Proceedings of The 8th International Conference on Business, Management and Economics
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Virtual Consumer Identity: New Ways to Enhance Customer Experience
Ilze Jankovska, Jevgēnija Glazunova
ABSTRACT:
Virtual reality is a world of limitless possibilities where the boundaries and lines between the real and unreal are blurred. Oftentimes, it is hard to detect what is authentic and what is fictitious especially when it comes to consumer identities offline and online. It is easy to show up in a virtual reality somewhat differently than in a physical world, which has various implications on the self-image and self-identity of virtual consumers and by extension, their shopping behavior and engagement with brands.
This research case study aims to explore and describe a phenomenon of a “virtual consumer”, their essential characteristics and identity, preferences and needs. In this way, companies that are focused on providing engaging end-to-end Customer Experience (CX) shall benefit from a better understanding and new dimensions around aspirations and motivations of their target audience.
So far, research efforts have not been actively allocated to this type of deep psychographic exploration, which is considered a fresh ground and provides rich possibilities for future research and deep-dive understanding of a chosen phenomenon. Theoretical insights gained from the analysis have been validated using quantitative methods, i.e., surveys, the results of which are presented in this paper.
Keywords: consumer self-image, customer motivation, Metaverse, self-definition, virtual reality