Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the

Shopping Experience

Ruben Grande, Diego Cordero, David Vallejo, Carlos Gonz

alez, Santiango Schez-Sobrino,

Jose Jes

us Castro-Schez and Javier Albusac

School of Computer Science, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Paseo de la Universidad 4, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, e-Commerce, Gamiﬁcation, Case Study, Consumer Behaviour.

Abstract:

E-commerce has embraced emerging technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR),

which are transforming consumer interaction. In particular, VR enables the creation of immersive environ-

ments that simulate and enhance physical experiences, offering advantages such as gamiﬁcation of the shop-

ping process, thereby boosting user engagement and interaction. This pilot study addresses two main ques-

tions: how does the exploration of digitalized products in VR inﬂuence purchase intention? And, does a

gamiﬁed experience with a speciﬁc product have an additional impact? In collaboration with a local business,

an experiment involving 48 participants was designed. A portion of the store, its surroundings, and several

products were digitalized using advanced techniques such as Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) and Gaussian

Splatting, achieving realistic models integrated into a virtual store accessible through Meta Quest 3 headsets.

One speciﬁc product, a comic book, was gamiﬁed, allowing users to interact with its narrative, solve chal-

lenges, and be incentivized to purchase the product to discover the ending. Preliminary results, including a

conversion rate of 41.9%, suggest that VR, especially when it incorporates gamiﬁcation, can increase purchase

intention and interest in local products, highlighting its potential in digital commerce.

1 INTRODUCTION

E-commerce ﬁeld has experienced exponential

growth in recent years, driven by the widespread

adoption of digital technologies and changing

consumer habits. This evolution has led retailers

and businesses to explore new ways of interacting

with consumers, aiming to replicate and, in many

cases, surpass traditional shopping experiences

(Castro-Schez et al., 2024). In this context, emerging

technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Aug-

mented Reality (AR) have begun to play a crucial

role in transforming e-commerce, offering tools to

create immersive and personalized environments (Xi

and Hamari, 2021).

VR has proven to be an effective medium for sim-

ulating and extending physical experiences, allowing

users to interact with products and virtual environ-

ments in ways that were previously impossible. These

immersive experiences not only expand the possibili-

ties of e-commerce but also have the potential to sig-

niﬁcantly inﬂuence consumer behavior by enhancing

product perception and fostering greater purchase in-

tention (Khatri et al., 2022). One of the most promis-

ing applications of VR in e-commerce is gamiﬁcation,

which introduces playful elements into the shopping

process, increasing user engagement and motivation

(Azmi et al., 2021).

Although VR and gamiﬁcation applications are

gaining popularity, signiﬁcant knowledge gaps re-

main. While various studies examine the impact of

VR on purchase intention, most are conducted in con-

trolled experimental settings where participants ex-

press their purchase intentions using ﬁctitious money

(van Herpen et al., 2016; Speicher et al., 2017; Gil-

opez et al., 2023). This limits the applicability of

the results in real shopping contexts. Moreover, the

combined impact of VR and gamiﬁcation in authen-

tic commercial environments, where purchase deci-

sions are inﬂuenced by a combination of emotional,

social, and contextual factors, has been scarcely ex-

plored (Donatiello et al., 2018).

This study addresses these limitations by conduct-

ing an experiment in a real-world setting: a three-day

annual fair that brings together over 50 local busi-

nesses to showcase their products on the street. In

the experiment, participants not only interacted with

digitalized products in a VR environment but also

had the opportunity to make actual purchases. This

approach not only enhances the external validity of

the results but also provides practical insights for lo-

cal merchants interested in incorporating immersive

482

Grande, R., Cordero, D., Vallejo, D., González, C., Schez-Sobrino, S., Castro-Schez, J. J. and Albusac, J.

Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the Shopping Experience.

DOI: 10.5220/0013423500003929

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2025) - Volume 2, pages 482-493

ISBN: 978-989-758-749-8; ISSN: 2184-4992

technologies as sales strategies (Christian Peukert and

Weinhardt, 2019).

To explore the impact of VR and gamiﬁcation on

purchase intention, this study poses two main ques-

tions:

1. How does the exploration of digitalized products

in VR inﬂuence purchase intention?

2. Does a gamiﬁed experience with a speciﬁc prod-

uct have an additional impact?

In collaboration with a local business, a vir-

tual environment replicating a section of the physi-

cal store was designed using advanced digitalization

techniques such as Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF)

and Gaussian Splatting to achieve a highly realistic

visual representation. Additionally, the shopping ex-

perience for a speciﬁc product—a comic book—was

gamiﬁed, allowing users to interact with its narrative

and solve challenges related to its storyline. This de-

sign not only provided an immersive experience but

also incentivized users to purchase the product to dis-

cover the story’s outcome.

