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Virtual Vogue: Unravelling the Impact of Augmented Reality on Consumer Motivations in Online Fashion

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Date

2024

Authors

Supervisor

Xu, Yingzi
Errmann, Amy

Item type

Thesis

Degree name

Master of Business

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) technology is recognized for its capacity to merge the real and virtual worlds by incorporating digital aspects into physical surroundings. If fashion marketers aim to enhance their online shopping experiences for customers, this technology has the potential to influence consumer behaviours, their motives, and the way they make purchasing decisions. Existent literature showcases how consumer behaviours have shifted from brick and mortar stores to online fashion shopping. However, the entrance of AR into the industry has limited research on how it shapes motivations towards purchase intentions; specifically, the distinct decision making process stages: search, evaluation and purchase. AR technology is one of the most profound technologies fashion retailers have kept their eyes on. Through its interactivity, visualization and immersion, AR has the ability to thrive in online shopping and how consumers purchase products in the future. This research aims to go beyond technical influences on the industry and investigate consumer response to the technology, specifically what drives them to purchase with AR-integrated platforms. This thesis employed qualitative methodologies to provide pertinent insights into the motives for acquiring online fashion apparel. A group of 13 participants were given the opportunity to interact with AR before their semi-structured interviews, to ensure their answers were based on real experiences. To analyse the data, the study took on the six stage process from Braum and Clarkes (2005) and utilized NVivo as the primary tool to report the findings of this study. The outcomes of this study highlighted six valuable themes in understanding consumer motivations in their AR online shopping journey. It brought insights into current online shopping behaviours and challenges. Moreover, the significance of technical influences such as personalization, visualization and usability was emphasized. Most importantly the study discusses social influences on consumer behaviour and how it affects purchasing decisions. Overall, this study contributes to the inadequate body of literature around AR and online fashion shopping behaviours. Specifically, the social aspects as well as extrinsic and intrinsic motivators in the main three stages of the decision making process. The identification of these themes and how they are integrated aided in generating a conceptual framework to illustrate what drives consumers to purchase fashion goods online. This research provides theoretical and practical implications for policymakers, consumer researchers, developers and fashion retailers, leading to an innovative shopping experience.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/17703

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Masters Theses