Purpose This study’s aim is to examine the effects of actual metaverse users’ parasocial relationships with artificial intelligence– (AI-) controlled non-player characters (NPCs) on digital luxury non-fungible token (NFT) brand preferences leading to behavioral intentions (e.g. online and offline purchase intentions, virtual-to-real behavioral activities, NFT luxury brand endorsements on social medial platforms). The study focuses on Gen Z users who seek escapism by forming parasocial relationships with NPCs, which ultimately leads to digital NFT brand preference and, in turn, affects their behavioral intentions to consume luxury fashion brands. Design/methodology/approach The usable sample size for the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis was 348 (of 400) actual metaverse platform users (Gen Z) in the USA. Findings Among the metaverse users, the parasocial relationships with AI-controlled NPCs formed through NPCs’ emotional and cognitive intelligence lead to metaverse social connectedness, which in turn results in luxury NFT brand preferences and a virtual-to-real behavioral spillover. Furthermore, Gen Z users’ positive virtual social connectedness influences not only their metaverse purchase intentions but also their real-world purchase intentions through a virtual-to-real behavioral spillover, highlighting the positive function of AI. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to address engagement through AI-controlled NPCs by separating emotional and cognitive intelligence, thus filling an important research gap. It demonstrates that luxury brands need different marketing strategies for digital NFTs and real items and thus need to understand consumer psychological mechanisms.
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
AI in Service Interactions
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
With the evolution of wellness tourism in the digital era, there has been an exponential change in the landscape of travel wellness and preventive health care. Today, the travelers are driven to seek holistic well-being, self-care, and transformative experiences beyond traditional leisure. This growing demand has led to the integration of advanced wellness and tourism technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR), telemedicine, and blockchain. These innovations enhance personalization, operational efficiency, and accessibility for the customer; they also redesign the delivery and consumption of wellness experiences. As there is a technological shift in the wellness tourism industry, critical challenges arise related to data privacy, the digital divide, sustainability, cultural sensitivity, and the erosion of authenticity in wellness practices. This chapter critically examines the relationship between wellness tourism and emerging technologies. It hides the opportunities and the underlying challenges associated with this transformation. Insights complemented by semi-structured interviews with industry experts and extensive academic literature reviews published between 2015 and 2025 offered a comprehensive exploration of future trends, challenges, and pathways for sustainable development in wellness tourism. It also proposes the framework for ethical technology integration, ensuring the wellness tourism ecosystem remains inclusive and resilient. Inform the ground of the principle of sustainability.
Metaverse interoperability has become necessary for uniform virtual experiences between different metaverse ecosystems. Blockchain technology along with decentralized oracle network have played a key role in representing and transferring metaverse assets across different metaverse environments. This paper discusses the concept of interoperability with respect to metaverse, representation of metaverse assets on blockchains, and shows the application of decentralized oracles in achieving metaverse interoperability. Various standards for representing assets in blockchain and their comparison is performed. In the paper, the ERC-721 standard was used for tokenizing assets and transferring them from the Avalanche Fuji testnet to the Ethereum Sepolia testnet and Arbitron Sepolia to Ethereum Sepolia. Chainlink CCIP was used to transfer NFTs between blockchains. A comparison in term of the total gas consumed in both the transactions was performed. The paper has shown that Distributed Oracle Networks (DON) have become a useful solution in providing accurate and secure data feeds as well as transferring assets between different blockchain networks.
This chapter examines the transformative convergence of the metaverse and Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and its implications for contemporary fashion retail. Using a narrative integrative review of academic literature and industry evidence published between 2021 and 2025, the chapter develops a strategic and interdisciplinary framework that integrates technological enablers, consumer psychology, and brand strategy. It conceptualises the metaverse as an immersive, persistent digital ecosystem that is reshaping how fashion brands design, authenticate, and commercialise value, while NFTs introduce verifiable digital ownership, programmable scarcity, and new revenue models. The analysis highlights clear differences in how luxury and fast fashion brands adopt these technologies, with luxury emphasising exclusivity and provenance, and fast fashion prioritising accessibility and gamified engagement.
