Growing interest of Augmented Reality in retail: A Literature Review

The experience of purchasing a good is highly influenced by various technologies that have not only impacted the shopping experience but have also significantly changed the way brands work on their digital presence. Augmented reality, a technology that delivers multisensory experiences that merge the real world with the digital, discussed in this article, is gaining presence in retail. The multidisciplinary teams of companies in this field, often through their branders and brand managers, have proposed creating and promoting distinctive technological experiences that put the user/customer at the centre. This trend has taken hold in physical retail and increasingly in online retail, which has experienced an unpredictable surge prior to the pandemic associated with COVID19. This paper aims to provide a literature review to understand better the state of the art of Augmented Reality (AR) in the retail space and its evolution in recent years and to identify the brands that have invested the most in this technology. Using SCOPUS and Web of Science as a research base, the work presented here shows that although research in this area already exists, it is perhaps still in an introductory phase in this field and is still looking for greater maturity in the use of AR in the consumer experience.