This study aims to evaluate how the combination

of immersive technologies and gamiﬁcation can en-

hance purchase intention and interest in local prod-

ucts within an e-commerce context. Furthermore, it

seeks to highlight the potential of these technologies

to support small businesses in their transition to the

digital domain by offering innovative and accessible

solutions that promote market competitiveness. In do-

ing so, this work contributes to the existing literature

on e-commerce and emerging technologies, providing

valuable experimental data on the impact of VR and

gamiﬁcation in real-world shopping scenarios.

2 RELATED WORK

In this section, we will synthesise studies related to

the use of VR in e-commerce, addressing proposed

case studies and current work in the literature on gam-

iﬁcation in e-commerce and VR.

Chen et al. (Chen et al., 2022) explore the role

of Virtual Reality (VR) shopping environments in

shaping consumers’ impulse buying behavior, utiliz-

ing the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) frame-

work. The study investigates the effects of inter-

activity and vividness on telepresence, diagnostic-

ity, and playfulness, which ultimately inﬂuence the

urge to buy impulsively. The research employed a

2x2x2 factorial design experiment with 227 partic-

ipants. The participants interacted with eight VR

store scenarios featuring varying levels of interactiv-

ity, vividness, and product types. The experiment

utilized a smartphone-based VR headset (Samsung

Gear VR) to simulate immersive shopping experi-

ences. The methodology focused on observing behav-

ioral responses to the VR environment and collecting

self-reported data through post-experiment surveys.

The results demonstrate that both interactivity and

vividness signiﬁcantly enhance cognitive and affec-

tive responses, leading to a stronger tendency toward

impulsive buying behavior. Further improvements in

VR shopping systems are suggested to optimize user

engagement and practical applications.

Donatiello et al. (Donatiello et al., 2018) exam-

ined the use of Virtual Reality (VR) and gamiﬁcation

in fashion e-commerce through “Fashion Island”, a

prototype virtual ﬁtting room. The study involved 13

fashion students, evaluating usability and user expe-

rience via questionnaires. Results showed high sat-

isfaction (average score: 3.93/5), with most partici-

pants appreciating the immersive and interactive el-

ements. Minor issues like eye strain were noted, and

one participant rejected the application due to discom-

fort. The authors highlight VR’s potential to trans-

form fashion e-commerce, though further reﬁnement

is needed to enhance user comfort and engagement.

Pizzi et al. (Pizzi et al., 2019) compare con-

sumer behavior and perceptions between physical and

VR-based grocery stores using a quasi-experimental,

between-subjects design. The study investigates the

inﬂuence of shopping orientations (utilitarian and he-

donic) on store satisfaction and the moderating role

of perceived assortment size. Participants interacted

with identical shelf layouts of confectionery products

in physical and virtual settings. In the VR condition,

the store was recreated using 3D models with high vi-

sual ﬁdelity. Data collection included time spent in

the aisle, purchasing behaviors, and post-experience

surveys measuring satisfaction and shopping orienta-

tions. Fictitious purchases were used in the study al-

lowing for experimental control while mimicking re-

alistic shopping behavior. Findings indicate that both

utilitarian and hedonic shopping orientations signiﬁ-

cantly inﬂuence satisfaction in VR-based stores, con-

sistent with physical store outcomes. However, satis-

faction levels in VR were negatively impacted com-

pared to physical stores, with larger perceived assort-

ments mitigating this effect. The study highlights

VR’s potential as a retail research tool, demonstrat-

ing behavioral congruence between virtual and real

environments.

Xi et al. (Xi et al., 2024) conducted a labora-

tory experiment to assess the acceptance of AR (aug-

mented reality) and VR (virtual reality), in metaverse

shopping. The study employed a 2x2 factorial design

with 157 participants across four experimental con-

Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the Shopping Experience

483

ditions, including combinations of AR and VR. The

research simulated a realistic shopping environment

using a physical LP record store and its virtual coun-

terparts developed with Unity and LiDAR scanning.

The methodology involved participants receiving a

10C virtual gift card to purchase second-hand LPs

in different settings. These included physical stores

with and without AR overlays and virtual stores with

and without AR elements. The study measured per-

ceived usefulness, enjoyment, ease of use, attitude,

and intention to shop using psychometric question-

naires and the NASA-TLX scale for workload eval-

uation. Findings indicate that VR signiﬁcantly en-

hances enjoyment, while AR improves product infor-

mation accessibility but may reduce perceived ease of

use. Despite these trade-offs, attitudes toward meta-

verse shopping remained positive, suggesting poten-

tial for these technologies to transform retail experi-

ences. The study employed ﬁctitious money for real-

istic decision-making and highlighted the importance

of reﬁning usability to ensure broader adoption.

olfel and Reinhardt (W

olfel and Reinhardt,

2019) examine the presentation of goods in virtual

reality (VR) shopping environments, investigating

whether consumer behavior in VR aligns with tra-

ditional retail settings. The study evaluates the im-

pact of four parameters—product placement, quan-

tity, size, and environment—on purchasing decisions.