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Purpose: The rapid evolution of spatial computing has initiated a paradigm shift from traditional, two-dimensional e-commerce to immersive, three-dimensional virtual commerce (v-commerce). This paper conceptualizes the foundational drivers, structural mechanics, and strategic implications of consumer behavior within the emerging metaverse marketplace.Methodology/Approach: Synthesizing Social Presence Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study provides a comprehensive conceptual framework analyzing how multi-sensory immersion, avatar-mediated identity expression, and decentralized economic frameworks alter consumer decision-making. Findings: The paper establishes that the metaverse fundamentally redefines digital consumer behavior by transforming standard transactions into identity-driven social expressions. It outlines how immersive experiential marketing stimuli (e.g., gamified storefronts, virtual try-ons) drive high emotional arousal and hedonic consumption patterns. Furthermore, the analysis maps the collapse of the traditional boundary between buyers and sellers via Play-to-Earn (P2E) and Create-to-Earn (C2E) models, re-contextualizing virtual consumers as active entrepreneurial producers within blockchain-secured economies. Research Implications: While presenting a robust conceptual blueprint for v-commerce engagement, the study highlights critical consumer inhibitors, including biometric data harvesting risks, infrastructural access barriers, and psychological virtual fatigue. Originality: This paper bridges the gap between conventional digital marketing theories and spatial mechanics. It provides actionable strategic imperatives for contemporary brands specifically detailing hybrid "phygital" retail systems, spatial analytics optimization, and community-centric governance via Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to effectively future-proof enterprise models.
The Metaverse has the potential to revolutionise financial services, foster innovation, and enhance client engagement. The Metaverse offers innovative financial products, services, and ecosystems inside a virtual and decentralised environment for user involvement, transactions, and digital asset creation. Blockchain technology within the Metaverse facilitates decentralised, secure, and transparent financial services in virtual settings. The capacity of Blockchain to establish decentralised ecosystems, guarantee digital ownership through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and facilitate smart contracts is transforming Traditional Finance (TradFi) and promoting Decentralised Finance (DeFi). Users can execute borderless transactions, oversee digital assets, and engage in tokenised economies within the Metaverse, transforming financial services. The intersection of Blockchain technology and the Metaverse within the financial sector is explored via virtual banking, tokenised physical assets, and decentralised exchanges. Innovations such as Blockchain-based trustless transactions, digital identity, and virtual financial inclusion are emphasised. The Metaverse leverages Blockchain’s decentralisation to enhance financial services, establish new marketplaces, and revolutionise investment. The research also addresses legal compliance, cybersecurity hurdles, scalability constraints, and privacy concerns related to this integration. This chapter aims to comprehend the impact of Blockchain technology on financial services within the Metaverse by incorporating recent advancements and emerging trends. It illustrates how these technology advancements are generating novel corporate models and transforming global banking.
Isaac Ding, Daheng Yin, Yili Jin, Rui Qian · 6 authors
User-generated 3D content plays a crucial role in enabling truly immersive experiences within the Web3 metaverse. Although significant progress has been made in dynamic 3D content creation and animation using multi-camera setups, they typically require professional equipment and strict synchronization. In contrast, a dynamic and inclusive Web3 ecosystem is collectively built by digital assets from anyone, at any time, and from anywhere. Most Web3 participants are therefore decentralized and non-professional, and their contributed videos, even of the same scene, are usually captured asynchronously using handheld devices. In this paper, we present GSAlign, a novel framework that achieves high-fidelity dynamic 3D reconstruction from unstructured, user-generated videos in the Web3 metaverse. To address the temporal and spatial misalignments inherent in such data, GSAlign integrates three key modules: Epipolar-guided Temporal Alignment (ETA), Motion-centric Separated Reconstruction (MSR), and Background-guided Global Pose Alignment (BGPA). We detail the design of each module and their integration toward a practical end-to-end implementation. Our evaluation of GSAlign on real-world user-generated videos demonstrates robust reconstruction of dynamic 3D scenes despite unsynchronized captures, sparse views, and handheld camera motion.
