Listen to the authors present their findings (source: January 2022 JM Webinar)
聆听作者介绍他们的发现（来源：2022 年 1 月 JM 网络研讨会）
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes virtual objects onto a live view of physical environments, helping users visualize how these objects fit into their physical world. While firms are keen to invest in AR, research examining its real-world impact is sparse.
增强现实 （AR） 是一种将虚拟对象叠加到物理环境的实时视图上的技术，帮助用户可视化这些对象如何融入他们的物理世界。虽然企业热衷于投资AR，但研究其对现实世界影响的研究却很少。
A new study in the Journal of Marketing identifies four broad uses of AR in retail settings that loosely correspond to a customer’s journey from awareness to interest, consideration, purchase, and consumption and may not be mutually exclusive. These uses are:
《营销杂志》（Journal of Marketing）上的一项新研究确定了AR在零售环境中的四种广泛用途，这些用途与客户从意识到兴趣、考虑、购买和消费的旅程大致相对应，并且可能并不相互排斥。这些用途包括：
- To entertain customers. AR transforms static objects into interactive, animated three-dimensional objects, helping marketers create fresh experiences that captivate and entertain customers. Besides generating hype and interest, marketers have also used AR-enabled experiences to drive traffic to their physical locations. For example, Walmart collaborated with DC Comics and Marvel to place special thematic displays with exclusive superhero-themed AR experiences in its stores. In addition to creating novel and engaging experiences for customers, the displays also encouraged customers to explore different areas in the stores.
招待客户。AR 将静态对象转换为交互式动画三维对象，帮助营销人员创造吸引和娱乐客户的全新体验。除了引起炒作和兴趣外，营销人员还使用支持 AR 的体验来将流量吸引到他们的物理位置。例如，沃尔玛与 DC Comics 和 Marvel 合作，在其商店中放置了具有独家超级英雄主题 AR 体验的特殊主题展示。除了为顾客创造新颖而引人入胜的体验外，这些展示还鼓励顾客探索商店的不同区域。 - To educate customers. Due to its interactive and immersive format, AR is also an effective medium to deliver content and information to customers. To help customers better appreciate their new car models, Toyota and Hyundai have utilized AR to demonstrate key features and innovative technologies in a vivid and visually appealing manner. AR can also be used to provide in-store wayfinding and product support. Walgreens and Lowe’s have developed in-store navigation apps that overlay directional signals onto a live view of the path in front of users to guide them to product locations and notify them if there are special promotions along the way.
教育客户。由于其交互式和身临其境的形式，AR 也是向客户提供内容和信息的有效媒介。为了帮助客户更好地欣赏他们的新车型，丰田和现代利用AR以生动和视觉上吸引人的方式展示了关键功能和创新技术。AR 还可用于提供店内寻路和产品支持。Walgreens 和 Lowe's 开发了店内导航应用程序，将方向信号叠加到用户面前路径的实时视图上，以引导他们前往产品位置，并在途中是否有特别促销活动时通知他们。 - To facilitate product evaluation. By retaining the physical environment as a backdrop for virtual elements, AR also helps users visualize how products would appear in their actual consumption contexts to assess product fit more accurately prior to purchase. For example, Ikea’s Place app uses AR to overlay true-to-scale, three-dimensional models of furniture onto a live view of customers’ rooms. Customers can easily determine if the products fit in a space without taking any measurements. Uniqlo and Topshop have deployed the same technology in their physical stores, offering customers greater convenience by reducing the need to change in and out of different outfits. An added advantage of AR is its ability to accommodate a wide assortment of products. This capability is particularly useful for made-to-order or bulky products. BMW and Audi have used AR to provide customers with true-to-scale, three-dimensional visual representations of car models based on customized features such as paint color, wheel design, and interior aesthetics.
促进产品评估。通过保留物理环境作为虚拟元素的背景，AR还可以帮助用户可视化产品在实际消费环境中的外观，从而在购买前更准确地评估产品的适用性。例如，宜家的 Place 应用程序使用 AR 将真实比例的三维家具模型叠加到客户房间的实时视图上。客户无需进行任何测量即可轻松确定产品是否适合空间。优衣库和Topshop在其实体店中部署了相同的技术，通过减少换穿不同服装的需要，为顾客提供了更大的便利。AR 的另一个优势是它能够容纳各种各样的产品。此功能对于按订单生产或大件产品特别有用。宝马和奥迪利用 AR 为客户提供基于油漆颜色、车轮设计和内饰美学等定制功能的逼真的汽车模型三维视觉表示。 - To enhance the post-purchase consumption experience. Lastly, AR can be used to enhance and redefine the way products are experienced or consumed after they have been purchased. For example, Lego recently launched several specially designed brick sets that combine physical and virtual gameplay. Through the companion AR app, animated Lego characters spring to life and interact with the physical Lego sets, creating a whole new playing experience. In a bid to address skepticism about the quality of its food ingredients, McDonald’s has also used AR to let customers discover the origins of ingredients in the food they purchased via story-telling and three-dimensional animations.