Using a VR setup with HTC Vive and Leap Motion,

participants interacted with virtual milk and wine

products displayed in various environments and con-

ﬁgurations. The methodology involved 70 partici-

pants exploring 16 virtual scenarios where product

characteristics such as placement on shelves, scarcity,

size adjustments, and the surrounding environment

were manipulated. Participants rated products based

on attributes like ecological value, healthiness, and

perceived quality. Results show that principles from

physical retail, such as the preference for eye-level

placement and the inﬂuence of scarcity, translate ef-

fectively to VR. The surrounding environment signif-

icantly impacted product evaluation, with matching

environments enhancing positive perceptions.

Faganel et al (Faganel et al., 2024) explore the im-

pact of gamiﬁcation on Slovenian consumers’ online

shopping behaviors, focusing on how game elements

inﬂuence various stages of the purchase decision-

making process. VR gamiﬁcation was not employed

in their research. The study utilized a quantitative

survey methodology, gathering data from 118 partici-

pants through a structured questionnaire. The results

indicate that gamiﬁcation has the greatest inﬂuence

during the evaluation of alternatives, as participants

compared beneﬁts such as loyalty points and dis-

counts across different online stores. However, gami-

ﬁcation showed minimal impact on the post-purchase

evaluation phase, contrary to initial hypotheses. The

study also found that highly rated reviewers signif-

icantly inﬂuence purchasing decisions, whereas the

majority of respondents were unwilling to spend more

money for gamiﬁcation-related beneﬁts, such as earn-

ing points or badges.

The papers addressed showed that gamiﬁcation in

the context of VR e-commerce needs to be further ex-

plored, as well as engaging participants of case stud-

ies in contexts where real money is used to reallisti-

cally evaluate the imnpact of the VR experiences pro-

posed in consumer behaviour.

3 BACKGROUND

This work is part of the VRZOCO research project

(Castro-Schez et al., 2024), funded by the Spanish

Ministry of Science and Innovation. Broadly speak-

ing, the project aims to establish a synergy between

commerce and other businesses in a town or city to

strengthen its local economy. The following video

provides a general overview of VRZOCO and show-

cases work carried out within the project, including

a demonstration video related to the present paper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-CPiPvX54E.

A key innovation of the project lies in generating

leisure/cultural plans linked to a pickup point for pur-

chased products and the user’s proﬁle. The system

optionally proposes the possibility of collecting pur-

chases at a physical location. Around this point, it

generates a plan that includes offers from nearby busi-

nesses and events that might interest the buyer based

on their proﬁle. For instance, tickets to museums,

restaurant discounts, clothing store promotions, or of-

fers to attend concerts, among others. This approach

positions commerce as a starting point to boost the

city’s economy. The platform also enables multidi-

rectional connections, whereby interest shown in any

other business could lead to a purchase, further bene-

ﬁting the speciﬁc commerce.

Another innovative aspect of the project is the in-

clusion of immersive technologies, such as VR, to

enhance shopping experiences from home. Through-

out the project’s development, various techniques for

product digitalization, such as NeRF and Gaussian

Splatting, have been explored. These cost-effective

techniques deliver high-quality model representations

(Grande et al., 2024b), enabling small businesses with

limited resources to access this functionality.

In a subsequent phase, the sales environment was

virtualized, including ﬁctional commercial spaces and

ICEIS 2025 - 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

484

virtual recreations of existing stores. These spaces

served as showcases for digitalized products. This

phase particularly emphasized designing interaction

mechanisms using hand-based exploration of prod-

ucts and adapting these mechanisms for individuals

with physical limitations (Grande et al., 2024a).

Finally, in a later phase, interactive experiences

were modeled to gamify the purchase of certain prod-

ucts, integrating game-like dynamics and mechanics

to make the shopping experience more engaging and

enjoyable. These experiences include, for example,

allowing users to complete challenges or mini-games

related to the products on display, earn virtual rewards

that translate into discounts or promotions, or par-

ticipate in rankings that encourage competitiveness

among buyers. These strategies aim not only to in-

crease user engagement but also to incentivize impul-

sive or planned purchases through emotional connec-

tion and perceived added value.

This study emerges from the need to measure, in

a real-world scenario, the inﬂuence of virtual product

exposure and participation in gamiﬁed shopping ex-

periences on purchase intention and actual purchases.

With studies of this nature, the goal is to validate the

inclusion of immersive technologies as key tools in

e-commerce.

4 CASE STUDY CONTEXT

The case study presented was conducted in collabora-

tion with a business participating in a major socio-

cultural event in the city where our research group

is based, the “Manchac

omic!”

. This annual event,

which attracts thousands of visitors, debuted 11 years

ago and brings together leisure and cultural activ-

ities in the ﬁeld of entertainment. Speciﬁcally, it

features artistic exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and

presentations related to books, video games, comics,

movies, and other similar forms of entertainment.