This article aims to examine how the metaverse is reshaping business and management by providing a review of existing literature, identifying critical research gaps, and proposing a novel conceptual framework—the Metaverse Ecosystem Model—that integrates technological, human, and sustainability dimensions with strategic business outcomes in the Web3 era. The article will embrace a conceptual knowledge and literature review that articulates conceptual underpinnings, marketing and consumer behaviour, sectoral uses, and sustainability/workforce/boundaryless futures. This was synthesised directly into the creation of the Metaverse Ecosystem Model that connects three pillars (technological infrastructure, workforce skills, and energy and sustainability) to the business opportunities, challenges, and quantifiable results. The review shows that, although the metaverse can be used to conduct immersive marketing, operational efficiency via digital twins, sustainable industrial use, and inclusive development in emerging economies, the studies are disjointed and siloed. Among the critical areas of gaps, there are the lack of integrated frameworks between the foundational enablers and outcomes and the scarcity of empirical focus on long-term sustainability and workforce readiness. The suggested Metaverse Ecosystem Model fills these gaps by showing causal relationships between the three pillars via opportunities and constraints to innovation, new business models, and high customer engagement. It represents the first comprehensive framework of the ecosystem, specific to business and management, which provides managers and policymakers with a useful roadmap to responsible adoption.
Zacharoula Sereti, Emmanouil Mavrikos, Stamatis Chatzistamatis, George E. Tsekouras
The convergence of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse is reshaping the digital landscape by introducing novel models of ownership, identity, and interaction. NFTs enable verifiable digital scarcity and authenticity, while the metaverse offers immersive, persistent, and socially rich environments. Yet this integration raises significant privacy challenges, as vast amounts of personal, behavioral, and biometric data are continuously collected, processed, and stored. In addition, blockchain interoperability across platforms and the widespread use of avatars and digital identities create new vulnerabilities that extend beyond those found in traditional digital ecosystems. This paper examines the privacy implications of NFTs and the metaverse by mapping key threats, evaluating privacy-preserving technologies, and discussing regulatory, ethical, and societal perspectives. Moreover, by analyzing and synthesizing recent research, it identifies gaps in current methodological frameworks and proposes directions for future research and innovation. It argues that privacy should not be regarded as a barrier to innovation, but rather as a catalyst for building trust and enabling sustainable convergence between metaverse and NFT ecosystems.
Purpose The study aims to investigate the impact of metaverse marketing strategies, specifically branded non-fungible tokens, extended reality (XR) gamification and immersive shopping experiences on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) in the fashion industry. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role of virtual brand experience (VBE) in the context of fashion marketing in the United Kingdom. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in online flow theory, mental transportation theory and Aaker's Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) framework, the study adopts a quantitative approach. Data were obtained from an online survey of 626 UK-based metaverse users who participated in virtual fashion activities. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS) and bootstrapped mediation analysis. Findings The results show that VBE plays an important role in driving CBBE for consumers of metaverse fashion. VBE has a strong positive effect on CBBE and partially/fully mediates the relationship between metaverse marketing strategies and CBBE outcomes. While BNFTs and XR gamification marketing strategies both have significant direct effects on brand awareness/association and perceived quality, there was no support for their relationship with brand loyalty. XR-based immersive shopping shows no significant direct effects on any CBBE dimension but exerts a significant indirect effect through VBE, indicating full mediation. Overall, the results suggest that metaverse strategies enhance brand equity only when they generate meaningful sensory, affective, behavioral, intellectual and social brand experiences. Practical implications The results offer actionable insights for fashion marketers to design immersive and interactive metaverse experiences that increase perceived brand equity and brand experience. Originality/value This study is a pioneering study to empirically confirm the mediating role of the VBE in linking metaverse marketing strategies with CBBE in the fashion industry. It addresses gaps in brand management theory and highlights experiential processes driving brand value in the metaverse.
Faris Abuhashish, Waleed Maqableh, Nidal Yousef, Mohd Shahrizal Sunar · 5 authors
The Metaverse is turning into a constantly growing three-dimensional space that is radically changing the nature of digital interaction through the generative Artificial Intelligence and MetaIntelligence. The chapter outlines how Generative Adversarial Networks, Large Language Models, and Diffusion Models have been used to build immersive virtual worlds, non-player characters and plot progression. It proposes MetaIntelligence as an inclusive model of meta-learning, cyclic improvement and interoperability of heterogeneous systems. Moreover, the chapter provides an overview of how distributed ledger technology, cloud computing, and edge-computing functionality are foundations of scalable world construction, the consideration of consistency, user well-being, ethical and environmental implications, and the opportunities of symbiotic human-AI interaction and virtual/real world interface integration.
