The display of electronic commerce within virtual environments

In today’s competitive business environment, the majority of companies are expected to be represented on the Internet in the form of an electronic commerce site. In an effort to keep up with current business trends, certain aspects of interface design such as those related to navigation and perception may be overlooked. For instance, the manner in which a visitor to the site might perceive the information displayed or the ease with which they navigate through the site may not be taken into consideration. This paper reports on the evaluation of the electronic commerce sites of three different companies, focusing specifically on the human factors issues such as perception and navigation. Heuristic evaluation, the most popular method for investigating user interface design, is the technique employed to assess each of these sites. In light of the results from the analysis of the evaluation data, virtual environments are suggested as a way of improving the navigation and perception display constraints

Using authentic 3D product visualisation for an electrical online retailer

This study investigates the effects of authentic three dimensional (3D) product visualisation versus 3D telepresence on consumers’ virtual experience. A hypothetical electrical retailer Web site presents a variety of laptops using 3D product visualisations for the within-subjects laboratory experiments. The first experiment uses two-way repeated measures ANOVA to determine the effects of the antecedents on 3D authenticity. In a second experiment, a one-way ANOVA compares telepresence and authenticity scores. This research uses a U.K. sample to investigate the effects of control and animated colours on 3D authenticity and the effects of 3D authenticity on experiential and instrumental values. The results reveal significant differences between telepresence and authenticity constructs. Authenticity is more significant in simulating an online retailer’s products, and control and animated colours represent the main antecedents of authenticity. Moreover, experiential and instrumental values represent the main consequences of 3D authenticity

Using 3D product visualisation to tap consumers’ experience with online retailers: From telepresence to authenticity

This study investigates the effects of authentic three dimensional (3D) product visualisation versus 3D telepresence on consumers’ virtual experience. A hypothetical retailer Web site presents a variety of laptops using 3D product visualisations for the within-subjects laboratory experiment. The first stage uses two-way repeated measures ANOVA to determine the effects of the progressive levels of control and animated colours on 3D authenticity (the dependent variable). In a second stage, we use structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypothesis. This research uses a U.K. sample to investigate the effects of 3D authenticity and 3D telepresence on willingness to purchase and reveals significant differences between telepresence and authenticity constructs. Authenticity is more significant in simulating an online retailer’s products, and control and animated colours represent the main antecedents of authenticity. The proposed conceptual model achieves acceptable fit and the hypothesised paths are all valid

The Impact of Experiential Augmented Reality Applications on Fashion Purchase Intention

Utilizing the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of augmented reality (AR) (specifically augmentation) on consumers’ affective and behavioral response and to assess whether consumers’ hedonic motivation for shopping moderates this relationship. An experiment using the manipulation of AR and no AR was conducted with 162 participants aged between 18 and 35. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling and randomly assigned to the control or stimulus group. The hypothesized associations were analyzed using linear regression with bootstrapping. The paper demonstrates the benefit of using an experiential AR retail application (app) to positively impact purchase intention. The results show this effect is mediated by positive affective response. Furthermore, hedonic shopping motivation moderates the relationship between augmentation and the positive affective response. Because of the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalizability to other forms of augmentation. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed model using different types of AR stimuli. Furthermore, replication of the study with other populations would increase the generalizability of the findings. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for retailers of the benefits of using AR when attempting to optimize experiential value in online environments. The study contributes to experiential retail and consumer purchase behavior research by deepening the conceptualization of the impact of experiential technologies, more specifically AR apps, by considering the role of hedonic shopping motivations.Peer reviewe

Shopping in a Virtual Reality: A Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) based Systematic Literature Review

The virtual reality (VR) technology has become increasingly relevant in recent years due to the advantages that occur through the representation of the real within a virtual world. One promising application area of VR is virtual shopping, i.e., providing customers with the ability to visit virtual stores instead of purchasing products on 2D websites or brick-and-mortar stores. To gain insights into the opportunities of the technology in the realm of shopping, we emphasize and discuss the literature on the use of VR for shopping based on a systematic literature review, thereby deepening our understanding of virtual retail concepts and synthesizing the empirical evidence on the advantages of VR. For this purpose, we developed a Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) based framework to summarize the key findings. The results comprise suggestions for VR shopping applications as well as possible future research avenues

