Seeing Is Believing: The Impact of AI Magic Mirror on Consumer Purchase Intentions in Medical Aesthetic Services
Yu Li, Chujun Zhang, Tian Huai Shen, Xi Chen · Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research · 2025
The integration of AI into online platforms is reshaping consumer experience and behavior. While existing research has largely focused on the role of AI in search services and experience services, few studies have examined the role of AI in the context of credence services. This study fills this gap by investigating an AI-powered preview tool in the context of online medical aesthetic platforms. Specifically, this study investigates how the AI Magic Mirror influences consumer purchase intentions in medical aesthetic services. Using secondary data analysis and two experimental studies, we examine the main effects, as well as mediation and moderation effects. The findings consistently demonstrate that the AI Magic Mirror significantly increases consumer purchase intentions. This relationship is positively mediated by perceived value and negatively mediated by perceived risk. In addition, the main effect is stronger for procedures with higher fit uncertainty and is more pronounced for those with lower popularity. These results provide theoretical insights into AI application in credence service contexts and offer practical implications for the design of AI-enhanced online service platforms.