The virtual economy has rapidly evolved alongside advances in digital technologies, including the integration of blockchain and interactive media that enable novel experiences and business opportunities. A notable development is the trading of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), where users participate as buyers, owners, sellers, and investors. This multi-role context, coupled with individual differences, adds complexity to understanding consumer motivations for trading and recommending NFTs. Focusing on NFT art as a representative type of NFTs, this study identifies 14 value dimensions from NFT technology-related, art-related, and product-related perspectives. Based on a large-scale international survey, the research examines how these value perceptions influence purchase and recommendation intention, and how these relationships are moderated by cultural factors (uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation) and prior purchase experience. The findings indicated that product-related values exerted the strongest influence on consumer behavior, while technology-related values played a lesser role. Cultural and experiential factors showed limited moderating effects.
After laying out what the metaverse is and what makes it tick, the focus shifts to avatars. This chapter also looks at tech like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and three-dimensional (3D) worlds. Using today’s research, it maps how the metaverse has grown and why both users and sharp entrepreneurs are diving in to build fresh startups. It shows how companies are already using this space to create new ways to connect with customers – from opening digital shops and running eye-catching marketing, to buying virtual land and building blockchain-powered markets. Additionally, it explores complex topics such as virtual economies, the significance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven avatars, all of which serve to illustrate the wide-ranging possibilities within this virtual ecosystem. Moreover, this chapter addresses the obstacles associated with the metaverse, such as privacy concerns, ensuring digital accessibility, and the necessity for regulatory frameworks to establish fair and secure virtual spaces. This chapter concludes with a call to action for entrepreneurs.
Το Πολυσύμπαν (αγγλικά: metaverse), ένα εμβυθιστικό και διασυνδεδεμένο ψηφιακό οικοσύστημα που συνδυάζει την επαυξημένη και την εικονική πραγματικότητα, επαναπροσδιορίζει με ταχύ ρυθμό τα όρια του δικαίου της διανοητικής ιδιοκτησίας. Στα εικονικά αυτά περιβάλλοντα, άτομα και επιχειρήσεις μπορούν να δημιουργούν, να κατέχουν, να εμπορεύονται και να αξιοποιούν οικονομικά ψηφιακά αγαθά — από εικονική τέχνη και μουσική έως άβαταρ (avatars), εικονικά ακίνητα και επώνυμες εμπειρίες. Οι νέες αυτές μορφές δημιουργικότητας, ωστόσο, αναδεικνύουν σημαντικά κενά στα υφιστάμενα νομικά πλαίσια, τα οποία έχουν σχεδιαστεί πρωτίστως για τον φυσικό κόσμο. Στο παρόν άρθρο εξετάζονται οι αναδυόμενες προκλήσεις προστασίας των δικαιωμάτων διανοητικής ιδιοκτησίας (ΔΔΙ) στο metaverse, με έμφαση στο δίκαιο της πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας, των εμπορικών σημάτων και των διπλωμάτων ευρεσιτεχνίας. Παράλληλα, ενσωματώνονται προσεγγίσεις από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση, τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες και την Ινδία, με εξέταση ζητημάτων διασυνοριακής επιβολής, του ρόλου της τεχνητής νοημοσύνης και της αυξανόμενης επιρροής μοντέλων ιδιοκτησίας που βασίζονται στην τεχνολογία blockchain, όπως τα Μη Ανταλλάξιμα Διακριτικά (Non-Fungible Tokens – NFTs). Το άρθρο υποστηρίζει ότι, παρότι το ισχύον δίκαιο παρέχει μερική προστασία, η διαμόρφωση ενός εναρμονισμένου και τεχνολογικά προσαρμοστικού παγκόσμιου ρυθμιστικού πλαισίου είναι απαραίτητη για τη διασφάλιση της καινοτομίας και της δημιουργικότητας στα εικονικά περιβάλλοντα.
