According to Burdea et al. (2017) the term "Metaverse" refers to a field that has been developing very rapidly in recent years and which seems to have a very high potential to transform the way we live in a digital world parallel to the real one, where we can work, do business, learn, ... in short, live; integrating Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) in a digital world to carry out daily life as it is currently done in the real world.
The metaverse proposes that users create avatars as if they were themselves, and explore different locations while interacting with other people. With an avatar people will feel more immersed in the metaverse (Mina Alaghband, 2022).
In this way, people would feel as if they were really participating in the live event. This would create new organisational and business opportunities for companies, as they could serve customers directly through their avatars in the digital world. As if it were the real world, traditional issues such as print advertising or TV commercials would also change (Hagiu & Wright, 2015).
In order to provide the reader with an introduction to the implications and questions about the metaverse, it is preferable not to paraphrase or repeat what the authors Huynh-The et al. (2023) do impeccably, so it is better to quote verbatim:
Since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, announced by Mark Zuckerberg in October 2021, the marvellous concept of the new name has become a hot trend on social media and received huge attention and much more discussions by various communities, including academia and industry. Besides Meta, some big tech companies have some metaverse investment and development activities, such as Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, a video game holding company, for $68.7 billion as a deal of gaming expansion into the metaverse. Recently, Metaverse Group, a metaverse real estate investment company bought a parcel of land on a decentralized virtual reality platform known as Decentraland for a shocking price $2.43 million and recorded as the highest-ever amount for virtual real estate. A famous rapper who bought a plot of land in the Sandbox metaverse for $450,000 is Snoop Dogg, in which this rapper can hold virtual events like music festivals and concerts to bring an immersive experience to the audience participating in the virtual world via the virtual reality technology. Soon, the metaverse is realized as the next big technology and currently attracting online game makers, internet finance businesses, social networks, and other technology leaders. The Seoul metropolitan government just very recently announced a plan called Metaverse Seoul that creates a virtual communication ecosystem for all municipal administrative areas, such as culture, tourism, economic, educational, and civic service. Besides providing different business support services and facilities, Metaverse Seoul will offer some specialized services for people with disabilities to take pleasure in safety and convenient content using extended reality (XR) technology. Based on the analysis of Bloomberg Intelligence, the global metaverse revenue opportunity will increase from USD 500 billion in 2020 to USD 800 billion in 2024, in which the online game industry will take half of the global revenue (Kanterman & Naidu, 2021).
Remarkably, video game companies and studios have some plans to upgrade existing traditional games to three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds convolving social networks, in which some attractive activities, such as live entertainment and media advertising events, can be held besides gaming. The revenue of virtual reality (VR) hardware and in-game advertisement significantly increases through the advancement of virtual activities in the metaverse. The metaverse is not a new idea because it has circulated along with the development of the Internet and other technologies for decades.[...] Metaverse is the term formed by combining Meta and Universe, which may be first mentioned in the dystopian cyberpunk novel Snow Crash in 1992 to describe a virtual reality world called the matrix (Hackl, 2021). At present, the metaverse is defined as a shared virtual 3D world or even multiple cross-platform worlds that can provide users with a comprehensively immersive experience, including interactive and collaborative activities. Besides virtual places and constructions fixed in the virtual world, many other entities, such as objects, user identities, and digital goods, can be exchanged between different virtual worlds and even reflected into the reality world (Park & Kim, 2022). Few recent years have witnessed an unprecedented explosion of the metaverse, mostly derived from 3D gaming, which is fuelled by the improvement of hardware (e.g., big data storage infrastructure, wireless communication networks, builtin sensors, and graphic processing unit—GPU) and the optimization of software (e.g., resource allocation in communications, language processing, and computer vision) to build the virtual world more solidly and creatively. Different from the traditional metaverse modality that limits immersive experience poorly by insufficient data, the new one not only generates a huge new source of user and behavioral data for enterprises (where users freely make creative content) but also presents a plentiful foundation to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) into various domains, such as natural language processing, computer vision, and neural interface. Besides, a standard platform built for a modern metaverse should satisfy the following characteristics: virtual world, persistency, scalability, always-on with synchronicity, financial allowance, decentralization, security, and interoperability […] By merging AI with other technologies, such as AR/VR, blockchain, and networking, the metaverse can create secure, scalable, and realistic virtual worlds on a reliable and always-on platform. […] Therefore, users’ movements in the real world are projected into the virtual worlds, allowing users to fully control their avatars to interact with other objects in the metaverse comfortably. Moreover, these avatars can engage with many modalities adopted in the real world, such as facial expressions, emotions, body movement, and physical interactions, besides speech recognition and sentiment analysis, which are powered by AI in terms of accuracy and processing speed. […]. Any achievements and outcomes derived from RSC will be used as fabrics to build the metaverse platform, in which AI-driven products will be of considerable importance. (pp. 1–3).
