How Automotive 3D Interactive Display Marketing Affects Consumers’ Intention to Buy Cars

Abstract

3D interactive display marketing is a marketing method that uses 3D interactive technology and three-dimensional display scenes to facilitate interaction between people and display content. This approach has been widely used in online retail and is very popular in China’s automotive industry. The automobile industry tries to solve the severe issue of potential client loss in the automotive sector by using 3D interactive display marketing to persuade consumers to buy cars. However, it’s still unclear whether and how 3D interactive display marketing in the automobile sector might alter consumers’ inclination to buy cars. To address this issue, this study collected data through experiments and questionnaires and used a structural equation model to explore how automotive 3D interactive display marketing affected consumers’ willingness to purchase cars. The study established a model consisting of seven dimensions: information richness, information quality, interaction quality, esthetic experience, action experience, emotional experience, and willingness to purchase. The findings of this study can provide reference for producers and sellers in the automotive industry, promote the better application of automotive 3D interactive display marketing in the sector, and reduce potential loss of automotive customer.

Keywords

3D interactive display marketing automotive consumers user experience behavioral intentions

Introduction

3D interactive display marketing is a display marketing method that uses sensing technology, AR, VR, and Web 3D display to create a sense of real live and interactive experience, and can build 3D display scenes to digitize and concretize the content that needs to be displayed through the design platform, so that these display contents can interact with the public to achieve marketing purposes (Huang & Liao, 2017; Kang et al., 2020). The 3D interactive technology can convert the original two-dimensional photos into a clear, realistic, three-dimensional, interactive, and intriguing 3D product display, giving customers a completely free visual experience, which is considered a very effective marketing idea (Huang & Liao, 2017; Kang et al., 2020; Wei et al., 2020). Currently, 3D interactive display marketing has been widely used in online retailing and other fields, and is also popular in the automotive industry in China.

China’s socio-economic development and improved transportation conditions have created a huge demand for cars, making China the world’s largest automotive market (Q. Jiang et al., 2021; Wei et al., 2020). The huge demand for cars has also made the whole auto market more competitive (Zhen, 2016). Auto companies and dealers value each customer and are very attentive to car display and sales (Chen, 2012). However, the traditional way of displaying and selling cars is affected by various factors, for example, the location and business hours of auto 4S stores, and the limited number of cars on display due to space in the venue can all cause many potential car buyers to leave before entering the store (Gao et al., 2018). The COVID-19 crisis has made this situation even more serious (Hoeft, 2021; Power, 2020). The serious loss of potential customers has caught the attention of some automakers and dealers, who have started to adopt 3D interactive display marketing to try to improve the situation (News, 2022a, 2022b).

3D interactive display marketing undoubtedly has an impact on consumers’ behavioral intentions (Grewal et al., 2017; Kang et al., 2020; Li et al., 2002). Automobile 3D interactive display marketing can communicate with customers and provide them with rich information, thus enhancing their experience. The user experience that consumers get in the process of 3D interactive display marketing is an important part of the consumer car buying experience. According to the “2020 China Auto Sales Satisfaction Study SM (SSI)” released by J.D. Power, car buying experience (16%), product quality (30%), brand (19%), product design (18%), and price (16%) are the top five factors that determine Chinese consumers’ car buying behavior (Power, 2020). And related studies concluded that 3D interactive display marketing of products influences consumers’ behavioral intentions mainly through information dimension (including information richness and information quality), interaction dimension (mainly interaction quality), and experience dimension (user experience) (Farah et al., 2019; Kang et al., 2020; Yim et al., 2017). In turn, behavioral intention reflects users’ interest and likelihood to purchase a product (A. J. Kim & Ko, 2012), and is closely related to their future purchase behavior (Chih et al., 2012; A. J. Kim & Ko, 2012; Sengupta & Cao, 2022). Therefore, it is important for the automotive industry to clarify how 3D interactive display marketing of automobiles affects consumers’ willingness to purchase. However, this problem has not received much attention. In view of this, this study will further verify how the information richness of 3D interactive display marketing in the automotive industry affects consumers’ user experience and thus their behavioral intentions through information quality and interaction quality by constructing a research hypothesis model.

