Our Research
Enhancing the online B2C service experience
In a series of studies, we are investigating how current AR applications can compensate consumers for the absence of actual product trial in online shopping. First results show that allowing consumers to virtually fit, for instance, a pair of sunglasses to their face in a virtual mirror substantially improves their perceptions of the online service experience. This is the case, as AR realistically simulates actual product experience and thus empowers consumers to freely assess a product. Consumer empowerment through AR services thus reveals new service development opportunities for the online channel.
Enhancing the offline B2C service experience
Our experiments in a “simulated” supermarket show that AR applications can aid consumers in making healthier food choices. In particular, we developed a mobile AR application that guides consumers by providing advice about the product they are facing on a supermarket shelf. Just as AR can add virtual information to a physical environment, it can also remove information from the perception of that environment. For instance, by de-saturating the colour of ‘unhealthy’ product options in a supermarket setting, AR empowers consumers to make choices that are consistent with their diet and lifestyle goals. Embracing such consumer empowerment, firms can gain the opportunity to enhance the service experience and enable personalization in traditional brick and mortar retail settings.
Enhancing industrial B2B service experiences
In this project, we seek to uncover the potential of AR to contribute to personal well-being in the industrial domain. Together with our business partners Evolar - Smartpick, Realtime Solutions, and Flos Creative Component Solutions we are putting AR smart glasses for warehouse order-picking to the test. Through the smart glasses, workers receive picking instructions directly in their field of vision, resulting in reduced task completion times, error-rates and perceived work stress. Furthermore, participants consistently reported that they felt empowered, rather than controlled, from using the AR system.
A collaborative project with:
Master Thesis Projects
In our capacity as University Professors, Lecturers and PhD Candidates, we also offer students the opportunity to work on an Augmented Reality-related project within their Master Thesis. Several of these projects have resulted in highly topical and insightful theses.