Abstract The application of virtual reality in human activities has been rapidly growing during the last decade. Shopping for food is an important part of people's daily lives. As overnight delivery services of fresh produce, such as Amazon Fresh, are in their development stage, more studies on virtual stores for perishable products are needed, as the quality of fruits and vegetables (FaVs) cannot be easily assessed by consumers when virtual stores are used. This research examines the impact of a physical store, a non-immersive virtual store, and an immersive virtual store environment on consumers' perceptions and purchase behavior toward FaVs. Experimental between-subjects design (i.e., three groups), combined with a questionnaire survey (after-only design), was used to address the study objectives. The research found that consumers' perceptions of FaVs in both non-immersive and immersive virtual stores (VS) are similar to those in a physical store. By contrast, consumers buy more FaVs in both non-immersive and immersive VS compared to a physical store. The findings also indicate that consumers tend to rely more on extrinsic cues (i.e., FaVs' prices) in the immersive VS when evaluating FaVs on offer and less on intrinsic cues (e.g., FaVs' appearance) they use in the physical store. The results have important implications for practitioners and researchers with regard to the usefulness of virtual reality for better understanding of consumer behavior.

中文翻译：

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实体、非沉浸式虚拟和沉浸式虚拟商店环境对消费者感知和购买行为的影响

摘要 虚拟现实在人类活动中的应用在过去十年中迅速增长。购物是人们日常生活的重要组成部分。由于 Amazon Fresh 等新鲜农产品的隔夜送货服务处于发展阶段，因此需要对易腐烂产品的虚拟商店进行更多研究，因为当虚拟商店存在时，消费者无法轻易评估水果和蔬菜 (FaV) 的质量。用过的。本研究考察了实体店、非沉浸式虚拟商店和沉浸式虚拟商店环境对消费者对 FaV 的看法和购买行为的影响。实验性受试者间设计（即三组）结合问卷调查（仅事后设计）用于解决研究目标。研究发现，消费者的 非沉浸式和沉浸式虚拟商店 (VS) 中对 FaV 的感知与实体商店中的相似。相比之下，与实体店相比，消费者在非沉浸式和沉浸式 VS 中购买了更多的 FaV。调查结果还表明，消费者在评估所提供的 FaV 时，倾向于更多地依赖沉浸式 VS 中的外在线索（即 FaV 的价格），而不是他们在实体店中使用的内在线索（例如，FaV 的外观）。研究结果对从业者和研究人员在虚拟现实对更好地理解消费者行为的有用性方面具有重要意义。调查结果还表明，消费者在评估所提供的 FaV 时，倾向于更多地依赖沉浸式 VS 中的外在线索（即 FaV 的价格），而不是他们在实体店中使用的内在线索（例如，FaV 的外观）。研究结果对从业者和研究人员在虚拟现实对更好地理解消费者行为的有用性方面具有重要意义。调查结果还表明，消费者在评估所提供的 FaV 时，倾向于更多地依赖沉浸式 VS 中的外在线索（即 FaV 的价格），而不是他们在实体店中使用的内在线索（例如，FaV 的外观）。研究结果对从业者和研究人员在虚拟现实对更好地理解消费者行为的有用性方面具有重要意义。