Mixed reality in e-commerce: opportunities and risks for the consumer-s perception of luxury beauty brands

Abstract

Luxury beauty brands constantly thrive for improving consumer experiences and thereby push innovative marketing activities, which increasingly often include advanced technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality. However, the luxury business model requires an exceptional playbook, raising conflicting perspectives on the fit of luxury with the e-commerce world and its extensions. This research investigates whether such tools actually add value to the consumer experience or even diminish the luxury perception of a product or brand. Think-aloud protocols, as well as an online survey, shed light on consumers’ perception of two illustrative examples, namely Lancôme’s virtual store and try-on.