Literature Review and Research Hypothesis

User Experience and Behavioral Intention

User experience (UX) is one of the broader and important concepts in the field of human-computer interaction design (Raptis et al., 2017). In Roto et al.’s UX white paper (2010), it is stated that UX is the experience gained from a system (Roto et al., 2010). Based on this, Kaasinen et al. define UX as the human experience when utilizing a system, service, or product in a work context (Kaasinen et al., 2015). According to ISO 9241-210 standard based on the service perception, user experience is considered as the process of response to the realization of the product, system or service that the user expects to obtain in response to the demands of realistic conditions (ISO, 2010). User experience, in general, refers to the feedback and subjective feelings that customers have while using a product. These feelings and experiences include not only the physical perceptions that customers have while using the product, but also their emotional resonance and physiological responses (Datig, 2015; Karampournioti & Wiedmann, 2022; Yuqi & Songyang, 2020). Studies have shown that a good user experience can make consumers more motivated to purchase products and make them more likely to enjoy their online shopping experience (Bilgihan et al., 2014; Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015; Karampournioti & Wiedmann, 2022). Lombard and Ditton find as early as 1997 that 3D visual displays based on virtual images provide a user experience very similar to the direct product experience for consumers (Lombard & Ditton, 1997). Compared to traditional passive display marketing, 3D display marketing can produce a richer user experience (Dodgson, 2005; Z. X. Jin et al., 2007). 3D interactive display marketing can bring a richer, more diverse and three-dimensional user experience to consumers (Peukert et al., 2019).

In online marketing, user experience is the interaction between consumers and virtual products presented digitally with practical and entertaining factors (Laugwitz et al., 2008; Rauschenberger et al., 2013). In a highly competitive environment, businesses focus on improving their competitiveness by making their online marketing systems more useful and entertaining (Karampournioti & Wiedmann, 2022). In this context, online marketing systems can provide consumers an increasingly better user experience (Karampournioti & Wiedmann, 2022). Related studies have found that a good user experience increases consumers’ willingness to repeat visits (Koufaris, 2002) and consumer loyalty (Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015; Gabisch, 2011). And repeat visit intention and good loyalty have a positive impact on increasing consumers’ purchase intention and purchase behavior (Bilgihan et al., 2014; Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015; Gabisch, 2011). Schmitt (1999), the founder of experience marketing, divided user experience into five dimensions, including experience in sense, action, emotion, thinking and relation. From the practical cases and related studies of 3D interactive display marketing in the automotive industry, it can be found that the three main types of experiences that consumers can get from 3D interactive display marketing of products are sensory experience, action experience, and emotional experience (Farah et al., 2019; Kang et al., 2020; Li et al., 2002). W. Wang et al.’s (2012) study takes consumers’ sensory experience as esthetic experience and states that consumers’ esthetic, action, and affective experiences would positively guide their behavioral intentions. Therefore, this study hypothesized that.

H1. esthetic experience has a positive effect on behavioral intentions.

H2. action experience has a positive effect on behavioral intentions.

H3. affective experience has a positive influence on behavioral intentions.

Information Quality

Information quality is a crucial factor in the success of information system models (G. Jiang et al., 2021). The information provided by an automotive 3D interactive display marketing system is mainly the visual image content of the virtual product. Current technologies such as 3D modeling, 3D laser scanning, and photogrammetry allow for more effective creation of realistic 3D virtual product images (Baltsavias, 1999; Westoby et al., 2012), which enables 3D interactive display marketing systems to provide users with higher quality information content. It is mainly through these virtual 3D product images that consumers gain knowledge about the product (Ariely, 2000) . In 3D interactive display marketing, the information quality of the virtual 3D product images provided by the system affects the consumer’s understanding of the product (Yim et al., 2017). As much as feasible, complete, accurate, timely, and effective material should be presented in high-quality information so that customers can completely understand the quality of the product and level of service (G. Jiang et al., 2021) . According to related studies, the more information buyers have about a product, the more they are able to envision how they will use it (Phillips et al., 1995), thus enhancing their confidence in making purchase decisions (G. Jiang et al., 2021; Yim et al., 2017) . Therefore, this study hypothesized that.

H4. information quality has a positive effect on esthetic experience.

H5. information quality has a positive effect on action experience.

H6. information quality has a positive effect on affective experience.

Interaction Quality

Compared to 2D static display marketing, 3D display marketing is more interactive (Dauner et al., 1998a). 3D interactive display marketing can further improve the quality of interaction between the user and the display marketing system using 3D interaction technology (Yim et al., 2017), and Battarbee and Koskinen (2005) consider interaction as user experience. In virtual marketing environments, high quality interactivity is essential to enable consumers to have a user experience (Liu & Shrum, 2009) . Current 3D interactive display marketing enhances the user experience by improving the visualization of products and increasing user engagement, thereby improving the quality of interaction between humans and 3D interactive display marketing systems (Romano et al., 2021) . In the retail industry, it has been found that shoppers’ user experience is significantly enhanced when they are able to engage in interactive activities such as free rotation and product placement (Kang et al., 2020; Kil-Soo, 2005; Li et al., 2002) . In the car 3D interactive display marketing system, consumers can also control the car model to make 360° rotation, disassembly, and other operations, and can meticulously and comprehensively view the intended model, realize 720° panoramic view from all possible angles, perform interactive operations such as color change, open and close doors and lights, and car driving test, which can bring more user experience to consumers. Therefore, this study hypothesized that.