At this event, various independent artists and busi-

nesses participate by offering products in themed

stands related to “Manchac

omic!”. Among them is

Librer

ıa Serendipia

(Serendipia bookshop), a well-

established store specialized in books, comics, board

games, and collectible items. Collaboration with this

business facilitated the following:

1. Digitalizing a set of products from their physical

store to be showcased in a VR application that al-

lows interaction and inspection of these items.

https://manchacomic.es

https://www.libreriaserendipia.com/

Figure 1: Cover of the comic book “Pedro Gir

on”.

2. Establishing contact with the authors of the comic

book “Pedro Gir

on”, which served as the basis for

designing and developing the gamiﬁed VR expe-

rience. The comic’s cover is shown in Fig. 1.

3. Coordinating with the “Manchac

omic!” organiz-

ers to secure the space and equipment needed to

conduct the experiment at the event venue. Fig. 3

shows our designated physical space and some of

the volunteers involved in the case study.

Figure 2: One of the owners of Librer

ıa Serendipia trying

out the VR application designed for the case study.

Having described the event’s context in which the

case study was conducted, we will now explain its

speciﬁcs. For the case study, a VR application was

developed for the Meta Quest 3 headset, featuring two

scenes. The initial scene displayed a virtual store that

Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the Shopping Experience

485

Figure 3: Volunteers of different ages taking part of the case study.

Figure 4: Photographs taken of the interior of Librer

ıa Serendipia.

acted as a simpliﬁed replica of Librer

ıa Serendipia’s

physical store. Fig. 2 shows one of the store’s own-

ers testing the virtual store and the gamiﬁed experi-

ence, which will be detailed later in this paper. Using

the Unity game engine, this scene was developed to

showcase a set of real products available in the phys-

ical store (see Fig. 4), which were digitalized in 3D

using NeRF technology via the Luma AI mobile ap-

plication

. These products were conﬁgured in Unity

to allow user interaction, enabling free inspection.

First, users freely explored the virtual store, with

instructions that they could enter the gamiﬁed expe-

rience at any time by interacting with a door located

at the store’s end. This door acted as a loading screen

for the next scene, which featured a gamiﬁed shop-

ping experience centered on the comic book ”Pedro

Gir

on.” To leverage VR’s immersive capabilities, this

experience was set in a virtual recreation of “Cala-

trava la Nueva Castle”

. This castle, besides being

a cultural landmark of the authors’ region, is part of

the comic’s setting and narrative. In this scene, users

explored the virtual environment to locate four puzzle

pieces that formed the comic’s cover. As pieces were

found, the story’s protagonist, modeled in 3D, nar-

rated brief excerpts from the comic’s opening scenes.

The gamiﬁed experience concluded when the user

https://lumalabs.ai/interactive-scenes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calatrava la Nueva

completed the puzzle.

After testing the VR application, volunteers com-

pleted a 15-question survey regarding the use of VR

as a shopping tool and their user experience with the

gamiﬁed elements presented. The survey explicitly

asked about purchase intention in VR to evaluate the

inﬂuence of this technology and the potential of offer-

ing gamiﬁed experiences on user purchase intention.

Volunteers were then given two tickets if they wished

to make a purchase at the Librer

ıa Serendipia stand:

one to identify if they purchased a product showcased

in the virtual store and another to identify if they pur-

chased the comic.

Finally, a count was conducted of individuals who

purchased either the comic or one of the products dis-

played in the virtual store. This was made possible

by distributing tickets to volunteers, which allowed

identiﬁcation when purchases were made at the Li-

brer

ıa Serendipia stand during the event. This count

enabled the calculation of the Conversion Rate (CR)

for the experience offered and comparison with con-

version rates reported in the literature.

5 PRODUCT DIGITALIZATION

The scanning process to digitalize the set of prod-

ucts from Librer

ıa Serendipia showcased in the vir-

tual store was conducted using Luma AI, a free tech-

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486

Figure 5: Virtual shop environment with 3D scanned Serendipia’s products.

nology for iOS mobile devices. This NeRF-based

technology is capable of providing high-quality 3D

models without compromising the performance of the

Meta Quest 3 (Grande et al., 2024b). This aspect is

crucial, as the case study aimed to provide a stan-

dalone experience, meaning that the Meta Quest did

not need to be connected to a computer (MSI Vec-

tor GP66, featuring an i7-12700H, 32GB RAM, and

an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB VRAM GPU) to

use the PC GPU’s computing power. This approach

ensured a consistent frame rate close to 72 FPS. Fol-

lowing recommendations and best practices (Grande

et al., 2024b), products from Librer

ıa Serendipia were

digitalized. Two photographs of sections of their

physical store can be observed in Fig. 4.

