Investigating online consumers’ responses to product presentation modes

Abstract

Purpose With the proliferation of virtual reality (VR) applications in electronic commerce, investigations on the effects of VR on consumer responses are important. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of online presentation modes (i.e. situational VR, pure VR and picture) on consumer responses for three product types (i.e. geometric, material and mechanical). Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a 3×3 between-subjects experiment to validate the research model and hypotheses. Findings The results revealed that both the situational VR mode and the pure VR mode had a greater impact on product knowledge and purchase intention than the picture mode. The situational VR mode yielded a higher level of product knowledge and purchase intention than the pure VR mode although it was not statistically significant. Furthermore, the pattern of VR modes superiority was found to be consistent across geometric, material and mechanical product types. Originality/value This research study contributes to the VR literature by investigating a new type of VR: situational VR, and offering a more comprehensive picture of consumer responses to online product presentations. The authors then drew the implications from the findings to suggest guidelines for practitioners to efficiently allocate resources and maximize the effectiveness of online presentation modes.

Mechanism Linking AR-Based Presentation Mode and Consumers’ Responses: A Moderated Serial Mediation Model

“…Following the design of prior studies on the influence of presentation mode on consumer choice [2,19,21,63,64], we adopted a single factor between-subject design, with presentation mode as the independent variable (picture vs. AR). A one-month web-based experiment was conducted in China.…”

“…Product information plays an important role in determining consumers' purchase choices [1]. It can be presented in different modes, ranging from text to multimedia to product trials [2]. Previous research focusing on the offline purchase context indicated different presentation modes could impact consumers' attitudes and product evaluations distinctly [3].…”

“…Text, pictures and videos are the most widely used digital presentation modes and they are used to convey visual information. Consumers make a judgment of the product by browsing the presented visual information on e-commerce platforms [2]. However, visual messages alone are not enough to decrease consumers' perceived risk or support their final purchase decisions [6].…”

Understanding the Relative Impact of Dual Identification on Brand Loyalty on Social Media: The Regulatory Fit Perspective in Different Cultures

“…As previously explained, it is likely that consumers who are prevention oriented will take fewer risks and are more sensitive to uncertainty when they buy products ( Higgins, 1998 ). Consumers can evaluate and compare search products’ main features prior to buying them, due to specific product descriptions ( Wang et al, 2019 ). Available and concrete information regarding search products leads to lower levels of perceived uncertainty and a small psychological distance.…”

The Effects of Review Presentation Formats on Consumers' Purchase Intention

“…Telepresence has been identified as a crucial factor to influence consumer behavior such as perceived trust (Lee & Shin, 2014;Lu et al, 2016), perceived safe (Shin & Shin, 2011) and purchase intention (Keng et al, 2016). Previous researches have shown that telepresence has a positive effect on purchase intention (Wang et al, 2019;Elsamari & Mignon, 2016). Furthermore, researchers have shown that video-based online reviews are relatively effective in promoting purchase intention (Xu et al, 2015).…”