A new report says that Chinese consumers are leading the world in AR and VR shopping and purchases, after a survey was given to an unlisted number of individuals by London-based payments company Worldpay. The report doesn’t mention the exact number of Chinese consumers that were surveyed about using AR and VR technology but it does mention that the report included consumers from over eight different markets and the report included 16,000 consumers in all. Almost all of the respondents that were asked had said that they felt comfortable and were willing to make a purchase online in augmented or virtual reality. Of those asked, it’s stated about 36 percent said they had concerns over security when making such a purchase.
95 percent of those consumers who were surveyed had said they used either augmented reality or virtual reality or both in the previous three months. Based on the survey’s responses 84 percent of the Chinese consumers that were asked reportedly feel that virtual reality and augmented reality has proven to be a technology that was a major future trend for online commerce. Judging by the numbers it seems that the majority of Chinese consumers, at least the ones that were surveyed, would have no problem shopping in a virtual or augmented reality environment, though not all consumers are willing as the report also states that one percent of those surveyed said they would never consider making a purchase using AR and VR technology.
When asked whether or not seeing an advertisement in a virtual reality or augmented reality shopping environment would convince or entice them to buy a product, the report states that almost half, 49 percent, would be stimulated to make a purchase if they saw an ad for a product while using VR and AR technology. The report also notes that 92 percent of the consumers that were surveyed actually want more shopping-related applications to make use of virtual reality and augmented reality technology, while 96 percent of consumers that were asked said that they found interest in the use of VR and AR technology for shopping if it were to improve the shopping experience. In addition, about 78 percent of consumers asked thought of shopping in VR as a “fun” way to shop online compared to a more traditional online shopping method.