6 INTERACTIVE GAMIFIED

EXPERIENCE

As previously mentioned, an interactive experience

was developed for the “Manchacomic!” event. In this

case, the comic Pedro Gir

on” from the “Calatrava”

saga was chosen for its development. The project in-

volved asynchronous collaboration with the comic’s

artist, who has expertise in 3D modeling. Before de-

tailing the development of the gamiﬁed experience for

the comic, Fig. 5 shows the virtual store replica of

Librer

ıa Serendipia, where several of its digitalized

products are displayed. As observed, the fully stocked

shelves shown in Fig. 4 are signiﬁcantly simpliﬁed

to avoid overwhelming the user visually and to focus

their attention on the showcased products.

The development process for the experience be-

gan once the 3D models were available for both the

immersive space (a replica of an interior section of

the Calatrava la Nueva castle) and the protagonist

of the story, Pedro Gir

on. This 3D space was cre-

ated by the co-author of the comic, using a different

standard from the one typically followed for creating

video game maps. As a result, the model lacked a

deﬁned ﬂoor, meaning that the Meta Quest 3 SDK

would not recognize any surface as navigable. There-

fore, the ﬁrst step was to modify the entire interior

space of the castle to make it navigable. This required

re-simulating the entire structure of ﬂoors and areas

intended to be accessible in VR and overlaying them

with the existing model so that they could be marked

as accessible zones in the development engine (see

Fig. 6).

Once this was completed, the next step involved

the modeled character, for which a 3D skeleton had to

be created to enable ”realistic” animations. This was

achieved by creating a skeleton with anthropomorphic

proportions and joints, to which various nodes of the

already-created character mesh were assigned. After

the skeleton was assigned to the character and numer-

ous manual animation tests were conducted, it was

decided to use pre-made animations that ﬁt the re-

quirements for the immersive experience. With both

the protagonist and the space ready, development in

Unity, the chosen engine for this experience, could

commence. The 3D model of the protagonist with its

skeleton can be observed in Fig. 7.

The chosen gamiﬁcation for the experience was a

simple puzzle involving the search for pieces. The

comic was divided into four equal parts scattered

throughout the castle, and the player needed to ﬁnd

them to uncover the protagonist’s past. A short script

was developed for this purpose, in which the protag-

onist appeared, asking for help because he had lost

his memory and was trapped in the castle. The way

to help him was by retrieving the comic pieces. Each

time a piece was found, the knight would recount part

of his story, which would be interrupted upon ﬁnding

the last piece of the puzzle, encouraging the player to

purchase the comic to learn the rest.

In terms of development, the Meta SDK in Unity

Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the Shopping Experience

487

Figure 6: Calatrava’s castle 3D space before and after adding the navigable surfaces.

Figure 7: Pedro Gir

on, comic’s main character, manually

rigged.

was used, enabling the use of virtual hands and all

related movements. The environment was fully navi-

gable with a teleportation system included in the Meta

development kit. This system, combined with the pre-

viously implemented virtual hand-grabbing mechan-

ics, facilitated the creation of the puzzle. The ﬁnal

design required players to search the castle for comic

pieces and deliver them to the table indicated by the

knight. Each time a piece was brought to the table, the

knight would narrate a new line of the script; upon de-

livering the last piece, the knight would give his ﬁnal

speech, including instructions on where to purchase

the comic (see Fig. 9).

Another critical decision was how to make the

transition from the virtual store to a medieval-themed

interactive experience feel natural. To avoid a jarring

shift, such as a simple black screen cut, a “magical”

door was added inside the store, as shown in Fig. 8.

This door would open as the player approached with

the headset, signaling access to a different activity.

Additionally, a loading screen was included between

scenes to clearly indicate the transition into the activ-

ity centered on the comic “Pedro Gir

on.”

Figure 8: Magic door located in the VR shop, giving acces

to the interactive experience.

Figure 9: Screenshot taken of main character at the beggin-

ing of the gamiﬁed experience scene.

7 RESULTS

The experiment was conducted in a single 4-hour ses-

sion. During the activity, 48 individuals (33 male, 14

female, and 1 person who did not identify with ei-

ther gender) of a broad age range participated, as de-

tailed in Table 3. These participants were not specif-

ically invited and had no prior knowledge of the VR-

ZOCO project or the experiment. The only way they

could learn about the activity was by passing through

the event space or consulting its program. Addition-

ally, it is worth noting that only 5 of the 48 partici-

pants were familiar with the comic Pedro Gir

on” be-

fore being introduced to the gamiﬁed VR experience.

Spatio-temporal data were recorded for each user test-

ing the gamiﬁed experience, following the framework

for data logging in VR environments described in

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488

(Grande et al., 2024c). Fig. 10 shows the distribu-

tion of time spent, in seconds, by the volunteers in the

gamiﬁed experience. Participants spent an average of

258.69 seconds in this experience, with a median of

218.34 seconds, a ﬁrst quartile of 178.21 seconds, and

a third quartile of 317.18 seconds. These temporal

data reﬂect only the time spent in the gamiﬁed comic

experience, excluding time spent in the virtual store.

