Augmented Reality Applications in Consumer Retail Experiences
Summary
Augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a transformative technology in consumer retail, blending digital content with the physical environment to enrich the shopping journey. Retailers deploy AR to enable virtual product visualisation, personalised try-on experiences, interactive in-store navigation and social sharing of recommendations. Advances in computer vision, markerless tracking and low-latency networks have made real-time overlays more accurate and responsive. By closing the imagination gap between online and offline shopping, AR enhances customer engagement, reduces product returns and fosters brand loyalty. The technology supports omnichannel strategies, allowing consumers to move seamlessly between e-commerce platforms and physical outlets. From furniture-placement apps that project life-sized objects into consumers’ living rooms to beauty filters that simulate makeup on the face, AR applications are reshaping perceptions of what retail can deliver. Underpinning this progress are theoretical frameworks derived from technology acceptance, cognitive-affective-normative models and value theories, which explain adoption drivers and inform design choices. Globally, AR is enabling retailers to offer more immersive, convenient and emotionally resonant experiences that redefine the boundaries of the customer journey.
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Augmented Reality Applications in Consumer Retail Experiences publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in augmented reality applications in consumer retail experiences across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Augmented Reality (AR): A technology that overlays computer-generated content—such as images, text or 3D models—onto the user’s view of the real world, typically via a smartphone or wearable device.
Mobile-assisted showrooming (MAS): The behaviour in which consumers use mobile devices to access digital information—reviews, prices or virtual previews—while browsing products in a physical store.
Spatial presence: The subjective sensation of being physically located within a mediated environment, contributing to immersion and engagement in AR experiences.
Consumption value theory: A framework that categorises the benefits consumers derive from a product or service (functional, emotional, social, epistemic and conditional), used to explain technology adoption and usage motivations.
References
- Mobile-assisted showrooming behavior and the (r)evolution of retail: The moderating effect of gender on the adoption of mobile augmented reality. Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2023).
- ARvolution: Decoding consumer motivation and value dimensions in augmented reality. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (2024).
- Virtual Experiences, Real Memories? A Study on Information Recall and Recognition in the Metaverse. Information Systems Frontiers (2024).
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