Digital Twins in the Retail Industry: a Systematic Literature Review

Digital Twin (DT) is considered the most modern simulation method when it comes to tightly connect the real and virtual worlds to produce accurate simulation models of constant use to aid stakeholders in decision making.This method has been used more intensively in the manufacturing sector, but its use has spread to other sectors of great relevance in the economy, such as the retail industry.The contribution of this article to existing research is to present a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) addressing the state-of-the-art of the potential use of Digital Twins (DTs) to support decision making in the retail field.The main findings illustrate a considerable appearance of case studies applied directly in the sector, a strong investment in research focused on supply chains, an extensive use of simulation models and sensors, however, that mostly make use of secondary data and are not completely autonomous.Summary tables of the main benefits, opportunities and challenges in applying DTs in the retail sector are also presented.