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Beyond Browser Online Shopping: Experience Attitude Towards Online 3D Shopping with Conversational Agents

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Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2023 (INTERACT 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14143))

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Abstract

With the growing interest in recreating live and realistic outside experiences within the confines of our homes, the online shopping industry has also been impacted. However, traditional modes of interaction with online storefronts have remained mainly unchanged. This paper studies the factors influencing user experience and interaction in 3D virtual stores. We created a prototype that uses a 3D virtual environment for users to navigate, purchase items, and communicate with a conversational agent. The designed interface was tested by studying a set of variables, including the user’s interaction medium with the conversational agent, the movement method within the store, the user’s perception of the conversational agent, the conversational agent’s usability, and the store items’ visual representation. Through the user study, we gained insights into the factors that guide the user’s experience in 3D virtual stores. We concluded that 80% of users preferred less intrusive conversational agents and 75% preferred agents that did not hide visual elements. Additionally, 80% of the participants favored combining 2D and 3D visualization techniques.

https://nova-lincs.di.fct.unl.pt/.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Avatar in this context is used to refer to the virtual representation of the interactable agent in the virtual world.

  2. 2.

    Cortana Speech detection, Unity API, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-reality/develop/unity/voice-input, Last Access 2023.

  3. 3.

    Pix2Surf, repository, https://github.com/aymenmir1/pix2surf, Last Access: 2023.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been partially funded by the CMU-Portugal research project iFetch, reference - LISBOA-01-0247-FEDER-045920, and by the NOVA LINCS project Ref. UIDP/04516/2020. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the NVIDIA Corporation regarding the GPUs used for this research. This work is supported by NOVA LINCS (UIDB/04516/2020) with the financial support of FCT.IP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NOVA LINCS, NOVA School of Science and Technology, Caparica, Portugal

    Pedro Valente, Tiago Fornelos, Rafael Ferreira, Diogo Silva, Diogo Tavares, Nuno Correia, João Magalhães & Rui Nóbrega

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  1. Pedro Valente
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  2. Tiago Fornelos
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Correspondence to Pedro Valente .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of West London, London, UK

    José Abdelnour Nocera

  2. Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Marta Kristín Lárusdóttir

  3. University of York, York, UK

    Helen Petrie

  4. University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

    Antonio Piccinno

  5. Université Côte d’Azur, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

    Marco Winckler

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Valente, P. et al. (2023). Beyond Browser Online Shopping: Experience Attitude Towards Online 3D Shopping with Conversational Agents. In: Abdelnour Nocera, J., Kristín Lárusdóttir, M., Petrie, H., Piccinno, A., Winckler, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2023. INTERACT 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14143. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42283-6_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42283-6_15

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