How does Virtual Reality Matter? Evidence from an Online Real Estate Platform
Zhenbin Yan, Zixuan Meng, Yong Tan · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · 2020
Virtual reality (VR) develops rapidly and has been employed in a broad field of business. The interactivity and vividness of VR can bring users the experience of telepresence. Prior literature shows that VR may affect consumers’ attitudes, but the ease of use can also be a challenge. In this paper, we study how the VR Tour affects properties’ selling procedure in an online real estate platform and identify its role of delivering information. We find that VR Tour demonstrates a short-run deceleration effect and a long-run acceleration effect on the selling time of properties. The badge of VR could attract consumers’ attention before using VR Tour. After exploiting information provided by VR Tour, consumers can more effectively discern property quality and improve their intention of offline house visits. VR Tour is a good substitute for pictures. Sellers don’t need to demonstrate abundant pictures simultaneously if VR Tour is supported.