DOES IT FIT THE BODY? SCENARIO-EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY-BASED VIRTUAL TRY-ON IN APPAREL

JOSHUA ZACHARIA MOLLEL

doi:10.7273/000006957

Augmented Reality (AR) technology is not just expanding rapidly; it's bringing about revolutions in various industries. Its unique ability to superimpose virtual and real worlds is creating more engaging and interactive user experiences. In the realm of apparel retail, AR is making a significant impact by elevating shopping experiences, particularly through virtual try-on (VTO), also known as AR-based virtual try-on (AR-based VTO). Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), which requires extensive hardware, AR can be easily accessed through devices like smartphones, making it more accessible to a wider audience. With its market value projected to skyrocket from 3.5 billion US dollars in 2017 to a staggering 198 billion by 2025, AR is not just a trend but an integral part of our lives and commercial activities. While apparel retailers massively implement AR and show promise in transforming how we shop apparel products, a limited experimental study evaluates the factors that might influence the adoption of AR-based VTO technology. This gap between AR's enormous growth and limited consumer adoption studies emphasizes the importance of conducting research examining AR's applications and exploring users' overall acceptance and perception in the apparel retail industry. This research aimed to close this gap by experimentally evaluating the factors affecting the adoption of AR-based VTO technology in the apparel retail industry. By integrating the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) along with crucial constructs of body image and fit confidence, the study carefully examined how various factors influence consumers' attitudes towards AR-based VTO technologies and their intentions to purchase. The factors studied include compatibility, relative advantage, complexity, observation, trialability, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness. Through a scenario-based experiment, the study involved 388 female participants in the United States who partook in the experiment and responded to the online survey via Amazon Mechanical Turk. The collected data was analyzed statistically using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach with the help of SmartPLS 4 software. This research revealed that relative advantage positively influences perceived ease of use and usefulness, emphasizing the need for effective communication about the unique benefits of AR-based VTO technology. The results also show that trialability positively influences perceived ease of use, underscoring the importance of enabling users to experience AR-based VTO technology before committing to it. Other positive influences include perceived ease of use towards perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use towards attitude, perceived usefulness towards attitude, and perceived usefulness towards purchase intention. However, a few relationships were inconsistent with previous studies: The relationship between compatibility and perceived ease of use and usefulness was insignificant, complexity positively influenced the perceived ease of use but insignificantly influenced usefulness, the relationship between observability and perceived ease of use and usefulness was insignificant, trialability insignificantly influenced the usefulness. Moreover, the significant influence of both fit confidence and body esteem on consumers' attitudes toward AR-based VTO technology and purchase intention cannot be overstated. This underscores the pivotal role of AR-based VTO technology in accurately portraying and validating a user's body image, a factor of utmost importance in fostering acceptance and success of AR-based VTO technology in the apparel industry. Both of these relationships are mediated by attitudes toward the AR-based VTO technology, which strengthens fit confidence and body esteem relationship with the purchase intention. Finally, the analysis reveals that attitudes toward AR-based VTO technology significantly influence consumers' purchase intentions. This relationship is supported by TAM, which emphasizes the significance of consumer attitudes in adopting new technologies. The results underscore the importance of fostering positive consumer attitudes to boost the acceptance and effective use of AR-based VTO technology within apparel retail environments.

DOES IT FIT THE BODY? SCENARIO-EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY-BASED VIRTUAL TRY-ON IN APPAREL

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