Metaverse in marketing and logistics: the state of the art and the path forward

Abstract

Purpose

Ever since its emergence, the metaverse has presented opportunities and disruptions to every stakeholder, including individual users and organizations. This article aims to offer valuable perspectives on six identified critical areas that the metaverse could significantly impact: marketing ethics, marketing communication, relationship marketing, retail marketing, supply chain management and transportation management.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a multi-perspective approach, this paper gathers valuable perspectives from various invited contributors to each of the six identified key areas that the metaverse could significantly impact.

Findings

For each key area identified, the invited contributors first share their valuable perspectives by discussing the roles of the metaverse. Subsequently, the invited contributors discuss their views on vital opportunities, challenges and research agenda concerning the metaverse.

Originality/value

With the widespread metaverse, it is expected that each key area identified is likely to undergo significant levels of disruption. Against this backdrop, this paper contributes to the academic literature and industry by gathering different perspectives from invited contributors on the relevance of the metaverse in marketing and logistics domains.

Citation

Tan, G.W.-H., Aw, E.C.-X., Cham, T.-H., Ooi, K.-B., Dwivedi, Y.K., Alalwan, A.A., Balakrishnan, J., Chan, H.K., Hew, J.-J., Hughes, L., Jain, V., Lee, V.H., Lin, B., Rana, N.P. and Tan, T.M. (2023), "Metaverse in marketing and logistics: the state of the art and the path forward", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 35 No. 12, pp. 2932-2946. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-01-2023-0078