![]() ![]() The third research gap pertains to the way the VR store environment is created in previous studies. To evaluate the effect of VR store experience accurately, this study employs consumers’ store familiarity as a moderator. That is, consumers’ prior experience with the store may lessen the novelty of experiencing the store a second or subsequent time through VR. Positive emotions, such as excitement, arousal, and pleasure, may depend on consumers’ prior exposure to the store. Another research gap is that previous VR studies have not considered the potential impact of consumers’ level of familiarity with the store in question. Most of these studies have paid attention to VR-led consumer responses, such as behavioral intention and customer satisfaction (Domina et al., 2012 Gabisch, 2011 Lau & Lee, 2018 Pizzi et al., 2019), but do not fully explain why the VR store environment results in positive behavioral intentions. With the emergence of VR and its use in practice, several academic studies have emerged on the use of VR in retailing and marketing. Therefore, this study posits that this type of VR is practical for retailers. By playing VR videos, consumers can experience the store virtually and overcome the physical limitation of geographical locations. To play VR videos, consumers can use any VR headsets, even mobile-based VR operators, such as Google Cardboard (Jang et al., 2019). The cameras are inexpensive and easy to use. To create 360-degree-based VR videos, retailers can use 360-degree cameras that can be used to record in-store environments. Among them, a viable way for any retailer to utilize easily is the 360-degree-based VR videos because these videos require fewer skill sets and financial budgets to operate than other VR types. As with this case, VR can be an effective tool in delivering store atmosphere and providing unique shopping experiences. ![]() One example is eBay, which collaborated with Myer, an Australian department store, and created a VR environment on eBay’s website to allow its consumers to explore the store environment virtually (Team, 2016). A growing number of retailers are testing VR online. By replicating the real world (Herz & Rauschnabel, 2019 Steuer, 1992), VR enables consumers to experience the store atmosphere without actually visiting the store. One way to offer a unique store experience online is using virtual reality (VR). Retailers, however, cannot fully portray their store environment through their websites. Retailers invest in creating an attractive store environment because it induces consumers to visit and provides them with an enjoyable shopping experience (e.g., Baek et al., 2018 Darden et al., 1983 Orth & Wirtz, 2014). Specifically, it demonstrates the effectiveness of VR over website in enhancing store attractiveness, an under-studied area. ![]() This study suggests an effective method for online retailers to emulate an attractive store environment and entice consumers through VR, regardless of the retailers’ fame. Text analytics were also utilized, providing additional insights about their VR store experiences. This study also discovered that store familiarity does not moderate the relationship between the two store experience types and evoked emotions, implying that VR technology is effective regardless of consumers’ familiarity with a store. ![]() The results revealed that relative to an ordinary store website, consumers’ VR store experience evoked positive emotions and increased perceived store attractiveness. Two types of stimuli were developed for the experiments: consumers’ VR store experience (106 data) (i.e., having respondents experience 360-degree-based VR store videos recorded at a fashion retailer) and store website experience (107 data) (i.e., having respondents experience the same store’s website). Based on the stimuli-organism-response model, this study aims to examine whether consumers’ store experience through virtual reality (VR), compared to website experience, can attract them enough to perceive the online store as appealing. ![]()
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