The Metaverse as Commerce: Modeling the Intention to Purchase on the Metaverse

The idea of Metaverse is to create a society/world where individuals get a chance to live an alternate life. Metaverse decisively closes the gap between the real world and virtual world. The recent progress made in terms of connectivity and the world shifting toward digitization organizations/businesses alike are looking at capitalizing on this opportunity to connect with consumers. With businesses trying to get closer to the consumer, Metaverse allows them to bring the entire in-store experience to the consumers doorstep. The objective of the paper is to identify the willingness of an individual to purchase the Metaverse at its nascent stage. SPICE and TRAM are the two theoretical models being used in this paper. Seamlessness, economic flow, interoperability and reality were found to be important predictors of purchase intention. Gender and age were not found to be significant predictors. The implications of the study are important. Companies and businesses seeking to increase purchases should focus on ensuring seamlessness and interoperability. Platforms need to promote economic flow.