Consumption behavior in digital wearables in online environments such as the Metaverse

Over the past decade, the developments of the internet and digitalization have significantly impacted different markets and industries. The emergence of online webshops, virtual assistants, and 3D fitting rooms has drastically changed the shopping experiences for consumers. Furthermore, these developments have resulted in new, digital commodities that merely exist online in the digital realm. An example of this are digital wearables. This study focuses on the demand of individuals for digital fashion, or rather known as digital wearables. In particular, this study focuses on the demand of individuals that are active in the Metaverse, a digital space where people can meet and socialize with each other online. A wide range of literature has focused on the demand for fashion within different sectors of the industry, such as luxury fashion and fast fashion. Nevertheless, this newly emerged commodity that only exists online has not been studied in depth before. However, commodities such as non- functional items in online video games have been studied in more depth before and seem to carry similar functionalities and values to digital wearables, as both exist in the virtual realm. This exploratory research tries to gain new insights into the key factors that cause demand for digital wearables and looks if there are similarities between demand factors within related industries. For this research, a quantitative research method was chosen in the form of an online survey distributed via various online channels connected to Metaverse users. A descriptive analysis and correlation tests of the result have been used to come to certain conclusions. Results of the research show strong factors for the demand that lay mainly in social motivations.