How virtual reality affects consumer choice

Abstract

With high-immersion virtual reality (VR) systems approaching mass markets, companies are seeking to better understand how consumers behave when shopping in VR. A key feature of high-immersion VR environments is that they can create a strong illusion of reality to the senses, which could substantially change consumer choice behavior compared to online shopping. We compare consumer choice from virtual shelves in two environments: (i) a high-immersion VR environment using a head-mounted display and hand-held controllers with (ii) a low-immersion environment showing products as rotatable 3-D models on a desktop computer screen. We use an incentive-aligned choice experiment to investigate how immersion affects consumer choice. Our investigation comprises three key choice characteristics: variety-seeking, price-sensitivity, and satisfaction with the choice made. The empirical results provide evidence that consumers in high-immersion VR choose a larger variety of products and are less price-sensitive. Choice satisfaction, however, did not increase in high-immersion VR.