The Layered Virtual Reality Commerce System (LaVRCS): An Approach to Creating Viable VRCommerce Sites

In this paper, the authors argue that Virtual Reality (VR) does have a place in an e-commerce environment. However, VR is not yet ready to supplant standard e-commerce Web interfaces with a completely immersive VR environment. Rather, Virtual Reality in e-commerce (VRCommerce) must rely on a mixed platform presentation to account for various levels of usability, user trust, and technical feasibility. The authors propose that e-commerce sites that want to implement VRCommerce offer at least three layers of interaction to users: a standard Web interface, embedded VR objects in a Web interface, and semi-immersive VR within an existing Web interface. This system is termed the Layered Virtual Reality Commerce System, or LaVRCS

Is augmented reality going to bridge the gap between online and physical stores?

The first appearance of Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that mixes the real and virtual world through a device, goes back to 1968. An increasingly impact of digitalization in our society lead to the change of many business models and it has had an impact on retail. Retailers are now experimenting new ways to meet customer needs and expectations to remain competitive in the digital environment. Market pressure lead companies to invest more in technologies such as AR to improve their websites and platforms and work as a differentiation. This thesis seeks to investigate the impact of AR, through different devices, in bridging the gap between online and physical stores, since consumers are not able to experiment a product before buying it online. Through an online survey, it was possible to affirm that AR is a successful strategy to increment online performances even though the willingness to buy strictly online and purchase intention weren't directly affected by AR. Only a product's perceived informativeness increase due to the technology usage. Also, in fashion shopping the smart mirror had the best user acceptance and in furniture shopping the smartphone app took the lead. Thus, AR is able to bridge the gap between online and physical stores, according to the study, and the collected data might help companies to reevaluate their next steps, especially in the fashion and furniture industry, to remain competitive in the digital world.Realidade Aumentada (RA), uma tecnologia que mistura o mundo real com o mundo virtual através de um dispositivo remonta a 1968. O aumento da digitalização na nossa sociedade levou a uma mudança de muitos modelos de negócio no mercado retalhista. Retalhistas estão agora experimentando novas formas de corresponder as necessidades do consumidor para se manterem competitivas no mundo digital. A pressão do mercado tem levado empresas a investir em tecnologias como a RA para melhorar as suas plataformas, como fator diferenciador. A presente tese procura investigar o impacto da realidade aumentada, através de diferentes dispositivos, em diminuir o fosso entre as lojas físicas e "online", uma vez que os consumidores não podem experimentar um produto, numa loja "online", antes de o comprarem. Num questionário "online", foi possível afirmar que a realidade aumentada é uma estratégia de sucesso "online" apesar da propensão de compra estritamente "online" e a intenção de compra não terem sido afetadas pelo uso da realidade aumentada. Apenas a informação percebida do produto aumentou devido ao uso da tecnologia. Além disso, o espelho inteligente teve a melhor aceitação por parte do utilizador na compra de produtos de moda e na compra de mobiliário a aplicação móvel assumiu a liderança. Assim, a RA é capaz de tapar o fosso entre as lojas físicas e "online", de acordo com o estudo, os dados recolhidos poderão ajudar empresas a reavaliar os seus próximos passos, especialmente na indústria de mobiliário e moda, para se manterem competitivas no mundo digital

The effects of progressive levels of 3d authenticity antecedents and consequences on consumers’ virtual experience

This study investigates the effects of authentic three dimensional (3D) product visualisation antecedents on 3D authenticity, and the effects of 3D authenticity consequences on consumers’ virtual experience. A hypothetical retailer Web site presents a variety of laptops for the within-subjects laboratory experiments. In a first experiment, a one-way ANOVA compares telepresence and authenticity scores. The second experiment uses two-way repeated measures ANOVA to determine the effects of the progressive levels of the antecedents on 3D authenticity. In a third experiment, two-way repeated measures ANOVA determine the effects of the progressive levels of 3D authenticity consequences on willingness to purchase. The results show that authenticity is more useful than telepresence in simulating consumers’ virtual experience. The high levels of control and animated colours lead to higher authenticity for the site. In addition, the high levels of 3D utilitarian and hedonic constructs enhance willingness to purchase from the online retailer