After reading the introduction by Huynh-The et al. (2023), it is possible to get an idea of the importance that the metaverse could reach, and if the article is analysed carefully, it might be understood that this could become a digital world parallel to the one we currently live in that any activity would be possible in one way or another, therefore many companies and professionals are already investing in spaces or land in the metaverse. As a result,, researchers and professionals should analyse and try to predict the direction of the future in this regard; this possibility cannot be overlooked, even if in the end, according to their conclusions, it is not a good idea or opportunity for a certain sector or company at this time. It is necessary to take this into account so that it does not happen as it has happened to some companies with e-commerce, thanks to which many start-up companies have surpassed important traditional distribution companies in many sectors in terms of sales and leadership position.
In Ecommerce is very important to be careful with the development of virtual stores, shopping experience improvement, personalizing customer experience and shopping behavior analysis and understanding
In the article of Huynh-The et al. (2023) can find a very important table called "Summary of AI-aided technologies being potential for developing the metaverse" where researchers and professionals could know the technologies that are useful for metaverse, but this is not our goal.
In this new environment and focused in E-commerce it is necessary to use tools to find information about the people who do shopping to personalizing customer experience and shopping behavior analysis, development of virtual stores, understanding exposure?; and shopping experience improvement Huynh-The et al. (2023).
“For the purpose of which E-commerce has been integrated into the metaverse, numerous consumer brands have been diving into the digital world to create more delightful and seamless shopping experiences regardless of the unpopularity of VR devices for consumers in their majority. Many brands have moved forward step-by-step to build something entirely new by integrating digital stores which are able to bring the best offline and online shopping without any difference in user experience (Riedl, 2021). Indeed, virtual shopping can convey a remotely real-time experience of static products, in which consumers, represented by an avatar, can walk around stores in a 3D rendered space and talk with a virtual cashier/seller powered by VR and AI technologies. Personalizing the customer experience is currently attracting more attention from retailers, not only for business survival but also for revenue growth, which can be performed effortlessly in the meta with AI-based shopping behavior understanding.” (Cited in Huynh-The et al., 2023, p.15).
Some attractive metaverse projects are Decentraland, Sandbox, Realy, Star Atlas, Bit.Country, and DeHealth […]. For example, “Realy: From the real world to the fully virtual world by creating a unique metaverse ecological world, the Realy metaverse is defined as a super-realistic, futuristic, technologically conscious world, in which E-commerce, social, gaming, and trading are truly integrated to bring a seamless virtual-reality experience to users. In the virtual world of Realy metaverse, users can enjoy colorful journeys through their personalized avatars with 3D virtual clothes which are available in the marketplace and linked with unique NFTs. There is an interesting feature of Realy compared with other metaverse projects, which is about avatar control and management procedures. When users are online, their avatars bring an immersive experience. When users are offline, the avatars are driven by a set of AI-based self-discipline systems. The whole virtual world is automatically operated, controlled, and managed by a decentralized DAO organization. Regarding technology in the Realy metaverse, besides VR and blockchain, AI is adopted in many aspects to generally improve the user immersive experience, such as enhancing 3D visual rendered effects, boosting the intelligence of avatars for realistic behaviors, and integrating VR and holographic projection” (Cited in Huynh-The et al., 2023, p.17).
It is an ambitious project that seems to be starting, but with quite a lot of potential, as one can see. Although it will be necessary to adapt the way things are currently done, as you can imagine.
Business models have been changing and synchronizing with the technological evolution of a blockchain and the metaverse product platform and the industry platform is merging, the physical and digital interactions are higher, and the difference is nearly invisible (IoT plays a key role in this). Cryptocurrency is gaining popularity all around the world, and it will be much more important in the ecology of a metaverse, if it ever becomes one. In addition to that, the blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies have shown a number of noteworthy benefits over traditional forms of the financial business. Manufacturing and enterprises of different destinations need to re-appraise their strategy and maturity of existing digital infrastructure and understanding the potential of the data they need to utilize. Competitive advantages/sustainability are part of the organization’s lever to run and roll the business but those alone are not going to satisfy the end customer needs and demand manufacturing infrastructure needs to establish demand and data-driven flexibility. Changing the mindset and approach is the key to align with the end customer expectations, which are highly beneficial. Lastly, the metaverse has a pitfall in smell and touch sensing and the network of people is inconsistent. Therefore, the industry-level ecosystem is the new way of approaching the value chain and the digital understanding of smart contracts. This business model’s pace of progress, both forward and backward, will be determined by the progression of technology and the rates of its acceptance. However, it is quite evident that we are heading in the direction of the metaverse platform business.
