Let me Entertain You – the Influence of Augmented Reality on Purchasing Intention in E-Commerce

Abstract

Augmented reality (AR) in e-commerce helps consumers to envision products in their respective surroundings, so fosters customer experience. Our online experiment with 302 probands explores the effect of AR on purchasing intention, taking into account motivational variables—perceived usefulness, entertainment and perceived ease of use (PEOU). Consumers viewing products in an AR-enabled online shop rated perceived usefulness, entertainment and PEOU significantly higher than the control group viewing the non-AR-enabled online shop. Performing mediation analysis, we found that AR significantly influences purchase intention, which is mediated by perceived entertainment. Our findings add to the understanding of the interplay of the motivational variables perceived usefulness, entertainment and PEOU as well as the impact of AR on customer decision making. From a managerial point of view, our findings suggest that in the current stage of the technology, AR is perceived as a playful add-on to online shopping, positively impacting purchase intention.