The rise of Augmented Reality (AR) technology presents marketers with promising opportunities to engage customers and transform their brand experience. While firms are keen to invest in AR, research documenting its tangible impact in real-world contexts is sparse. In this article, the authors outline four broad uses of the technology in retail settings. Next, they focus specifically on the use of AR to facilitate product evaluation prior to purchase, and empirically investigate its impact on sales in online retail. Using data obtained from an international cosmetics retailer, they find that AR usage on the retailer’s mobile app is associated with higher sales for brands that are less popular, products with narrower appeal, and products that are more expensive. In addition, the effect of AR is stronger for customers who are new to the online channel or product category, suggesting that the sales increase is coming from online channel adoption and category expansion. These findings provide converging evidence that AR is most effective when product-related uncertainty is high, demonstrating the technology’s potential to increase sales by reducing uncertainty and instilling purchase confidence. To encourage more impactful research in this area, the authors conclude with a research agenda for AR in marketing.

增强现实（AR）技术的兴起为营销人员提供了吸引客户并改变其品牌体验的广阔机遇。尽管公司渴望在AR上进行投资，但记录其在现实环境中的切实影响的研究却很少。在本文中，作者概述了该技术在零售环境中的四种广泛用途。接下来，他们专门研究如何使用AR来促进购买前的产品评估，并通过实证研究其对在线零售销售的影响。他们使用从国际化妆品零售商处获得的数据发现，零售商的移动应用程序上的AR使用率与不那么受欢迎的品牌，更具吸引力的产品和较昂贵的产品的较高销售额相关。此外，对于刚接触在线渠道或产品类别的客户而言，AR的效果更强，这表明销售增长来自在线渠道的采用和类别扩展。这些发现提供了越来越多的证据，表明与产品相关的不确定性很高时，AR最有效，这表明该技术具有通过减少不确定性和灌输购买信心来增加销售的潜力。为了鼓励在这一领域进行更有影响力的研究，作者最后提出了营销中AR的研究议程。通过减少不确定性和灌输购买信心来证明该技术具有增加销售的潜力。为了鼓励在这一领域进行更有影响力的研究，作者最后提出了营销中AR的研究议程。通过减少不确定性和灌输购买信心来证明该技术具有增加销售的潜力。为了鼓励在这一领域进行更有影响力的研究，作者最后提出了营销中AR的研究议程。