提升售后消费体验。最后，AR可用于增强和重新定义产品在购买后的体验或消费方式。例如，乐高最近推出了几款特别设计的积木套装，结合了物理和虚拟游戏玩法。通过配套的 AR 应用程序，动画乐高角色栩栩如生，并与实体乐高套装互动，创造全新的游戏体验。为了解决人们对其食品成分质量的怀疑，麦当劳还使用AR让顾客通过讲故事和三维动画来发现他们购买的食物中成分的来源。
We also focus specifically on the promising application of AR to facilitate product evaluation prior to purchase and examine how it impacts sales in online retail. We find that:
我们还特别关注AR的有前途的应用，以促进购买前的产品评估，并研究它如何影响在线零售的销售。我们发现：
- The availability and usage of AR has a positive impact on sales. The overall impact appears to be small, but certain products are more likely to benefit from the technology than others.
AR 的可用性和使用对销售有积极影响。总体影响似乎很小，但某些产品比其他产品更有可能从该技术中受益。
- The impact of AR is stronger for products and brands that are less popular. Thus, retailers carrying wide product assortments can use AR to stimulate demand for niche products at the long tail of the sales distribution. AR may also help to level the playing field for less-popular brands. With the launch of AR-enabled display ads on advertising platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, less-established brands could consider investing in this new ad format because they stand to benefit most from this technology.
AR对不太受欢迎的产品和品牌的影响更大。因此，拥有广泛产品种类的零售商可以使用AR在销售分布的长尾刺激对利基产品的需求。AR还可能有助于为不太受欢迎的品牌创造公平的竞争环境。随着 Facebook 和 YouTube 等广告平台上支持 AR 的展示广告的推出，不太成熟的品牌可以考虑投资这种新的广告格式，因为他们将从这项技术中受益最多。
- The impact of AR is also greater for products that are more expensive, indicating that AR could increase overall revenues for retailers. Retailers selling premium products may also leverage AR to improve decision comfort and reduce customers’ hesitation in the purchase process.
AR对更昂贵的产品的影响也更大，这表明AR可以增加零售商的整体收入。销售优质产品的零售商还可以利用 AR 来提高决策舒适度并减少客户在购买过程中的犹豫。 - Customers who are new to the online channel or product category are more likely to purchase after using AR, suggesting that AR has the potential to promote online channel adoption and category expansion. As prior research has shown that multichannel customers are more profitable, omni-channel retailers can use AR to encourage their offline customers to adopt the online channel.
刚接触在线渠道或产品类别的客户更有可能在使用 AR 后购买，这表明 AR 有可能促进在线渠道的采用和品类扩展。由于先前的研究表明，多渠道客户更有利可图，全渠道零售商可以使用AR来鼓励其线下客户采用在线渠道。
Taken together, our findings provide converging evidence that AR is most effective when product-related uncertainty is high. Managers can thus use AR to reduce customer uncertainty to improve sales.
综上所述，我们的研究结果提供了一致的证据，表明当与产品相关的不确定性很高时，AR最有效。因此，管理人员可以使用 AR 来减少客户的不确定性，从而提高销售额。
Read the full article.
阅读全文。
Read the authors’ slides for sharing this material in your classroom.
阅读作者的幻灯片，在课堂上分享这些材料。
From: Yong-Chin Tan, Sandeep Chandukala, and Srinivas Reddy, “Augmented Reality in Retail and Its Impact on Sales,” Journal of Marketing.
摘自：Yong-Chin Tan、Sandeep Chandukala 和 Srinivas Reddy，“零售业的增强现实及其对销售的影响”，《市场营销杂志》。
Go to the Journal of Marketing
转到《市场营销杂志》
学术研究 营销技术 零售和购物者营销 销售
Yong-Chin Tan is Assistant Professor of Marketing, College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Sandeep R. Chandukala is Associate Professor of Marketing, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore.
Srinivas K. Reddy is Professor of Marketing and Director, Center for Marketing Excellence, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore.
