 Virtual reality as a promotion tool for small independent storesGwia Kim, Byoungho Jin and Daeun Chloe Shin Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2022, vol. 64, issue C Abstract: Based on flow theory, we examined whether, compared to conventional online stores, 360-degree based virtual reality (VR) videos of a small independent store can enhance customers' store experience and their responses to the store through heightened flow state. Two types of stimuli creating different experiences were used for the experiments. The first stimulus type was a 360-degree VR video experience where respondents experienced the store of a small fashion retailer. The second was a website experience exploring the website of the same store. Results indicate that customers' VR experience (i.e., exploring the physical store in a VR setting), compared to website experience (i.e., exploring the same store's online store), enhanced their flow state, which, in turn, increased interest and visit intention toward the store. The findings suggest that 360-degree VR videos can be an effective customer acquisition tool for small retailers with limited resources because the software and hardware required to operate 360-degree VR videos are inexpensive and less complicated for small companies. Keywords: Virtual reality; Flow theory; Small and medium enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:64:y:2022:i:c:s096969892100388x DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102822 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is currently edited by Harry Timmermans More articles in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services from Elsevier |
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