More than meets the eye: In-store retail experiences with augmented reality smart glasses

Abstract

Augmented reality smart glasses (ARSGs) promise to enhance consumer experiences and decision-making when deployed as in-store retail technologies. However, research to date has not studied in-store use cases; instead, it has focused primarily on consumers' potential adoption of these devices for everyday use. Nor have prior studies compared ARSG uses with the now-common use of AR on touchscreen devices. The current research addresses these knowledge gaps by examining whether ARSGs outperform AR on touchscreen devices in the context of in-store retail experiences. Testing with an actual retail application (n = 308) shows that ARSGs are superior to AR on touchscreen devices for evoking consumers’ perceptions of immersion and mental intangibility. Furthermore, this superiority leads consumers to evaluate their shopping experiences more positively in terms of their decision comfort, satisfaction, and ease of evaluation, with significantly positive effects on their purchase intentions. These results highlight the relevance of implementing ARSGs in-store and provide retailers with recommendations for effective ARSG strategies.