Understanding Virtual Reality in Marketing: Nature, Implications and Potential

Abstract

A new wave of virtual reality (VR) development promises to make the technology mainstream, and with it to provide an exciting new platform for consumer marketing. The impacts of VR on marketing are currently not well understood. This paper provides a framework for understanding the impact of virtual reality on consumers, integrating individual, technology and social levels, and focusing upon the central role of presence, consumer VR experiences and socialness in driving changes in consumer engagement. The paper illustrates the value of VR in marketing through a number of current examples of the use of virtual reality in marketing functions, and examines the nature of the experiences offered. It further provides a framework for positioning the level of VR consumer engagement based on location and interactivity. The paper rounds off with a discussion of the future of VR and a number of problems that need to be solved.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, vr, Presence, Framework, Experience, Examples, Consumers