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A current technological trend, which has gained even more traction recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the use of augmented reality (AR) in shopping environments. AR is addressing contemporary challenges rooted in online shopping (e.g. in terms of experientiality and try-on) and is fundamentally reshaping consumers' experiences. The purpose of this study is to provide a synthesized and structured overview of the state-of-the-art research focused on AR shopping.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of the empirical academic corpus focused on shopping via AR technology.

The review reveals the diverse psychological (cognitive, affective, and social) as well as behavioral outcomes related to the use of AR in the shopping context. The authors integrate the results into a framework for AR induced consumer behavior in shopping, thereby providing an important overview of the dynamics in AR-related shopping and the factors influencing the adoption of the technology by consumers. Specifically, the authors encountered that the technological abilities of AR (e.g. in terms of interactivity, vividness, informativeness, etc.) are a source for enhanced utilitarian and hedonic shopping experiences that can support intentions to purchase a product, reuse an AR app, or recommend it to others. Importantly, our review reveals the demand for several avenues for future research.

The authors provide an overview and synthesis of how and where AR is employed in shopping contexts, what theories and technological characteristics of AR are commonly analyzed, and what psychological and behavioral outcomes AR has been found to evoke. Based on our findings, the authors derive a framework that illustrates the dynamics in AR shopping and give an in-depth discourse on 13 future research agenda points related to thematic, theoretical, methodological, and technological matters.

The media have changed forever. Potential audiences are now dispersed among a plethora of media, extremely segmented, and much harder to pin down for extended periods. Information must now be tailored, rather than “one size fits all”. Audiences are interrelated as never before. Information is moving unpredictably and without true source credibility. In this brave new world where the economy is driven by information, the public relations (PR) industry is the navigator, the primary communications opportunity, having bumped advertising from its long‐held position. To win the race, PR now has to earn the trust of end users and deliver on its promise to be the arbiter among multiple stake‐holders, a purveyor of credible information and the facilitator of interactive dialogue.