The role of immersion and digital personas in building customer loyalty in metaverse retailing

Purpose This study draws on relationship marketing theory to explore how immersion and digital personas in metaverse retail drive customer loyalty. It examines the mediating roles of confidence, social and special-treatment benefits and satisfaction, while considering how perceived risk and retail innovation moderate these relationships. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment (N = 201) manipulated immersion (high vs. low) and digital persona (present vs. absent) in a simulated metaverse retail environment. Participants reported their perceived relational benefits, satisfaction, loyalty, perceived risk and perceived innovation. Hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM. Findings Immersion primarily enhances confidence benefits and, through satisfaction, strengthens customer loyalty. Digital personas increase confidence, social and special-treatment benefits, thereby improving satisfaction and loyalty. A compensatory pattern emerges whereby digital personas sustain relational value under low immersion but contribute less when immersion is already high. Perceived risk and retail innovation further moderate these effects, highlighting how emerging technologies can both reinforce and complicate customer–brand relationships. Originality/value This study applies relationship marketing theory and uses the S–O–R model as a complementary lens to explain how metaverse affordances generate relationship value and customer loyalty. It differentiates the roles of immersion and digital personas, shows that digital personas can compensate under low immersion and reveals that retail innovation can simultaneously enhance engagement and intensify perceived risk.