Chapter 4: Role of Immersive Technologies in Shaping Customer-centric Sustainable Supply Chains for Wellness Services

The wellness industry supply chain is undergoing a significant shift due to rapid technological advancements like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), blockchain and internet of things (IoT). This research examines immersive wellness technologies for creating consumer-centric sustainable supply chains and evaluates their operational and environmental impacts. Despite the industry’s growth, research on adopting immersive technology for sustainable, customer-centric supply chains is scarce. Existing studies focus on customer engagement and blockchain for supply chain. This research fills this gap by studying immersive wellness technologies that enhance operational efficiency, sustainability and consumer engagement in supply chains. It provides practical recommendations for supply chain researchers, industry and policymakers based on empirical data. This study uses secondary data from 23 documents, including peer-reviewed journal articles and international agency publications, to analyse supply chain sustainability performance across four stages: thematic categorisation, trend analysis, quantitative metric analysis and case study analysis. The thematic analysis concentrates on the supply chain, while the quantitative analysis examines performance metrics like supply chain performance, customer retention and waste management. The case study analysis explores how immersive wellness technologies work in real-time environments, applying them in logistics, retail, food supply chain and healthcare. The study identifies five key areas of research: consumer engagement, customer-centric supply chain, sustainability, supply chain visibility and healthcare and education. A quantitative comparison shows that VR increases success rates by up to 25%, AR improves logistics tracking and blockchain offers transparency in supply chain operations. This study provides a systematic approach for companies, policymakers and researchers to incorporate immersive wellness technologies into sustainable supply chains prioritising customer-centricity.