Sustainable and Safe Consumer Experience NFTs and Raffles in the Cosmetics Market after COVID-19

Abstract

Due to the endless epidemic, the world has moved to the metaverse world. To keep pace with the changes in the cosmetic market, research on customer experience using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) was conducted. This review study is an empirical analysis that focuses on introducing the safety of the metaverse world into cosmetics in the absence of customer experience in the cosmetic market due to the rapid transition to a non-face-to-face society in the COVID-19 pandemic. This review of consumer experience is a critical literature review. In this study, a technical review approach was used. Using the PRISMA flow chart, a total of 453 references were selected using representative journal search sites such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, RISS, and ResearchGate. Accordingly, a total of 28 papers were selected in the final stage from 2013 to 2022. This literature review focuses on the NFT cosmetics market, which expands the consumer experience into a fun experience by focusing on the sustainable safety of new consumer changes in the metaverse beauty market. This is an empirical analysis focused on the cosmetic consumer experience for the new launch of cosmetic brands using NFTs in the future beauty and cosmetology market. This narrative review article focuses on sustainable and safe experiences for beauty and cosmetics consumer experiences in the post-COVID-19 metaverse, NFTs in the metaverse, FUN for the MZ generation, and new consumer experiences. NFTs, which are a leading novel cultural and social phenomenon and utilize fun raffles in the sustainable and safe metaverse of the MZ generation that embodies the digital world, are a new era in the beauty market. Accordingly, by confirming the change, they are expected to be used as an important marketing material and strategy in the global metaverse cosmetological market for sustainable and safe spaces and consumer experiences.

1. Introduction

In the COVID-19 global pandemic era, as the non-face-to-face society becomes fully fledged, it changes the value of health and sustainability for the lifestyle of beauty consumers, while changing roles and functions in various ways. It seems that consumers’ purchasing patterns have changed. In line with this situation, the metaverse is rapidly emerging. Metaverse refers to a virtual world in relation to the real world. It is a term that refers to a three-dimensional virtual world, in which social, economic, and cultural activities have taken place recently. In this novel world, humanity lives in a virtual three-dimensional space through avatars and digital bands. This artist calls the world of artificial space the metaverse. The metaverse is reincarnated in the real world and is parallel to the real world [1,2,3]. Humans form an individual’s cognitive framework by comparing and applying the information they acquire at every moment with the existing knowledge system. As such, the degree of agreement between the input information generated from the product and the cognitive framework can have an effect. Among them, one study has shown that the fun factor can also have a significant effect on consumers [4]. The ‘Raffle’ is emerging as a new consumption trend. Raffles, meaning ‘lottery lottery’, have become a popular purchase method, as an increasing number of consumers want to buy limited-edition products. This method was recently adopted by fashion companies as a new method [5]. It is a blockchain-based token that combines scarcity and uniqueness. One can make videos, photos, and music into non-copyable content. These non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have recently attracted attention as a new digital asset. Digital marketplaces based on NFTs reveal mechanisms that shape the evolution of networks defining the artistic practice [6]. In the Republic of Korea, the interest of millennials and generation Z is increasing. These MZ generations are leading a new cultural and social phenomenon. Millennials (born 1981–1996) and Gen Z (born 1997–2010) share a similar upbringing. Due to the commonality of the ‘Digital Generation’, they are collectively referred to as the MZ generation. The metaverse they lead is the English word ‘meta’, which means ‘virtual’ and ‘transcendence’, and the universe, also called a 3D virtual world. In addition, NFTs are an essential content of the metaverse. NFTs are non-tradeable or replicable block-chain-based tokens that combine scarcity and originality. This new era is unfolding in the beauty market as well [2,3,4,5,6].

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to focus on the utilization of NFTs in the metaverse for the consumer experience of cosmetics in the beauty market as the metaverse world is rapidly introduced due to the epidemic. This is a study for a sustainable, safe, and enjoyable consumer experience for consumers who use NFTs and raffles with FUN in the cosmetic market. In the new metaverse beauty market, NFTs through a lottery are expected to play a pivotal role in the consumer experience. Therefore, it is possible to present important implications and strategies for sustainable and safe consumer experiences in the metaverse cosmetics market.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Search Strategy

Although this literature review is a narrative review, we searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, ResearchGate, and GoogleScholar, according to the PRISMA flow diagram guidelines, with the following search word chains: COVID-19; sustainable and safe; consumer experience; cosmetics; NFT; raffle; and FUN. Figure 1 illustrates the flowchart relating to the process of finding and selecting the studies included in this literature review.

