The role of avatar: how do we create the positive consumer experience in the era of metaverse?

Consumers are in the era of the Metaverse. The changes in the consumption environment lead to a change in consumer behavior. Therefore, it is time to understand and respond to consumer behavior in the world of the Metaverse. Creating positive consumer experience has been a critical marketing issue until now. In this paper, we adapted self-concept to identify the consumer experience with avatar in the Metaverse. Consumers should use their avatars whenever they experience a brand in the Metaverse. However, research on the features and consumer experiences with avatar provided by the Metaverse has only just begun. Therefore, this study contributed to the academia by identifying the consumer experience with an avatar based on the self-concept in the virtual world. To examine the role of avatar in the Metaverse, we divided the consumer experience with avatar using two types: actual-self avatar vs. virtual-self avatar. Consumers who experienced actual-self avatars had a higher brand attitude than virtual-self avatars. Results of this study provide practical contributions in terms of brand management. While many brands are now using the Metaverse to host brand events, there are no guidelines for using the Metaverse, specifically avatars, to manage and promote the consumer experience. Consumer participation in the Metaverse has a two-way interaction when using avatars that can be characterized as having real-time interaction that justifies as providing a high degree of customer engagement. Thus, brand managers need to know how to make experiencing consumers use their avatars effectively to enhance brand engagement. Our findings show that brand manager who run the Metaverse events should encourage consumers to create avatars that look like real people. The Metaverse experiences revolved around the actual-self can increase consumers' brand attitudes.