Abstract Technological progress has facilitated the integration of VR in sectors like E-commerce and design, and improves how products are represented by virtual prototypes (VPs) using head-mounted displays (HMDs), allowing their qualities to be understood even when no physical prototype is available. Despite VR having become well-established as an efficient tool to evaluate VPs, factors like physical activity, presentation type and product design may influence consumer perceptions. This research work presents two case studies to analyse the impact of presentation type (real vs. VR) and product design (high- vs. low-end product) on perceiving a treadmill. The Semantic Differential technique was used to evaluate product attributes, and was supplemented with measurements of trust, perceived fatigue, satisfaction with the physical experience, cybersickness and presence. The results showed no differences for how the product was perceived between visual settings, but differences appeared between different designs, which suggests that VR is a valid option for evaluating products. Nevertheless, special attention needs to be paid to the impact of this technology on user well-being, because some factors like eye strain may increase in complex settings and may affect the assessment of some product attributes. Finally, no differences were found in perceived fatigue, but satisfaction with the experience was higher in the VR environment with the high-end product, suggesting that the design appeal may positively impact the experience in virtual environments.
Serrano et al. (Wed,) studied this question.