2.2. Eligibility Criteria

The articles included in this literature review had to meet the eligibility criteria of this literature review as follows. With respect to COVID-19, sustainable consumer experience, safe consumer experience, cosmetics, NFT, raffle, and FUN studies on the following were considered eligible for inclusion: a sustainable and safe spatial experience for beauty and cosmetics customer experiences in the metaverse, utilizing NFTs in the metaverse, FUN and raffles for the younger generation, and new customer experiences.

2.3. Screening and Data Extraction

As inclusion criteria, we considered various article types, such as original research article, review article, internet article, brief report, and series. We did not apply restrictions on date of publication or language. The exclusion criteria were the following: full text not being accessible, full text not containing raw data, inappropriate topics, university thesis and dissertation, and not being pertinent to the main focus of the review.

2.4. Study Selection and Data Extraction

This review is a critical literature review. In this study, a descriptive review approach was used. A total of 453 references were selected using representative journal search sites such as PubMed, GoogleScholar, Scopus, RISS, and ResearchGate using the PRISMA flow diagram. Accordingly, a total of 28 papers were selected in the final stage from 2013 to 2022. The PRISMA flowchart is shown in Figure 1. Additionally, consumers who prefer fun and cosmetic NFT consumer experiences through raffle are summarized in Table 1 and Table 2. The research model diagram was organized into Figure 2.

3. Results

3.1. Accelerating the Era of the Metaverse

Coronaviruses that infect animals and humans have positive single-stranded RNA genomes. Described more than 70 years ago, coronaviruses include many species. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome caused by human coronavirus (HCoV) are reported as deadly species. Hence, COVID-19 is caused by a new strain of HCoV known as SARS-CoV-2. In the post-visit survey, 76.9% of patients were able to obtain the greatest satisfaction with the treatment. As a result, telemedicine treatment of epilepsy does not compromise patient care quality. It also provides a high level of satisfaction and economic benefits. This suggests that virtual therapy should be used during current and future epidemiological fallout. In addition to the current epidemic, its continued usage is expected in the future. Patients with stable seizure symptoms may prefer to receive epilepsy treatment via telemedicine [7,8]. In an educational perspective, the metaverse study suggested the following directions. First, we propose to develop an educational metaverse platform that prevents misuse of student data. Second, teachers should examine how students perceive the metaverse. Third, the teacher stated that the class should be designed so that students can work together to solve problems or complete projects in the metaverse. As a result, the metaverse should expand its potential as a new social communication space. It can be applied in a variety of fields, including the metaverse [9]. In the study on the use of the metaverse for learner-centered constructivist education in the post-pandemic era, the following results were derived. From a constructivist perspective, this study analyzed the metaverse’s experiences and attitudes for learner-centered education. Measuring each factor of the metaverse for 336 elementary school students in Korea, an average of 97.9% of elementary school students had experienced the metaverse. 95.5% showed that it is closely related to daily life [10].

3.2. Changes in Consumer Perception in the Coming New Era

As a result, the purchasing behavior of beauty products, including cosmetics consumers, has seen a major change. As the COVID-19 pandemic changed beauty consumer values and lifestyles, its roles and functions changed. This paved the way for purchasing patterns to play a critical role in bringing about change. The authors specifically stated that online shopping is taking place. The characteristics of consumers during the pandemic were examined in this study using offline shopping channels. A question was also raised about how frequently online and offline shopping channels will be used once society has stabilized following the COVID-19 lockdown crisis. This is an examination of the factors that will be used to choose between online and offline shopping channels following the COVID-19 pandemic [11,12]. Brands that imitate luxury goods are generally perceived negatively. This is even more important for products that are open to others. Such imitation has a negative impact on the attitudes of luxury brands, as it shows that public products are toxic choices for both imitated and imitators. As can be supported by these results, various factors that determine brand value can be confirmed as follows. The product quality and performance, brand recognition and reliability, and brand image are suggested as major factors determining brand value. Therefore, the possibility of brand substitution must be considered an important factor in the consumer decision-making process. Therefore, a strategy that can become an irreplaceable brand is needed. If it is recognized as a brand that consumers can easily replace, the brand cannot survive, since the brand has a long history and high recognition does not guarantee its survival. Now, due to the brand’s unique story, only that brand should make its value clear [13,14].

