The Evolving Role of Metaverse: Opportunities and Challenges for the Retail Sector

Metaverse is poised to be a driving force behind the transformation of the retail sector owing to its ability to enhance customer shopping experience and add to business growth. It offers the possibilities of digital immersion for people, and virtual teleportation thus opening doors for never-before opportunities for retailers. This paper provides a vision of how Metaverse can revolutionize the retail sector by enhancing customer shopping experiences in the virtual world. Drawing on a systematic review using the SPAR-4 SLR framework of scholarly works, articles, and conference proceedings from the technology, metaverse, retail, and consumer behaviour domains, this study defines and conceptualizes the role that Metaverse can play in the retail sector. It further elaborates on challenges that retailer may face as they try to integrate metaverse with their existing operations, and how they can overcome these challenges. Finally, the study proposes a future direction of research that can be built over the existing research