Iowa State University
Overview
This research examines running user studies to identify the utility of using virtual reality and mocked up shopping carts to allow consumers to find products in a virtual store. Virtual stores can be easily reconfigured and setup to allow for testing of product placement, eye tracking, navigation, and other features.
In the first study, we ran a between-subjects experiment where participants were asked to navigate through a virtual store and find products. One group navigated in the five-wall immersive environment and another group went through the single-wall immersive environment. For the five-wall condition, participants could rotate the full 360 degrees. For the one-wall condition, participants were restricted to 45 degrees to the left and right of the starting forward position.
The virtual store with a variety of aisles and products.
The mock shopping cart.
A mock shopping cart was created that was attached to a large “Lazy Susan” that can rotate a full 360 degrees. The handle of the cart moves back and forth and was attached to a gamepad joystick which handled movement in the virtual environment.
In the study, participants were given a list of products to find and time on task was recorded. The participants in the five-wall immersive environment were significantly faster in locating the products than the participants in the one-wall immersive environment. Participants in the five-wall condition also reported that the shopping cart was easier to use than in the one-wall condition.
One downside of the study was the fact that the navigation method and the number of walls were actually two variables, thus only two conditions out of four possible were tested. The next study will correct this where we will compare all four configurations of navigation method and number of walls. In addition, the mock shopping cart has been redesigned, collision detection has been added to the virtual environment, and the overall experience has been improved. Participants will start to be run through soon.
Media
- Virtual Shopping Demo Video (YouTube, Direct Download WMV, 65.7 MB)
Publications
- Carlson, Patrick and Kirpes, Carl and Pavlik, Ryan and Vance, Judy M. and Yin, Livien and Scott-Cooper, Terrence and Lambert, Troy. (2011). “Comparison of a Single-wall Versus Multi-wall Virtual Environments to Support a Virtual Shopping Experience”, ASME World Conference on Innovative Virtual Reality, Milan, Italy, June 27-29, 2011.
Funding
- National Science Foundation SPIRE-EIT REU Grant Number: IIS-0851976