The convergence of the real world with virtual and augmented reality, known as the “Metaverse,” is gaining momentum, threatening to upend multiple global industries. It's undeniable that people are incredibly interested in the Metaverse. Although Blockchain is still in its infancy, it is already vital to the growth of the digital economy. The blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and NFTs (NonFungible Tokens) is useful for tracking the supply and circulation of digital currencies and for governance, transparency, ease of access, and interoperability purposes. Given its infinite potential, the Metaverse has ushered in a period of rapid expansion across many of the economy's most important industries, real estate included. Metaverse platforms were being set up by people with sway in the blockchain or cryptocurrency industries so that they could acquire virtual real estate as NFTs, develop it, and stake it. Metaverse marketplaces create a virtual space using VR, Blockchain, and NFT technology, then sell access to that space to consumers in the form of NFTs. Even though many Metaverse services offer free accounts, cryptocurrency is required when buying or trading virtual assets on platforms that use the Blockchain. To buy and sell virtual assets on several blockchain-based platforms, such as Decentraland's MANA and Sandbox's SAND, Ethereum-based crypto tokens are required. Non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies are used by various blockchain-based platforms today, facilitating the development, acquisition, and monetization of distributed digital assets. As centralized data storage has many drawbacks, the Metaverse concept lacks Blockchain. Blockchain's global reach and decentralized nature as a digital source fundamentally set the Metaverse apart from the capabilities of the classic internet, which, of course, takes the form of websites and applications. Without needing a trusted third party or governing body, the blockchain-based Metaverse makes all internet data accessible. This chapter mainly focuses on blockchain-enabled Metaverse platforms, which are still developing augmented and virtual reality tools to enable user interaction with the environment.
The rapid growth of the metaverse which is a virtual space that integrates augmentedreality, virtual reality, and blockchain technologies brought immense economicopportunities and challenges across the world. While developed nations increasinglyposition to leverage these opportunities, developing countries like Nigeria may faceunique obstacles in utilising the metaverse technology. It is in this regard, that thisstudy examines the legal and regulatory issues as it concerns the economic challengesposed by the metaverse in Nigeria's economy, indicating how regulatory gaps,infrastructure limitations, and inadequate legal frameworks can serve to impacteconomic participation in the growth of virtual spaces. Concerning this, the study willemploy the use of doctrinal methods of study, relying on primary and secondarysources of research materials. The data obtained from these sources were analysedusing a descriptive and analytical method of study. The study found that the conceptof metaverse has gained global recognition, and it could aid in the development of theNigerian economy. The study further found that several legal and social issues mayarise in utilising the metaverse concept in the Nigerian economy. Given the review ofcurrent legislation on virtual assets, decentralized finance, and immersive digitalinteractions, these challenges include data privacy, digital property rights, taxation,consumer protection, and cybersecurity. Hence, the study, therefore, concludes andrecommends that there is a need for Nigeria to implement a decent regulatoryapproach, considering both rights and interests when operating its economy throughmetaverse technology and economically maximizing the opportunities the metaversetechnology presents to Nigeria.
Non-fungible token (NFT) avatar markets provide unique environments where valuations reflect both financial expectations and subjective preferences. Prior work has documented price disparities across appearance traits, particularly skin tone, yet the mechanisms underlying these price disparities remain unclear. Using the complete transaction history of the CryptoPunks collection from 2017 to 2023, we examine whether these disparities arise from differences in common value (shared resale expectation) or private value (subjective preference). We first establish systematic price gaps between lighter- and darker-toned avatars through reduced-form analyses. To identify the mechanisms generating these disparities, we develop a structural model of bidding and transaction to decompose buyers' willingness to pay into common and private value components while accounting for market participation. A Hidden Markov Model with Poisson emissions is adapted to infer latent buyer arrival rates and isolate private value intensity from participation effects. Our estimates show that common values do not differ meaningfully across skin-tone groups, whereas private value intensities are substantially higher for lighter-toned avatars. Counterfactual analyses demonstrate that equalizing private value intensity eliminates the price disparity, while equalizing participation patterns has negligible impacts. These findings reveal that price disparities across skin tones are rooted in subjective preferences rather than expected resale value or participation effects. For marketplace operators and creators, this implies that closing these disparities necessitates demand-driven interventions and strategic trait design, rendering informational or liquidity-based solutions insufficient. We contribute to collectible literature by providing one of the first structural decompositions of common and private value components in asset valuation.