Figure 10: Boxplot of time spent by volunteers in the gam-

iﬁed exprience.

Moreover, Table 1 displays the distribution of the

percentage of the scene explored by users, derived

from spatial data on user positions within the Unity

scene. These data were exclusively collected during

the gamiﬁed experience scene. The coverage percent-

age was calculated as the ratio between the volumes

of the scene and the bounding box of user movement:

Coverage (%) =



max(HMD

) − min(HMD

)

max(x) − min(x)





max(HMD

) − min(HMD

)

max(y) − min(y)





max(HMD

) − min(HMD

)

max(z) − min(z)



× 100 (1)

where HMD

represents the user head position for

coordinate i. This metric helps identify which areas

were explored by users, providing insights for design-

ing reﬁned virtual store layouts or gamiﬁed experi-

ences that focus user attention on frequently visited

areas or regions that attracted the majority of par-

ticipants. On average, a coverage of 72.88% was

achieved for the total scene space explored by each

participant. This indicator highlights a general in-

terest in the gamiﬁed experience, demonstrating user

proactivity in exploring the environment to complete

the proposed objective.

Table 1: Coverage performed over the gamiﬁed experience

scene

Statistic Value

Mean Coverage (%) 72.88

Median Coverage (%) 79.02

First Quartile (Q1) 65.44

Third Quartile (Q3) 93.79

Interquartile Range (IQR) 28.34

7.1 Survey Results

After using the described VR experience, volunteers

responded to a 15-question survey, as shown in Ta-

ble 2. The survey included 14 questions on a Likert

scale from 1 to 5, where 1 represents the lowest or

most negative score, and 5 the highest or most posi-

tive. The questions can be categorized based on the

aspects they aim to address: i) experience with VR

and its integration with e-commerce (Q1 to Q4 and

Q7), ii) user experience and comfort (Q5, Q6, Q8,

Q9, Q11, and Q12), and iii) purchase intention (Q10,

Q13, Q14, and Q15). Question 7 is a binary ques-

tion to determine participants’ preferences, after test-

ing the VR experience, for examining products on a

website or using VR. The results for this question are

shown in Fig. 12, indicating a preference for exam-

ining products using VR whenever possible. When

analyzing Question 4 in Table 2, which asks whether

participants prefer examining products viewed in VR

on the commerce’s web portal or through VR, both

the mode and median indicate a generalized prefer-

ence for VR, as also reﬂected in the circular chart in

Fig. 12.

Moreover, Fig. 11 displays the distribution and

variance of responses in the form of boxplots. An-

alyzing these data alongside those provided in Table

2, a predominantly positive evaluation is observed, as

evidenced by the high concentration of responses in

the upper values of the Likert scale for key questions,

such as interest in using VR for shopping (Q2, median

(Me) = 4.0, mean (M) = 4.16) and perception of the

technology as innovative (Q3, Me = 5.0, M = 4.43).

The low dispersion in these questions, represented by

compact interquartile ranges and the absence of sig-

niﬁcant outliers, suggests consensus among partici-

pants regarding the innovative potential of VR.

One of the most notable aspects is the system’s

ability to provide an immersive experience. The ques-

tion on the sense of immersion (Q6) showed a high

median (5.0) and a mean of 4.43, with a narrow in-

terquartile range indicating uniformity in responses.

This result is complemented by positive evaluations

of interaction comfort and naturalness (Q5, Me = 4.0,

M = 4.20), a critical factor for ensuring technologi-

Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the Shopping Experience

489

Table 2: Survey’s questions as well as descriptive statistics of answers per question

ID Question Mean Std. Dev. Mode Median

What experience do you have with virtual reality devices?

(1- None, 2- Little, 3- Occasional, 4- Frequent, 5- A lot)

2.58 1.47 1.0 2.0

How interested are you in Virtual Reality and being able to shop using this technology?

(1- None, 2- Little, 3- Neutral, 4- Quite a bit, 5- A lot)

4.16 0.85 5.0 4.0

How novel do you ﬁnd the option of shopping on an e-commerce portal with virtual reality?

(1- Not novel, 2- Not very novel, 3- Neither novel nor not novel, 4- Novel, 5- Very novel)

4.43 0.68 5.0 5.0

Do you prefer exploring store products in VR or via their web portal?

(1- Much more on the web, 3- I do not prefer one over the other, 5- Much more in VR)

3.74 1.26 5.0 4.0

Did you ﬁnd the interactions natural and comfortable? (including teleportation)

(1- Very little, 2- Little, 3- Neutral, 4- Quite a bit, 5- A lot)

4.20 0.79 4.0 4.0

Did you feel immersed in the VR application?