3.3. Consumer Experience of Consumers Who Prefer FUN Values

Recently, consumers wanted to expand into a cultural space. Consumers have the desire to have fun and have fun anytime, anywhere. They pursue these desires, excitement, and fantasy. They want to change their mood, freedom, and gather new information through products. With the psychological desire to escape from this reality, consumers gradually pursued fun [15]. It is meaningful to explain that consumers’ emotions can act as a major factor when products have a significant impact on consumers. Furthermore, it has implications that an attempt was made to specifically subdivide the effect of consumer emotion by examining the effect of ‘fun’ among positive emotions. In a study on the effect of fun induction on consumers’ purchase intentions, it was found that the effect of cute product characteristics through fun priming on consumers’ purchase intentions is affected by the level of self-interpretation, which is a psychological variable of consumers [16]. When the concept of FUN and the function of play are applied, research results have shown that consumers can have fun and a desire to purchase. This can confirm the emotional utility in which the concept of FUN is grafted. In addition, the fact that the play function can expand the diversity of design was verified [17]. Research on interesting applications and uses can support this [18,19]. In a study centered on fun content of mobile shopping, beauty, live commerce, and the fun content of the MZ generation in Korea amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was found that they prefer fun in a market where individual tastes and individuality are emphasized, centering on the MZ generation, who has emerged as a new cosmetic consumer. Millennials and Generation Z, also called the ‘SNS Generation’ worldwide, pay attention to consumption trends. Through this study, it is possible to obtain the result that the cosmetics market will also change to a focus on interesting content [18]. Table 1 summarizes the research on consumers who prefer fun.

Table 1. Consumer experience of consumers who prefer FUN values.

Author	Ki C. (2014) [17]	Kim S et al. (2015) [15]	Kim H et al. (2017) [16]	Oh JC. (2022) [4]	Lee J et al. (2022) [18]
Title	Study on Play Effect Analysis of FUN Concept Handicraft and its Effectiveness Evaluation—Focusing on interior decoration tools and furniture design	A Study on show window display method of expression using Fun designs	The effect of fun induction on consumer’s purchase intention = Focusing on the moderating effect of gift situation and self-interpretation	Formation of social capital through corporate CSR and consumer good consumption: Focusing on scenario techniques	Mobile shopping beauty live commerce changes in COVID-19 pandemic focused on fun contents of MZ generation in Republic of Korea
Discussion	When the concept of FUN and the function of play are applied, it can arouse consumers’ desire to purchase along with fun.	Consumers pursue fun as they not only pursue the desire to have fun and enjoyment anytime, anywhere, but also have a psychological desire to escape from reality, such as change of mood, freedom, and new information collection.	The cute product characteristics through fun priming influence the purchase intention of consumers.	Recently, the relationship between companies and consumers is being newly established as a cooperative symbiotic relationship that creates common value, away from the conflicting relationship of interests. The meaning of corporate social responsibility and consumer good consumption is expanding.	As live commerce has increased rapidly since COVID-19, it is necessary to insert fun content into cosmetics by referring to the characteristics of the MZ generation who use it.
Journal name	Kor Design Forum	Proc of the Kor Soc for Spatial Design	National Research Foundation of Korea	Journal of the Korea Service Management Society	J Cosmet Dermatol
Reference	[17]	[15]	[16]	[4]	[18]

Table 1. Consumer experience of consumers who prefer FUN values.

Author	Ki C. (2014) [17]	Kim S et al. (2015) [15]	Kim H et al. (2017) [16]	Oh JC. (2022) [4]	Lee J et al. (2022) [18]
Title	Study on Play Effect Analysis of FUN Concept Handicraft and its Effectiveness Evaluation—Focusing on interior decoration tools and furniture design	A Study on show window display method of expression using Fun designs	The effect of fun induction on consumer’s purchase intention = Focusing on the moderating effect of gift situation and self-interpretation	Formation of social capital through corporate CSR and consumer good consumption: Focusing on scenario techniques	Mobile shopping beauty live commerce changes in COVID-19 pandemic focused on fun contents of MZ generation in Republic of Korea
Discussion	When the concept of FUN and the function of play are applied, it can arouse consumers’ desire to purchase along with fun.	Consumers pursue fun as they not only pursue the desire to have fun and enjoyment anytime, anywhere, but also have a psychological desire to escape from reality, such as change of mood, freedom, and new information collection.	The cute product characteristics through fun priming influence the purchase intention of consumers.	Recently, the relationship between companies and consumers is being newly established as a cooperative symbiotic relationship that creates common value, away from the conflicting relationship of interests. The meaning of corporate social responsibility and consumer good consumption is expanding.	As live commerce has increased rapidly since COVID-19, it is necessary to insert fun content into cosmetics by referring to the characteristics of the MZ generation who use it.
Journal name	Kor Design Forum	Proc of the Kor Soc for Spatial Design	National Research Foundation of Korea	Journal of the Korea Service Management Society	J Cosmet Dermatol
Reference	[17]	[15]	[16]	[4]	[18]

