data within the metaverse poses unique problems and requires new methods and tools to capture and analyze consumer behaviors and interactions. Finally, early empirical research within the metaverse may lead to biased and non-representative results, as current consumers are most likely early adopters and may not reflect the broader population.

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How do you see the research field developing over the next 5 years? How can academics build on your work expanding the field?

• We strongly believe that the field of metaverse research will experience huge growth over the next five to ten years. As the metaverse gains traction, scholars will undoubtedly explore the nuances of metaverses and their implications for consumers, retailers, and brands. Scholars can and will likely apply interdisciplinary approaches combining marketing, psychology, sociology, computer science, and economics. For example, how do customers form communities in the metaverse? How does unique digital ownership impact consumer behavior in general? How can brands leverage the high levels of digital collaboration in the metaverse to co-create products and services with customers? Moreover, scholars can also develop innovative methodologies to uncover new insights to answer these questions. By building on our research, scholars can push the boundaries of knowledge, uncover new relationships, and contribute to the emerging field of metaverse research. It's an exciting time to be at the forefront of exploring the future of the digital world!

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Beyond our own field, where would you expect academic breakthroughs to occur that could influence or create a synergistic effect with our own field? Psychology and Public Policy come to mind.

• In addition to psychology and public policy, advances in virtual reality, AI, and computer science will likely impact both the metaverse and the marketing field significantly. For example, improvements in virtual reality technology will create more immersive and realistic virtual shopping experiences. Advancements in AI will help brands personalize their marketing messages to individual consumers in real-time. Progress in computer science could lead to new tools and techniques for analyzing large amounts of data generated by virtual environments, enabling brands to gain deeper insights into consumer behavior and preferences. Overall, the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration and adoption of ideas between different fields is exciting for the metaverse and its impact on marketing.

Meet our JR Interviewers

Georgia Liadeli is a third-year Ph.D. candidate at the Marketing Department of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) . Her research focuses on how brands can leverage new media to align their strategic positioning in the mind of the consumers, taking a more active role in the community. Before starting the Ph.D., she worked as a consultant advising clients on M&A, IPO, and strategy projects. She is the recipient of the Winter American Marketing Association (AMA) Best Paper in Track Award (social media and digital marketing), the MSI & JPP&M research grant, and ABRI research grant. Her work is published in outlets such as Journal of Marketing, presented at international conferences including EMAC, Marketing Science, Global Marketing Special Interest Group (SIG), and Winter AMA. Her research is featured on the Science of Business Podcast and Journal of Marketing Buzz Podcast.?

Fahmi Grey is a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School - University of North Carolina. By applying data-driven econometric approaches, he addresses complex issues related to channel management, branding, and marketing mix effectiveness.??Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, he worked in the marketing leadership group for HBI totaling 5 years. Fahmi received a B.S. in Mathematical Decision Sciences from the?University of North Carolina?at Chapel Hill and a M.S. in Quantitative Management from Duke University – Fuqua School of Business.

Meet the JR authors

Kiwoong Yoo is a third-year doctoral student in Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville . His research interests focus on marketing strategies in the face of disruptions, international marketing, and the marketing-finance interface. Kiwoong has published in the Journal of Retailing and presented at the American Marketing Association (AMA), Global Marketing Special Interest Group (SIG), Frontiers in Service, Southeast Marketing Symposium (SMS), and the Academy of International Business (AIB) conferences. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, he worked at Deloitte as an auditor and consultant. Kiwoong received a B.B.A. in accounting from Hofstra University and a B.S. in interdisciplinary studies concentrating in biological sciences from Cornell University.

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Roman Welden joined the Marketing Department at the Kelley School of Business in August 2022. He earned his Ph.D. in Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville . Roman is a marketing strategy researcher, and his primary research areas include video game marketing, influencer marketing, social influence, and social media. Currently, his main research interest is understanding the marketing process throughout the video game ecosystem. His research has been published in the?Journal of Marketing Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing,?and has invited revisions at top marketing journals, including?Journal of Marketing.

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Kelly Hewett is Professor of Marketing and the Reagan Professor of Business, and Charles and Dorothy Duggan Research Fellow at the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business. She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Marketing. Prior to joining UT, she worked for five years at Bank of America, where she was a senior vice president in the firm’s corporate marketing group. Previously, she had a 10-year academic career, and also held prior positions in international marketing and marketing research. Kelly’s research has been published in the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, among others.

Michael Haenlein holds the Chair in Responsible Research in Marketing at the University of Liverpool Management School and is a Professor of Marketing at ESCP Business School . Michael has a Ph.D. from the WHU, Otto Beisheim School of Management, and a Habilitation from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University. He holds Visiting Positions at Kozminski University in Warsaw (Poland) and Trinity Business School in Dublin (Ireland). As a consultant, he has worked with many international companies in various industry sectors, such as telecommunications, financial services, technology, and private equity. His research interest and expertise deal with analyzing the impact of new technologies on firms and consumers. He has examined issues such as video gaming, mobile gaming, artificial intelligence, social media, and influencer marketing. Haenlein has published over 50 articles in academic and practitioner-oriented journals. He received the 2021 Jan-Benedict Steenkamp Award for long-term impact and several Best Paper awards. He counts among the top 30 most cited marketing academics worldwide, based on Google Scholar. Michael is part of the editorial or advisory boards of the Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Retailing, and the California Management Review.