(1- Very little, 2- Little, 3- Neutral, 4- Quite a bit, 5- A lot)

4.43 0.85 5.0 5.0

7 Do you prefer to examine products on the web or in VR? - - - -

Feeling of dizziness or general discomfort

(1- None, 2- Little, 3- Neutral, 4- Quite a bit, 5- A lot)

1.52 1.05 1.0 1.0

How positive was your experience exploring the store with virtual reality?

(1- Very negative, 2- Negative, 3- Neutral, 4- Positive, 5- Very positive)

4.46 0.68 5.0 5.0

Would your purchase intention change when seeing products in VR instead of on a web page?

(1- None, 5- A lot)

3.93 1.11 5.0 4.0

Would you use such stores again to explore products you’re interested in buying?

(1- None, 5- A lot)

4.22 0.95 5.0 5.0

Does exploring products through play as seen in the comic motivate you?

(1- None, 5- A lot)

4.44 0.77 5.0 5.0

Did you ﬁnd the comic’s VR experience entertaining?

(1- None, 5- A lot)

4.68 0.59 5.0 5.0

Would you be interested in learning more about the comic’s story?

(1- None, 5- A lot)

4.21 0.98 5.0 5.0

Do you intend to buy the Calatrava comic?

(1- None, 5- A lot)

3.33 1.49 5.0 3.0

Figure 11: Boxplots representing the answers given by each volunteer.

cal acceptance. However, these questions include out-

liers, reﬂecting that some participants found the inter-

actions less intuitive, highlighting the need to reﬁne

interface design to accommodate users with varying

levels of technological familiarity.

In contrast, participants’ prior experience with VR

devices (Q1) shows a median of 2.0 and a mean of

2.58, indicating that most users had little or no prior

experience. This dispersion, combined with a broad

interquartile range, reveals a heterogeneous sample in

ICEIS 2025 - 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

490

Table 3: Age statistics of the case study’s volunteers

Statistic Age

count 48.0

mean 23.67

standard deviation 13.62

minimum 8.0

25% 12.0

50% 21.0

75% 29.5

maximum 55.0

Figure 12: Preference for examining products on the web

or in VR by volunteers.

terms of prior exposure to this technology. Conse-

quently, alongside the diverse ages of volunteers, the

time spent on the gamiﬁed comic experience varied,

inﬂuenced by participants’ proﬁciency with the Meta

Quest 3 based on their prior experience and age. This

variability aids in interpreting study results within a

predominantly VR-inexperienced group. A generally

positive evaluation of the experience could indicate

reduced resistance and skepticism toward using VR

in gamiﬁed shopping contexts, contrasting with resis-

tance observed in other sectors (Cham et al., 2023).

A key technical aspect is the low incidence of nau-

sea or discomfort during system use (Q8, Me = 1.0,

M = 1.52). The concentration of responses at the

lower end of the scale, alongside the absence of out-

liers, conﬁrms a robust design and a smooth experi-

ence. Given the volunteers’ limited VR experience,

a poorly designed experience would have resulted in

generalized discomfort. This ﬁnding aligns with posi-

tive evaluations of VR’s impact on purchase intention

(Q10, Me = 4.0, M = 3.93) and motivation derived

from gamiﬁed elements (Q12, Me = 5.0, M = 4.44).

However, as observed, there is greater dispersion

in questions related to exploration preferences (Q4)

and the intention to purchase the comic (Q15), with

medians of 4.0 and 3.0, respectively. In particular,

Q15 shows a relatively low mean (3.33) and a broad

interquartile range, suggesting that while the sys-

tem generated interest, direct conversion to purchases

may depend on additional factors, such as personal

preferences and emotional connection to the product.

Nonetheless, the following section will present sales

data obtained from users who tested the gamiﬁed ex-

perience in this case study.

7.2 Purchases

Figure 13: Purchases made by volunteers after they partici-

pated in the case study.

At the end of the experience, the staff present at the

Librer

ıa Serendipia stand provided us with the tickets

from participants who made a purchase after engag-

ing in the case study. The comic’s price was C20,

which is relatively high compared to the typical price

of a comic with fewer pages, usually around C5. This

pricing could have inﬂuenced the lower number of

sales. Nevertheless, the data obtained reveals signif-

icant insights into consumer behavior and the effec-

tiveness of the gamiﬁed approach. Fig. 13 illustrates

the purchase behavior of 43 participants who inter-

acted with the VR application, which included ex-

posure to both a gamiﬁed comic and a virtual store

showcasing various products. It is important to note

that 5 of the 48 participants informed us they already

owned the comic and were not interested in purchas-

ing anything at the Manchac

omic!” event before par-

ticipating in the interactive experience. Therefore, the

data focuses on the remaining 43 participants who

did not already own the comic. Among these par-

ticipants, 41.9% made a purchase, with 23.3% buy-

ing products displayed in the VR store and 18.6% ac-

quiring the “Pedro Gir

on” comic central to the gam-

iﬁed experience. Conversely, 58.1% of participants

did not make any purchases. The overall conver-

sion rate of 41.9% signiﬁcantly exceeds the typical

e-commerce conversion benchmark of 2-5% (Zum-

stein and Sch

afer, 2020; Purnomo, 2023; Fatta and

Lu, 2018; Li et al., 2022), highlighting the substan-

Pilot Study on the Effects of Gamiﬁcation and Virtual Reality on the Shopping Experience

491

tial impact of the gamiﬁed experience on purchasing

decisions.

