Metaverse retail after the hype
Virtual reality, the metaverse, augmented reality and immersive technologies appear on 123 recent papers, but the topic is fading, with 21 papers in the last quarter against about 33 per quarter before; 23 of the papers concern retail or consumers. Which immersive applications survived the hype cycle, and what do their users actually buy?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 123 papers carry a virtual-reality, metaverse, augmented-reality, immersive or extended-reality keyword (60 in AI journals, 44 in management): "virtual reality" on 37, "metaverse" on 34, "augmented reality" on 30, "immersive technologies" on 13. Twenty-one were published in July–September 2026 against about 33 per quarter earlier. Twenty-three of the 123 carry a retail, shopping, consumer, purchase, marketing, brand or tourism keyword.
Questions
- Which uses (virtual try-on, showrooms, training, tourism previews) produced measurable sales or savings, and which were abandoned?
- Do consumers who try products in augmented reality return fewer goods?
- Did firms that invested heavily in metaverse projects in 2021–2022 write them off, and did markets punish or reward the retreat?
Data that could help
Retailer data on augmented-reality feature use and returns, firms' project announcements and later disclosures, and app usage statistics.
Next step
Compare return rates for products bought with and without virtual try-on at one retailer, controlling for product and customer.