Immersive Assurance in Digital Retail: A Conceptual Framework on How Augmented Reality Virtual Try-Ons Reduce Purchase Uncertainty and Return Intentions

The rapid expansion of e-commerce has significantly transformed consumer purchasing behavior, yet the inability to physically evaluate products continues to create uncertainty during online decision-making. Consumers frequently struggle to assess important product attributes such as fit, appearance, and suitability through static images or textual descriptions, which often leads to hesitation during purchase and higher product return intentions. Although online retailers increasingly adopt immersive technologies, limited conceptual research has examined how such tools influence consumer confidence and decision certainty in digital retail environments.

This paper develops a conceptual framework explaining how augmented reality (AR)-based virtual try-on technologies can reduce purchase uncertainty and minimise return intentions in online retail. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model, Perceived Risk Theory, and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, the framework proposes that AR-enabled visualization allows consumers to virtually experience products before purchasing, thereby improving product evaluation and compatibility assessment. The model highlights key psychological mechanisms-perceived risk reduction, enhanced product visualization, and increased decision confidence-that collectively contribute to stronger purchase assurance and a lower likelihood of product returns. The framework introduces AR quality and individual consumer characteristics as moderators of the proposed pathway and identifies a three-dimensional decomposition of purchase uncertainty-functional, evaluative, and fit-as a conceptual refinement with implications for scale development. The proposed framework provides theoretical guidance for future empirical research and offers practical implications for e-commerce platforms seeking to design technology-enabled retail environments that reduce both consumer uncertainty and the operational and environmental costs of product returns.