3.4. Safe Metaverse Cosmetic NFT Customer Experience in a Non-Face-to-Face Society

As a collaboration strategy that reflects the values and purchasing behavior of millennials, you can find new sales methods such as raffles [20]. In the past, if the number of products to be sold was small, but there were many people who wanted to buy them, they were usually sold on a first-come, first-served basis. This method is applied to the raffle. The raffle method is simple. You can apply once per member ID. After logging in, you fill out the application information and wait for the result. A total of 55,000 people participated in the online luxury raffles for brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Chanel at a women’s fashion shopping mall for five episodes. As such, it also focuses on attracting female consumers through raffles. Regarding the development and validation of raffles, a study of loot box participation reasons and facilitator measures revealed that opportunity-based mechanisms identified a variety of motivations for purchasing items within video games. It is a reliable measure of the role of various motives in driving purchasing behavior. It is also important to have a valid means [21]. A study that identified the reasons for British gamers’ participation in video game loot boxes also found that digital items in loot boxes could provide high value to buyers [22]. However, research on whether it is ethical to draw a product in exchange for a recommendation in the past in 2013 is ongoing; there are areas that need to be continuously checked and researched on ethical awareness [23]. An example of an online fashion platform is Musinsa, which sells limited-edition products or luxury goods at exceptional prices as a raffle. It is a method of producing and selling products in collaboration with famous influencers for a limited time [24]. If the method of production and sale for a limited time is combined with cosmetic NFTs, the problem of the cosmetics customer experience can be solved by using the Metaverse and NFTs in the rapidly changing non-face-to-face society after COVID-19 [25]. Table 2 shows safe metaverse cosmetic NFT customer experiences in a non-face-to-face society.

Table 2. Safe metaverse cosmetic NFT customer experiences in a non-face-to-face society.

Author	Sung H et al. (2020) [20]	Nicklin LL et al. (2021) [22]	Kim S. (2021) [24]	Lee J et al. (2022) [25]	Lee J et al. (2022) [26]
Title	An Analysis of Collaboration Cases of Fashion Brand Targeting Millennial Generation -Focused on 2017 to 2019	“It’s the Attraction of Winning That Draws You in”-A Qualitative Investigation of Reasons and Facilitators for Videogame Loot Box Engagement in UK Gamers	Drop culture trends and implications in contemporary fashion	Future value and direction of cosmetics in the era of metaverse	The Significant Transformation of Life into Health & Beauty in Metaverse Era
Discussion	A collaboration strategy that well reflects the values and purchasing behavior of millennials can find new sales methods such as raffles and drops that can have a positive effect on customer response and relationship maintenance.	Digital items in loot boxes can add high value to buyers.	Raffles suggest that consumption has evolved into play and is recognized as an investment concept at the same time as consumption, suggesting that the resale fashion market is being revitalized.	As society rapidly shifts to a non-face-to-face society after COVID-19, an era of change by utilizing the metaverse of cosmetic customer experience will open.	In the metaverse that integrates the health and beauty of life of LOHAS in the COVID-19 era, it is necessary to create a new mobile platform that encompasses 3D health and beauty life using DTC GT and Web 3.0. In addition, it is necessary to prepare for new changes in the future metaverse cosmetics market for a perspective approach.
Journal name	Journal of the Korean Society for Design Culture	J Clin Med	Journal of the Korean Society for Design Culture	J Cosmet Dermatol	J Cosmet Dermatol
Reference	[20]	[22]	[24]	[25]	[26]

Table 2. Safe metaverse cosmetic NFT customer experiences in a non-face-to-face society.

