Digital Twins and Sustainable Digital Marketing: A Systematic Literature Review

Digital Twins (DTs), initially developed for engineering and operational applications, are increasingly being explored in customer-oriented and digital marketing contexts. However, their implications for sustainable digital marketing remain fragmented across research domains. This study addresses the following research question: “How do DTs shape sustainable digital marketing?” A systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 framework, using Scopus, the Web of Science Core Collection, and Google Scholar. The search yielded 70 records from Scopus and 29 records from the Web of Science Core Collection. Google Scholar displayed an estimated result count of approximately 20,798, but this figure did not represent records retrieved for screening. Only the first 300 Google Scholar results were included in the screening scope. Following the study selection process, 48 primary Digital Twin studies were included in the systematic review corpus, while 13 additional citations provided contextual, theoretical, and methodological support. The findings identify four interrelated themes: the conceptual evolution of DTs in marketing, consumer experience and personalization, value creation and sustainability implications, and adoption challenges and governance. The synthesis indicates that DTs may support dynamic customer profiling, adaptive personalization, marketing decision-making, strategic differentiation, and operational efficiency. However, the evidence supporting these applications remains limited and varies in maturity, with consumer-facing DT applications receiving limited empirical validation and measurable sustainability outcomes remaining insufficiently investigated. The principal contribution of this review is to conceptualize DTs as sustainability-contingent digital marketing capabilities rather than inherently sustainable technologies. It highlights that their potential economic, environmental, and social benefits must be evaluated alongside computational resource requirements, privacy risks, ethical concerns, and governance challenges. These findings provide a basis for future empirical research and underscore the need for context-specific evaluation, responsible data governance, and integrated sustainability assessment in DT-enabled digital marketing.