Augmented Reality in Retail: A customer-centric business implementation framework

Abstract: Augmented Reality (AR) implementation in retail is growing significantly over the past few years. But how can retailers implement AR applications successfully? This research aims to contribute to solving this question, by providing a circular customer-centric framework to implement AR applications in the Business-to-Customer (B2C) operations. To be able to provide a meaningful and real-life applicable schema, a multi-faceted qualitative data collection approach was selected, including focus group interviews, and semi-structured interviews with industry experts. The outcome is a circular flow model that includes seven key stages: 1) Need recognition; 2) Validation; 3) AR implementation Strategy; 4) Development; 5) Implementation; 6) Measure; and 7) Evaluation. The study is aimed to suggest an AR implementation framework that will contribute to the successful implementation of the customer-centric AR practices, which in turn will beneficiate the overall customer experience. Additionally, we want to initiate the discussion and further research around customer-centricity within AR implementation strategies.