Understanding Virtual Reality-Based Brand Engagement in Fashion Commerce

Virtual reality (VR) adoption in fashion e-commerce represents a disruptive innovation that redefines how brands craft immersive consumer experiences. This study aims to validate a research model about VR-based brand engagement in the fashion commerce context. It seeks to uncover the effect of VR attributes such as interactivity, vividness, product reality congruence, and modality richness on perceived realism, as well as subsequent outcomes of immersion and VR-based brand engagement. Data were collected from 306 respondents through Credamo’s paid panel using purposive sampling to recruit consumers with relevant online fashion purchasing and VR brand experience. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and combined importance-performance map analyses were employed. The study reveals that interactivity, vividness, product reality congruence, and modality richness positively influence perceived realism, which in turn strongly drives immersion and subsequently enhances VR-based brand engagement in fashion e-commerce. Combined importance-performance map analysis further identifies immersion as the primary strategic lever and perceived realism as a key bottleneck, while the antecedent features serve as well-performing hygiene factors requiring only maintenance. This study contributes to the literature on VR-related fashion research and offers practical insights for fashion e-commerce managers seeking to use virtual reality to enhance brand engagement.