In this context, the metaverse-based platforms provide the business to sell, ship, and collect payments very easily and securely, in addition, it engages the customers with phygital options, and it integrates the eCommerce sectors. Lastly, the metaverse-based platform enhances sustainability by reducing waste, as it is resulting in the reduction of the carbon footprint. (Periyasami & Periyasamy, 2022:543)
Kraus et al. (2022) have clearly stated that there are important issues for companies in the metaverse. On the one hand, the shortening of technology cycles; there are new advanced digital technologies and changes in customers requiring companies to renew their offerings as the environment changes rapidly. Meta's strategic VR acquisitions don't change "what to play" in the short term, although they do define "how to play" in the long term. So companies need to form associations and alliances. The metaverse promises a new way of interacting, communicating and working. But more research is needed to understand this new virtual world.
The insurance company AXA has purchased virtual land in The Sandbox, a metaverse, but it doesn't know how this metaverse will be used by the company (Mennecke et al., 2008).
Although there are many benefits as seen in the use of the metaverse, there are some drawbacks, such as that metaverse technologies require a higher cognitive load and greater mental fatigue for users (Xi et al., 2022). After 30 minutes users need to rest. In addition, the metaverse is limited by the need for human hardware (headsets, glasses and virtual reality goggles). Computers need to process information and high-quality graphics to create a sense of presence. There are also those who speak quite badly of blockchain, the 5G network is not accessible to everyone. The notion of cyber addiction has also been much discussed (Brown, 2021).
Another limitation is the lack of a legal framework. Uncertainty surrounds the metaverse beyond the technological dimension. With people still unaffected by metaverse technologies, let alone the metaverse itself, and legal risks emerging, it's unclear if and when the metaverse will create value for businesses. (Gauttier et al., 2022). But the possibility of the metaverse and Gen Z getting along could soon help companies' bottom lines. (Periyasami, & Periyasamy, 2022).
To link the idea of the possibilities that the metaverse offers to companies with the need to adapt communication and other operational marketing variables to this new universe, and to explain how neuromarketing or neuroscience can help companies achieve this, we will begin by quoting the abstract from the author Crespo-Pereira et al. (2023). Who suggest that:
The metaverse is the conjunction and optimization of the possibilities of the Internet and technology at their best. It is a consequence of the development and evolution of digital society. Technological innovation, fundamentally oriented toward virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed realities, contributes significantly to the creation of a solid foundation on which to build an entire universe of virtual worlds. This is a universe that, in turn, requires the creation of backbone content for narratives that attract and retain users by capturing their attention to promote a specific ecosystem that transfers the activities of the real world to a virtual one, either projected or recreated.[…] It examines the trends in technology, application, and methodology pertaining to the metaverse in the social sciences field, namely marketing and communication and neuroscience, areas that contribute to the understanding of the social dimension of the metaverse phenomenon. Although there is abundant academic literature on the metaverse in computer science, this is not the case in the aforementioned disciplines. Given that the metaverse is destined to become the next Internet revolution, there is a race among countries and brands to position themselves within it, which is expected to intensify in the coming years. The metaverse can contribute to a wide variety of applications of a social nature, which is why it is a highly competitive tool for nations, companies, and academia, as well as the public and private media. The results indicate a technological transformation proposing a future that includes neuro-technologies based on brain–computer interfaces and the metaverse as the setting. This will occur alongside the solidification of the virtual ecosystem thanks to the emergence of digital natives and Gen Z, as well as the convergence of many different technologies and immersive and participatory content, in which the consumer is the provider, owner, and beneficiary. (p.1)
There are disciplines that converge with the metaverse, such as economics and commercial relations, and therefore also marketing and advertising; in fact, when Second Life was created, the companies Adidas and American Apparel associated themselves with it to market their products (Bourlakis et al., 2009), since the metaverse pretends to be the new marketing platform of the companies (Hollensen et al., 2022). Currently, it is possible to see the Gucci store in Roblox (Guzzetti et al., 2023), but there is still much to investigate in terms of services, products and quality in the metaverse (Gadalla, 2013) and the design of virtual stores in the metaverse (Hassouneh & Brengman, 2015). Advances in this sense with reference to augmented reality have given rise to a new marketing speciality, augmented reality marketing (AR marketing) (Rauschnabel et al., 2022).
Although as we progress in the level of specialisation from VR to AR and later to the metaverse, for the metaverse it is considered more appropriate to call it metaverse marketing, which, based on Kotler's definition of marketing, should be: “the application of marketing to facilitate and improve the creation, communication and exchange of actions, services and products of value among groups and individuals who need and want to satisfy their needs through these exchanges” in the Metaverse, The application of neuroscience to marketing in the metaverse should be called "Metaverse Neuromarketing", based on a Kotler's definition of marketing.