The rise of Internet 3.0, the metaverse, and virtual realities is accelerating the shift from a physical economy to one that is digital, decentralized, and globally accessible. While the benefits and detriments of virtual assets like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have received attention, individuals’ opinions about them remain polarized. This study investigates how personality traits shape users’ perceived value of NFTs. Using survey data from 805 respondents, we examine how the Big Five traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) are associated with 14 value dimensions spanning technology, art, and product aspects. The findings indicate that perceptions of NFTs vary among users. Of note, individuals high in agreeableness and conscientiousness perceive NFTs more favorably across the spectrum of value dimensions, whereas those high in neuroticism exhibit opposite tendencies. Extraverted individuals are drawn to the subjective norms and financial gains related to NFTs, while those high in openness value their information transparency.
Open access
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Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
The metaverse, a hyper-interactive digital environment where people work, play, socialise, and shop, is gaining attention as a potential opportunity for the fashion industry to engage Generation Z and other technology-savvy, consumers. Metaverse fashion is a new and exciting way to create, market, and sell fashion products in the virtual space and offers brands opportunities to distinguish themselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace and engage customers more interactively. It allows brands to create immersive experiences, interactively highlight their products, and reach a wider audience. The use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming, and virtual fashion could play a significant role in the future of the fashion industry. This paper aims to explore how the metaverse can revolutionise the fashion industry and what fashion executives need to know to tap into this new market. By leveraging this powerful innovative technology, brands have the potential to reach a new generation of consumers and create an unforgettable experience for them but like previous technologies before them they may invest heavily to see lower than expected returns as consumers move elsewhere. <br/>This positioning paper will consider and evaluate if, when and how the metaverse is currently marketing fashion and if these approaches are successful and which issues they may face going forward and what future creative opportunities it offers for fashion brands. The paper will also discuss the key technologies and projects most influential and areas of development within fashion marketing in the metaverse<br/>
The aim of the study is to focus on the marketing communication strategies in the banking and finance sector from past to present, and to detail the concepts of phygital banking and metaverse banking in terms of both usage and the advantages and disadvantages it brings from the perspective of industry professionals. In-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 6 expert bankers from 3 different banks, which constitute the universe of the research while providing sample criteria. The data transcripts created with participant statements were divided into six themes and forty-three sub-codes and presented to expert opinion to ensure the external control of the research. The data were subjected to content analysis using the MAXQDA 2022 qualitative analysis program. Based on the findings, answers were sought to the following questions: (1) What are the definition, scope, and application areas of digital marketing communication in the banking and finance sector? (2) What are the elements of digital marketing communication used in the banking and finance sector? (3) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the digital marketing communication era in the banking and finance sector compared to the traditional marketing communication era shopping experience? According to the data analysis results, participants define digital marketing as a new marketing strategy that enhances consumer experience by combining traditional financial services with digital technologies. In addition, digital applications in the banking and finance sector are concentrated in areas such as application processes, marketing activities, payment systems, and smart voice systems. While the most commonly used digital elements are artificial intelligence (AI) and QR code, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and blockchain are following these digital elements. According to the research results, the prominent advantage of digital marketing is experience-orientedness, while it is observed that digital spaces such as metaverse, with their decentralized and anonymous structure, also bring some privacy and security disadvantages. Concepts such as digital and metaverse are important innovative concepts that shape the future understanding of marketing communication. In the study, focusing on the digital marketing strategies used in the banking and finance sector, their characteristic features and technological components were evaluated from the perspective of industry professionals, and recommendations were made to the banking and finance sector based on the findings.
Abstract The metaverse is transforming many industries, customer behavior, and companies’ strategies. However, there is a lack of research and understanding of how to adjust existing approaches and solutions. Moreover, based on numerous studies, there is a strong connection between the metaverse and virtual technologies in general and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The authors’ research aims to address this gap by investigating the reasons for this connection. The authors suggest that NFTs complement metaverse adoption and might be a key component for its business and marketing model developments. In addition, the authors provide specific guidance for NFT implementations in different industries. The authors’ contribution extends the knowledge of this nascent field and might be valuable for scholars and practitioners.