Purpose

Due to the lack of relevant literatures on the application of mobile augmented reality (AR) service in beauty industry, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the mobile AR service on consumers' purchase behavior and brand awareness in beauty industry. And this study also wants to identify the different effects of the relationship among flow experience (concentration, playfulness and exploratory behavior), decision comfort and purchase intention moderated by different levels of consumer characteristics (individualism and fashion innovativeness).

Design/methodology/approach

This study set up a research model based on SOR model. The study used AR mobile app named “Youcam Makeup” as stimulus to do the questionnaire survey. First, the authors describe the way to use this AR mobile app and make sure each participant experience this app for about 5 min to understand AR well and finally, finished the questionnaire. SPSS and AMOS were used to do data analysis.

Findings

The results of this study showed that first, in the field of fashion and beauty makeup, compared with the ability to control or modify virtual contents – the perception of vividness, reality and aesthetics – are more relevant to consumers. Second, besides the playfulness that AR provides, AR technology can also encourage exploratory behavior in consumers, which will directly affect their intention to purchase. Finally, when using mobile AR technology, consumers with different levels of individualism or fashion innovativeness will gain different perceptions of their purchase intention.

Research limitations/implications

First, the study targets millennial female consumers. The future studies can be conducted on consumers of different age groups. Second, the sampling of this study is insufficient; if it had more samples, the results would be more accurate. Finally, AR is integrated into people's lives; therefore, to not be limited to millennial consumers, demographic characteristics need to be applied to future research.

Practical implications

This study provides a theoretical basis for marketers to formulate marketing strategies. First of all, marketers can use this technology to provide consumers with a more vivid and specific online shopping experience. Second, technical developers can focus on developing the features of AR with the strongest consumer perception based on the results of this study. Finally, this study researched consumer traits that can deepen understanding of both emerging technologies and consumer behavior as compared to research only on mobile AR services. Marketers need to understand the characteristics of consumers when making marketing plans and expand the characteristics of AR technology corresponding to the characteristics of consumers to attract consumers with different attributes.

Social implications

By using interactive technology, the brand can be closer to consumers and provide help and fun for consumers when they consume online. AR can also lead to future tool reuse behavior, thus establishing long-term relationships with consumers. More than that, AR can be used with the mobile phone, which can be used anytime and anywhere, eliminating space and time constraints. Therefore, the brand can establish cheap and extensive technology as a marketing strategy. Also, it can become one of the most common marketing tools.

Originality/value

This research fills the gap in the literature on mobile AR technology in the beauty industry. Such knowledge will not only facilitate the online development of brands but also help support retailers' development in the beauty industry, providing necessary capabilities for the expansion and application of this new technology. With regard to marketing strategies, the study on consumer characteristic provides the knowledge foundation for marketers to create marketing strategies, which is easier for them to formulate marketing schemes favorable to the brand for varying consumers.

中文翻译：

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增强现实 (AR) 应用在美容产品行业的使用和消费者购买意愿

目的

由于缺乏移动增强现实（AR）服务在美容行业应用的相关文献，本研究旨在探讨移动增强现实服务对美容行业消费者购买行为和品牌知名度的影响。并且本研究还想确定不同层次的消费者特征（个人主义和时尚创新）对心流体验（专注度、趣味性和探索性行为）、决策舒适度和购买意愿之间关系的不同影响。

设计/方法/方法

本研究建立了基于SOR模型的研究模型。该研究使用名为“Youcam Makeup”的 AR 移动应用程序作为刺激来进行问卷调查。首先，作者描述了使用这个 AR 移动应用程序的方式，并确保每个参与者体验这个应用程序大约 5 分钟以更好地理解 AR，最后完成问卷。使用SPSS和AMOS进行数据分析。

发现

这项研究的结果表明，首先，在时尚美妆领域，与控制或修改虚拟内容的能力相比，生动、真实和美感的感知与消费者更相关。其次，除了AR提供的趣味性之外，AR技术还可以鼓励消费者的探索行为，这将直接影响他们的购买意愿。最后，在使用移动AR技术时，具有不同个人主义或时尚创新水平的消费者对其购买意向会有不同的感知。

研究限制/影响

首先，该研究针对千禧一代女性消费者。未来的研究可以针对不同年龄段的消费者进行。二是本研究的抽样不足；如果它有更多的样本，结果会更准确。最后，AR融入人们的生活；因此，为了不限于千禧一代消费者，需要将人口特征应用于未来的研究。

实际影响

本研究为营销人员制定营销策略提供了理论依据。首先，营销人员可以利用这项技术为消费者提供更加生动具体的网上购物体验。其次，技术开发人员可以根据这项研究的结果，专注于开发消费者感知最强的AR功能。最后，与仅对移动 AR 服务的研究相比，本研究研究了可以加深对新兴技术和消费者行为的理解的消费者特征。营销人员在制定营销计划时需要了解消费者的特点，并根据消费者的特点拓展AR技术的特点，以吸引不同属性的消费者。

社会影响

通过互动技术，品牌可以更贴近消费者，为消费者在线消费提供帮助和乐趣。AR 还可以导致未来的工具重用行为，从而与消费者建立长期关系。不仅如此，AR还可以搭配手机使用，随时随地都可以使用，免去了空间和时间的限制。因此，品牌可以建立廉价而广泛的技术作为营销策略。此外，它可以成为最常见的营销工具之一。

原创性/价值

这项研究填补了美容行业移动 AR 技术文献的空白。这些知识不仅会促进品牌的线上发展，也有助于支持零售商在美容行业的发展，为这项新技术的扩展和应用提供必要的能力。在营销策略方面，对消费者特征的研究为营销人员制定营销策略提供了知识基础，更容易为不同的消费者制定有利于品牌的营销方案。