Regarding the results of Q5, 16 participants rated

their purchase intention with a 5, and 6 participants

with a 4, meaning 22 individuals expressed a higher-

than-average purchase intention. With 8 comic sales,

this implies that 36.40% of those who explicitly ex-

pressed greater interest in purchasing the comic fol-

lowed through, demonstrating the signiﬁcant conver-

sion rate among this group.

Figure 14: Sales of “Pedro Gir

on” over the three days of

“Manchacomic!” event.

Sales patterns over three days were provided by

Librer

ıa Serendipia. As depicted in Fig. 14, further

emphasize the effectiveness of this approach. On Fri-

day, eight comics were sold, while sales peaked on

Saturday with 29 comics purchased, of which 27.6%

were sold to volunteers that participated in our case

study. Sunday recorded a smaller but still signiﬁcant

number of sales, with 10 comics purchased. In to-

tal, 47 comics were sold over the event, including

additional sales to non-participants. It is interesting

to note that activities regarding the comic were also

hold on Friday (author’s book signing), on Saturday’s

evening and Sunday (author’s talk), which might had

inﬂuence on the sales made those days. However, 8

of the sales made in Saturday were directly inﬂuenced

by the gamiﬁed experience because those were made

during the morning, and the author’s talk was held

on Saturday’s evening. The sharp increase in sales

on Saturday, accounting for 61.7% of total comic

purchases, highlights the effectiveness of combining

gamiﬁed experiences and other activities in attracting

and retaining customer interest.

The gamiﬁed VR experience proved highly effec-

tive in driving consumer engagement and purchase

behavior. Notably, the “Pedro Gir

on” comic, which

was directly tied to the VR gamiﬁed application, con-

tributed to an 18.6% conversion rate. This outcome

underscores the importance of product relevance and

experiential design in e-commerce strategies. The im-

mersive and interactive nature of the VR environment,

coupled with gamiﬁcation, appears to have signiﬁ-

cantly enhanced the participants’ willingness to en-

gage with and purchase the featured products.

8 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE

WORK

In this paper, we have described how gamiﬁcation

proposals can be beneﬁcial in immersive shopping ex-

periences using VR. Speciﬁcally, we have presented

the background of the VRZOCO case study, an e-

commerce platform aimed at supporting small busi-

nesses through VR and AI. Gamiﬁed experiences

in VR can expand the reach of this technology in

e-commerce while offering innovative proposals to

boost sales, conduct marketing campaigns, or imple-

ment promotions. The results obtained in the case

study reinforce this, achieving a 41.9% conversion

rate, with 18.6% corresponding to the C20 comic

sales and 23.3% to products displayed in the virtual

store. Furthermore, the comic sales impact during

the event was notable, with Saturday morning sales

equaling the total sales on Friday. These conversion

rates exceed typical benchmarks for other marketing

strategies or promotions in e-commerce.

Moreover, the mean coverage rate of 72.88%

demonstrates the interest of the users in the gamiﬁed

experience proposed, as the Unity scene was greatly

explored to complete the objective proposed. The

success of this approach lies in its ability to blend im-

mersion, interactivity, and targeted promotions to in-

ﬂuence consumer behavior effectively. These ﬁndings

highlight the transformative potential of gamiﬁed VR

environments in e-commerce, particularly for prod-

ucts that allow to develop interesting gamiﬁed expe-

riences. Future studies should focus on evaluating

the long-term retention and satisfaction levels of con-

sumers who engage with such experiences, as well as

exploring their applicability across different product

categories and market segments.

As future work, we are exploring the impact

of other gamiﬁcation systems within immersive VR

shopping experiences, such as point accumulation.

Additionally, we intend to investigate the inﬂuence

of theming virtual stores by type, for example, toy

stores, and by season, such as Christmas. Gamiﬁca-

tion in these contexts could increase the acceptance of

VR for shopping purposes.

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492

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been funded by the Spanish Min-

istry of Science, Innovation and Universities MI-

CIU/AEI/10.13039/501100000033, and the European

Union (NextGenerationEU/PRTR), under the Re-

search Project: Design and development of a platform

based on VR-Shopping and AI for the digitisation

and strengthening of local businesses and economies,

TED2021-131082B-I00.

In addition, the ﬁrst author has a pre-doctoral FPI

(Research Staff Training) contract at the University

of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, for which funding has

been received from the European Union through the

European Social Fund Plus (FSE+).

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