VR Hardware and Software Developments

Recently, Manis and Choi (2019) operationalised VR into three components including VR content, VR hardware and VR experience. Firstly, VR content refers to an environment simulating a sense of presence in the real world or an imagined world (Manis and Choi, 2019). Typically, content can be displayed by realistic images or video in a 360-degree or 3D digital representation of a real environment (Martínez-Navarro et al., 2019). The 360-degree format is more affordable and is based on videos or images of real situations captured by 360-degree camera, whereas the 3D format is created digitally through computer vision software (Martínez-Navarro et al., 2019). Previously, 3D format was most widely used, however, the 360-degree format is gaining popularity due to the increasingly availability of smartphone enabled headsets and because it is more affordable to create (Martínez-Navarro et al., 2019). In terms of v-commerce, only few studies (e.g. Kim et al., 2014) have made comparisons between the two types of devices, hence, Martínez-Navarro et al., (2019) argued that further research is required to determine which is the most effective in terms of consumer response and whether they perform better than traditional stores.

66 | P a g e VR hardware can be defined as the equipment that allows the user to interact within, view and experience VR content (Manis and Choi, 2019; Berg and Vance, 2017). As previously mentioned, the core component of VR hardware is a HMD, and over the years several types of HMDs have been developed and most nowadays have stereoscopic displays, tracking systems, and a wide field of vision (Loureiro et al., 2019). By having gyroscopes and accelerometers, these devices can recognise the user’s position and therefore position the scene according to that information (Loureiro et al., 2019). Accompanying accessories for HMDs may include haptic systems such as data gloves with tracking sensors that facilitate interaction (Mizell, Jones, Slater and Spanlang, 2002). The two common types of HMDs include tethered and untethered. Untethered HMDs (e.g.

Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift) are mobile-based and therefore use a mobile device as the display (Tussyadiah et al., 2018).

However, these devices can be limiting due to the mobile devices processing power and limited ability to process real-time 3D content (Tussyadiah et al., 2018). In comparison, tethered VR HMDs require a personal computer (PC) to process the graphics and the user is attached to the PC via a cable (Tussyadiah et al., 2018). Tethered headsets (e.g.

HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and OSVR) deliver superior quality graphics as well as real-time tracking and interaction (Byond, 2016). According to Berg and Vance (2017), interacting with a virtual environment is a core component of many VR applications. The increasing availability of more low-cost HMDs has meant that VR is now more accessible to the consumer market because these devices are more financially affordable (Tussyadiah et al., 2018; Hartl and Berger, 2017; van Kerrebroeck et al., 2017a) and also mobile-based, which is beneficial given that many people already have a mobile device that can display VR content at least to some degree (Hartl and Berger, 2017; Tussyadiah et al., 2018; van Kerrebroeck et al., 2017a; Byond, 2016). The development of newer HMDs designed for personal use (e.g. Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR) indicate the potential for mass consumption of VR experiences (Tussyadiah et al., 2016).

A VR experience can be defined as an encounter in which the user is effectively immersed in VR content by means of VR hardware (Manis and Choi, 2019). Accordingly, in order to reach this definition Manis and Choi (2019) draw on prior definitions of VR that are more

67 | P a g e focused on the user’s experience of VR such as Brooks (1999, p. 1) who defined a VR experience as “any in which the user is effectively immersed in a responsive virtual world”, and Berg and Vance (2017, p.1) who discussed how VR technology allows users to

“immersively experience a world beyond reality”. Farah et al., (2019) argued that the VR experience is related to the immersive content, which means that content creation becomes a crucial component of the overall experience. Accordingly, well-targeted content that engages all senses could have a much higher sales conversion rate (Farah et al., 2019). The virtual consumer experience is relatively new to the range of consumer experience (Dobrowolski et al., 2014) and has been defined as consumers’ psychological and emotional states felt during the interaction with products in a virtual environment (Li et al., 2001). There has been increasing research focused on the VR consumer experience in recent years. Studies have found, for example, that interaction with objects in a VE increases immersion in the virtual world and both social interaction and immersion can positively effect customer satisfaction with the virtual experience (Hudson et al., 2019).

Virtual experiences are also a valuable addition to the experience economy by allowing for existing attractions to be enhanced (Bonetti et al., 2018; Moorhouse et al., 2018), new experiences to be staged, increased accessibility to new and more personalised experiences (Williams and Hobson, 1995), and co-creation of experiences with the tourism provider (Jung and tom Dieck, 2017). Incorporating VR experiences into the tourism sector has also been considered promising in terms of creating emotional connections between destinations and future visitors (Huang et al., 2013). In support of this, Griffin et al., (2017) found that VR helps people generate more positive emotions towards destinations, therefore, VR should be employed by destination marketers to engage and build relationships with potential visitors. Additionally, Hyun and O’Keefe (2012) discuss how VR could contribute to destination image formation, which is further supported by Griffin et al., (2017) who found that VR could have a positive influence on affective and conative elements of destination image in comparison to other forms of media. There are also several benefits for the tourism industry, for example, VR entices consumers to communicate with related brands (Guttentag, 2010) and could therefore be used to create a competitive advantage (Jung and tom Dieck, 2017) leading to new and

68 | P a g e increased income (Radde, 2017). For these reasons, it could be argued that VR applications will continue to impact society in general and the tourism and leisure (including retail) industries in particular (Hudson et al., 2019). Therefore, it is important that researchers gain a deeper understanding of consumer experience in virtual settings (Guttentag, 2010) and how the experience affects important marketing outcomes (e.g.

satisfaction and loyalty) (Hudson et al., 2019).

3.2.2 VR Immersion and Presence