What is it about?
Live-stream shopping — where influencers showcase products in real time and followers can buy immediately — is a rapidly growing commercial format. This study is among the first to empirically compare the live-stream shopping experience on two platforms: a conventional Instagram live (low telepresence) and a metaverse virtual room (high telepresence). A quasi-field experiment was conducted with real followers of a sports influencer, who attended either an Instagram or a metaverse live show without knowing they were participating in research. Results show that the metaverse generates significantly higher experiential value (curiosity, novelty, enjoyment) than Instagram, but not higher instrumental value (product evaluation utility). Both types of value drive satisfaction, which in turn generates stickiness intention and intention to recommend the experience. Interestingly, the metaverse's experiential advantage is strongest for followers with low content involvement — those less invested in the influencer's content — who benefit most from the immersive environment.
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Why is it important?
As influencer marketing matures, platforms compete to offer richer experiences. This research offers concrete evidence that the metaverse has real advantages over established platforms — but also real limitations: it does not yet enhance the practical utility of the shopping experience. For influencers and brands, this means the metaverse is currently best suited to engaging casual or low-involvement audiences, while product-focused utility still needs improvement. The findings provide a data-driven foundation for deciding when to invest in metaverse activations versus conventional live formats.
Perspectives
Running a quasi-field experiment with real followers who didn't know they were in a study — watching an actual live show, then filling in a questionnaire — was methodologically demanding and genuinely thrilling. I believe the ecological validity it provided is what makes this paper stand out. The finding about low-involvement followers benefiting most from the metaverse was unexpected and, I think, has immediate strategic value for influencer managers: the metaverse may be a tool for audience expansion rather than deepening existing fan relationships. As immersive platforms evolve and VR headsets become more affordable, I expect these dynamics will shift, and this paper establishes the baseline.
Sergio Barta
Universidad de Zaragoza
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Telepresence in live-stream shopping: An experimental study comparing Instagram and the metaverse, Electronic Markets, June 2023, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s12525-023-00643-6.
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