This is very important as the metaverse could alter the modulation of cognitive and emotional processes. As it is said to be able to create alternative realities, it could even substitute other emotions for others, which would make it necessary to re-examine everything related to the effect of digital environments on the human brain (Riva & Wiederhold, 2022). Neuroscience, which has studied the understanding of emotions, attention and memory in various domains related to organisations and business, is very useful to study the same in virtual environments such as the metaverse. Only there is little research on these issues in immersive virtual environments (Mandolfo et al., 2022).
The particularity of retail in the metaverse is that it involves the immersion of people, through their avatars, in spaces that are created at the image - similar or not to the real physical spaces of the stores. Therefore, if we want to display products as they are displayed in a physical store, with the adaptations and differences that are necessary for the metaverse, we would have to go back to the studies that have been done in terms of corporate image, merchandising, communication at the points of sale, etc., although reinvestigated and, if possible, with neuromarketing. An example would be the work of González-Morales (2022), in which he proposes the application of neuromarketing to the study of the optimisation of POSM communication "Point of Sale Materials" in impulse purchase products through neuromarketing at the point of sale. However, in the case of the metaverse, the neuromarketing tools to be used must be adapted to the specificity of this metaverse, since immersion in it is done through glasses, auriculars and other sensors. In this way, the adaptation of existing theories of point-of-sale marketing to the distribution channel of the metaverse could be adequately studied. Paradigms may need to change.
To understand that the emotions influence the subconscious brain activity of the consumer is another step towards the objective of this article and demonstrates the potential of the use of neurosciences in brand strategy development, through what has come to be called “Neuromarketing”. The Spanish Association of Neuromarketing and Neurocommunication AENENE defines Neuromarketing as “the application of neurosciences in order to facilitate and improve the creation, communication and exchange of actions, services and products of value among groups and individuals who need and want to satisfy their needs through these exchanges” (González-Morales et al., 2020:76).
With the use of technological equipment, neuromarketing allows the recording and measuring of brain activity and psychophysiological variables associated with different emotional states that occur when a subject is exposed to a stimulus, which are related with its attention and memorization, analysing the two emotional dimensions: arousal and valence (González-Morales, 2018, pp. 9–10). (Cited in González-Morales et al., 2020:175).
In the case of the metaverse, the methodology followed by González-Morales (2020) to determine emotional valence in the time domain using electroencephalography (EEG), thanks to the ecological paradigm, is very useful because one of the variables (the valence) of emotional states can be determined in real time. The ecological paradigm allows us to know in real time the attraction or rejection that people feel towards what they are seeing or experiencing at that moment, which is essential for designing points of sale. This is essential for the design of shops, the definition of the corporate image of the metaverse, services and products designing, and even the way in which the avatar in the role of salesperson in the shops relates to the avatar representing the consumer, so that it can act in the best possible way so that the customer ultimately decides to buy.
On the other hand, other very interesting neuromarketing techniques that are also very useful in all of the above research are the peripheral psychophysiological meters, because they allow us to know in real time, and over time, the other dimension of emotion - arousal. This will also influence decision making, so together with the EEG they are two tools that allow us to know whether at a specific moment people are feeling attraction or rejection (like or dislike) and with what intensity they do so (González-Morales, 2022).
These two tools allow us to control the emotional states of clients or potential clients at every moment of their immersion in the metaverse.
However, it is also possible to use event-related potentials (ERPs) the technique used by Mansor et al. (2021) to carry out market research on the perception of points of sale in the metaverse, the presentation of products in the metaverse and any issue that may affect sales. This technique of electroencephalography does not allow us to know what the customer feels in real time, since it is carried out in the frequency domain and requires several presentations of the same stimulus in order to be able to average the result of the bioelectricity signals of the brain that make up the ERP.
Also, the eye tracker adapted to the augmented reality glasses will help to find out what attracts attention in the metaverse, in the metaverse environment, the visual communication used at the point of sale, the products displayed, the expressions and communication of the sales avatars, and any other issue in the metaverse. So it is also considered very important to investigate consumer behavior in the metaverse.
It would also be very interesting to be able to use micro-expression recognition software, which could determine in real time the facial expression of the emotion that the person is feeling while immersed in the metaverse (González-Morales, 2022), and even be used for their avatar to represent the facial expression of the emotional state that the person is having at that moment, which would actually win in the metaverse. Although AR glasses as we know them today are a handicap for using this technique, as they cover half of a person's face when immersed.
There are other more expensive tools that could be used in research, such as functional magnetic resonance, especially for the design of the metaverse, the design of the representation of extremely expensive products, such as luxury jewellery and other high-end products, because it does not seem to be very profitable against the cost of cheap consumer products.