The Metaverse in Marketing and Sales. Fields of Application in the B2B Sector

Master's Thesis from the year 2022 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,3, University of Bamberg (Lehrstuhl für Vertrieb und Marketing), language: English, abstract: The present work addresses the following questions: What is the Metaverse, and to what extent can it expand and optimize business activities in marketing and sales? How will its development look, and what opportunities and risks arise from participating in it?With the renaming of the Facebook conglomerate to Meta in 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg promotes the idea of the Metaverse. Popular media and public discourse have recently generated extensive interest, as strong emotions are associated with this futuristic technology, and various visions of its future appearance have been put forth. There are indications that a new digital revolution, similar to the introduction of the internet, is on the horizon. However, to reach that point, several technological, societal, and regulatory stages need to be overcome. The topic has also gained traction in the marketer world. When you ask marketers today how they keep up with the digital transformation in their companies, the term Metaverse will be mentioned. However, at this moment, it is not definitively determined how it will be precisely defined and to what extent it will influence business activities.To gain a competitive advantage, companies, primarily in the B2C sector, are already venturing into the Metaverse and exploring this novel technology. By entering this new market early, brands can convey an innovative image and offer customers a unique shopping experience. Various application possibilities also exist for the B2B sector. The Metaverse could be used for various activities, such as meetings and events, maintaining customer relationships, hybrid selling, innovative marketing, Smart Contracts, and also serving as an advertising platform.