Author	Sung H et al. (2020) [20]	Nicklin LL et al. (2021) [22]	Kim S. (2021) [24]	Lee J et al. (2022) [25]	Lee J et al. (2022) [26]
Title	An Analysis of Collaboration Cases of Fashion Brand Targeting Millennial Generation -Focused on 2017 to 2019	“It’s the Attraction of Winning That Draws You in”-A Qualitative Investigation of Reasons and Facilitators for Videogame Loot Box Engagement in UK Gamers	Drop culture trends and implications in contemporary fashion	Future value and direction of cosmetics in the era of metaverse	The Significant Transformation of Life into Health & Beauty in Metaverse Era
Discussion	A collaboration strategy that well reflects the values and purchasing behavior of millennials can find new sales methods such as raffles and drops that can have a positive effect on customer response and relationship maintenance.	Digital items in loot boxes can add high value to buyers.	Raffles suggest that consumption has evolved into play and is recognized as an investment concept at the same time as consumption, suggesting that the resale fashion market is being revitalized.	As society rapidly shifts to a non-face-to-face society after COVID-19, an era of change by utilizing the metaverse of cosmetic customer experience will open.	In the metaverse that integrates the health and beauty of life of LOHAS in the COVID-19 era, it is necessary to create a new mobile platform that encompasses 3D health and beauty life using DTC GT and Web 3.0. In addition, it is necessary to prepare for new changes in the future metaverse cosmetics market for a perspective approach.
Journal name	Journal of the Korean Society for Design Culture	J Clin Med	Journal of the Korean Society for Design Culture	J Cosmet Dermatol	J Cosmet Dermatol
Reference	[20]	[22]	[24]	[25]	[26]

4. Discussions

COVID-19 was first confirmed in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province. SARS-CoV-2 has since spread throughout the world. It has caused an outbreak in over 200 countries, resulting in a pandemic situation [7]. Research has been done on non-face-to-face care for epilepsy outpatient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. It evaluates the feasibility, patient satisfaction, and financial benefits of telemedicine. As a result, 85.7% of 223 telemedicine patients used both synchronous audio and video technologies. During the visit, 39% of patients had their anticonvulsants adjusted. This proves that the past and present of beauty and cosmetics product purchases have changed dramatically [11]. A study was conducted on the factors that determine consumers’ online/offline shopping behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike before the pandemic, many aspects of consumers’ daily lives, which were previously only done online, were deemed to have changed in the era of concurrent online and offline activities [12].

This is mainly used to give digital assets such as digital artworks, sound sources, and game items rarity. Due to these characteristics, content using NFTs is produced and distributed in various cultural and artistic fields, but problems related to copyright, such as non-titled NFTs are exposed. Furthermore, due to NFTs based on blockchain, the situation includes new copyright problems that were not expected in the transaction of digital contents [27,28]. The average price of art sold was little changed despite significant changes in activity. The price of an artist’s work fluctuated to the extent that this determined his reputation. According to the Artist Invitation Network, newly invited artists develop engagement and sales patterns like those of the invited artists. In a study on the play effect analysis and utility evaluation of crafts incorporating the concept of FUN, it was confirmed that positive evaluations could be obtained by inducing fun to consumers. It was also said that this concept of FUN would also work for consumers of cosmetics through live commerce. It was said that the change in consumer demand in the cosmetics market that has changed since COVID-19 should be solved with interesting content [17,18]. Raffles can have both the effect of attracting attention and fair sales at the same time. Once a topic is created, limited-edition products can be efficiently sold to many people. In this process, consumers feel fun and the loyalty to the Musinsa also increases [5]. The beginning of the raffle was found to be due to the influence of collaboration that evolved from the general method, and the characteristics of the MZ generation, which has rapidly emerged as a consumer in modern society. This is a way to launch a new limited-edition product [24]. In the metaverse that integrates the health and beauty of life of LOHAS with the COVID-19 era, it is necessary to create a new mobile platform that encompasses 3D health and beauty life using DTC GT and Web 3.0. In addition, it is necessary to prepare for new changes in the future metaverse cosmetics market for a perspective approach [26].

Accordingly, this literature review focused on customer changes in the beauty and cosmetics market in the metaverse era. The metaverse world has accelerated due to the transformation to a non-face-to-face society due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The consumer experience will become a novel topic in the cosmetic metaverse market. Additionally, such customer experiences will be a major factor in consumers’ decision to make cosmetics purchases. To consume cosmetics amid these changes, it is necessary to clearly understand the beauty and cosmetic needs of the younger generation who will mainly use the metaverse. However, the limitation of this study is that research on cosmetics using NFTs is insufficient in the metaverse world, which is just beginning. Globally, research on the customer experience of consumers from the cosmetics point of view of metaverse NFTs in virtual reality should be continuously conducted [28].

5. Conclusions

This narrative review article focuses on sustainable and safe experiences for beauty and cosmetics consumer experiences in the post-COVID-19 metaverse, NFTs in the metaverse, FUN for the MZ generation, and new consumer experiences. NFTs, which are a leading novel cultural and social phenomenon and utilize fun raffles in the sustainable and safe metaverse of the MZ generation that embodies the digital world, are a new era in the beauty market. Accordingly, by confirming the change, it is expected to be used as an important marketing material and strategy in the global metaverse cosmetological market for sustainable and safe spaces and consumer experiences.