The shopping of the future will be in virtual reality!

Stating that the pandemic has a great impact on the high level of online shopping, experts say that this rapid growth is predicted to continue today and, in the future, when the social impact of the pandemic has started to decrease.

Explaining that the retail e-commerce industry benefits from virtual reality technology-based solutions in various ways, Neuromarketing Specialist Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker stated that "The widespread use of virtual reality (VR) technology and the relatively easy accessibility of related devices also offer new opportunities for shopping in the digital environment."

Üsküdar University Head of the Department of Neuromarketing Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker evaluated the impact of digital platforms on consumer behavior.

Retail sales have shifted from traditional shopping channels to digital and online channels

Noting that retail sales activities have shifted from traditional shopping channels to digital and online channels today, Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker said that "In 2026, the share of e-commerce in all retail sales will reach 24 percent. The pandemic period has had an undeniable impact on online shopping to reach this high level."

It is predicted that the rapid growth experienced during the pandemic period will continue

Noting that in the first quarter of 2020, the field of e-commerce in the USA grew as much as in the previous 10 years when the pandemic emerged on a global scale, Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker expressed that "However, it is predicted that this rapid growth experienced during the pandemic period will continue today and, in the future, when the social impact of the pandemic has started to decrease."

Virtual reality (VR) technology opens up new possibilities for shopping

Stating that it can be claimed that the leading technology in the field of online shopping today is virtual reality technology, Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker made the following remarks:

"The retail e-commerce industry can benefit from virtual reality technology-based solutions in a variety of ways. In addition to traditional 2D digital environments such as websites, the widespread use of virtual reality (VR) technology and the relatively easy accessibility of related devices also offer new opportunities for shopping in the digital environment.

One of the application areas where virtual reality has a presence in business life is considered to be shopping and especially retail. Providing consumers with a more interesting shopping experience, effectively managing the processes leading to sales, saving time and money for both the institution and the customer, increasing brand awareness and loyalty can be listed as the prominent opportunities of virtual reality."

Clothing, furniture and home decoration industries use new technologies in e-commerce

Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker explained that the prediction that these technologies will reach 2 billion 593 million users in 2027 confirms the investment made by large companies in the retail sector and said that "With the support of these high penetration rates, the global retail virtual reality market is expected to reach a value of 5 billion 455 million dollars in 2028. In particular, the leading companies in the clothing, furniture and home decoration sectors have become the driving force behind the use of these new technologies in e-commerce with their investments."

Three-dimensional and interactive product visualization for online shoppers

Reminding that in the article published in Forbes magazine in 2020, virtual reality technology can offer the opportunity to decide whether a product is the appropriate size and style for the customer, in a way that traditional online environments such as websites cannot provide, Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker stated that "An increasing number of retail companies are benefiting from three-dimensional and interactive product visualization for consumers shopping online. Although the results of the studies that pioneered the claim of measuring the impact of 3D virtual reality applications and comparing them with 2D digital media are not consistent, recent studies emphasize that virtual technologies come to the fore thanks to contextual changes such as the development of these technologies and their penetration into everyday life."

The effect of virtual reality on consumer behavior is in the dimensions of informativeness and amusement

Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker explained that virtual reality technology-based solutions can enrich the shopping experience beyond real shopping in the shopping ecosystem of the future, and Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker stated that "Another area of consensus in research on the effects of virtual technologies on consumer behavior is the values that consumers attribute to virtual technologies. Previous studies show that the dimensions of informative and entertaining come to the fore in terms of the effect of 3D virtual reality on consumer behavior. It is seen that these dimensions coincide with hedonic and utilitarian shopping values."

Reflections of hedonic and utilitarian consumption in emerging online technologies...

Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker explained that while the dream satisfaction, freedom perception, sensory experience and positive emotions offered to consumers in the retail environment all provide a high hedonic shopping value, utilitarian shopping value is mostly related to cognitively directed consumption and the functional results of consumption. Asst. Prof. Selami Varol Ülker said that "The reflections of hedonic and utilitarian consumption in developing online technologies have also been the subject of current academic studies. They found that consumers are experiencing positive emotional processes such as enjoyment of VR environments and hedonic experiences. However, the fact that the VR environment has efficiencies such as the ease of locating the product with attractive visions and the temporal gain also reveals that it can positively affect the level of utilitarianism."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)