H7. interaction quality has a positive effect on esthetic experience.

H8. interaction quality has a positive effect on action experience.

H9. interaction quality has a positive effect on emotional experience.

Information Richness

Rich information is an important dimension to make customers’ experience when shopping online (Guttentag, 2010), and providing customers with rich additional product information is a major driver of online display marketing (Kang et al., 2020). The automotive 3D interactive display marketing system is able to display rich information about the exterior, interior, seats and tires of a car visually and three-dimensionally through 3D interactive display technology. Studies have shown that information richness also plays an important role in enhancing consumers’ behavioral intentions (Q. C. Jiang et al., 2022; Kang et al., 2020). Resonant market theory suggests that consumers will only buy what they want if they are informed (Clemons et al., 2006), and the main potential of 3D interactive display marketing is its ability to provide consumers with rich sensory information (Kang et al., 2020; J. Kim & Forsythe, 2008).

Research has shown that there is a strong link between information richness and interaction quality, information quality, user experience and behavioral intention (Q. C. Jiang et al., 2022; Kang et al., 2020). The rich information provided by online 3D interactive displays allow consumers to rotate and scrutinize products freely, thus providing them with higher interactions quality (Dauner et al., 1998b; Kang et al., 2020). In addition, realistic product images and detailed product information can be generated with the support of rich data, thus improving the quality of information obtained by the user and enabling consumers to process information selectively and focus on the necessary details (Kang et al., 2020; Liu & Shrum, 2009). The automotive 3D interactive display marketing system provides users with higher interactive quality by rendering sophisticated 3D car models and a large amount of product detail information that allows users to rotate, zoom in, and manipulate virtual car products, which can provide realistic images of car products, display more detailed images of products, and provide users with higher information quality by explaining text. In addition, many users also said that the rich information provided by the car 3D interactive display marketing system can bring a rich experience. Therefore, this study hypothesized that.

H10. information richness has a positive effect on esthetic experience.

H11. information richness has a positive effect on action experience.

H12. information richness has a positive effect on affective experience.

H13. Information richness has a positive effect on information quality.

H14. Information richness has a positive effect on the quality of interaction.

Based on the above, we established a research hypothesis model, which contains a total of 7 constructs of esthetic experience, action experience, emotional experience, interaction quality, information quality, and information richness and 14 hypotheses related to them. The hypothesis model is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Hypothesis model diagram.

Research Design and Methodology

Experiment and Questionnaire Design

The current 3D interactive display marketing of automobiles in the Chinese market mainly adopts Web 3D interactive display technology, and is mainly based on cell phone APP and the Internet, which has low requirements for equipment, simple operation and convenient user experience. In this study, we selected the 3D interactive display marketing content of the “dongchedi” APP, a popular online auto information platform for Chinese auto consumers, as the experimental content (as shown in Figure 2). Between September and October 2022, we invited potential car buyers to take part in the survey through online recruitment. Participants were able to choose a vehicle based on their preferences. Participants will be asked to experience the car for at least 15 min. After the experience, participants were required to respond anonymously to a questionnaire. The questionnaire items from the available literature served as the basis for setting and optimizing all of the study’s measurements (Table 1). A 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) was used to evaluate each item.

Figure 2.

3D interactive display of cars in the “dongchedi.com” app.

Table 1.

Definition of Variable Operability and Reference Scales.

Construct	Coding	Item	Source
Information richness	IR1	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system delivers information in a variety of ways.	Q. C. Jiang et al. (2022); Lam and Campbell (2021); Oh et al. (2009)
	IR2	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system delivers a rich form of information.
	IR3	Overall, the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system provided me with a wealth of information about the car’s products.
Information quality	IFQ1	The information and content provided by the app’s 3D interactive display is easy to understand.	Q. C. Jiang et al. (2022); Y.-Y. Wang et al. (2019); Wu et al. (2022)
	IFQ2	The information and content provided by the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system are clear, realistic, and rich in detail.
	IFQ3	The information and content provided by the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system is complete and effective.
Interaction quality	IAQ1	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system provides me with better interaction.	Q. C. Jiang et al. (2022); Pandey and Sahu (2020)
	IAQ2	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system reacted quickly to me.
	IAQ3	Overall, the quality of interaction provided by the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system is excellent.
Esthetic experience	ATE1	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system presents fascinating information.	W. Wang et al. (2012)
	ATE2	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system presents information that keeps my interest in the car.
	ATE3	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system presented information that further piqued my curiosity about the car.
Action experience	ACE1	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system was able to change my desire to buy.	W. Wang et al. (2012)
	ACE2	The app’s 3D interactive marketing system has improved my car buying process.
	ACE3	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system inspired me to think about it.
Emotional experience	EE1	The experience of using the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system is very easy and pleasant.	W. Wang et al. (2012)
	EE2	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system can inspire people to buy cars.
	EE3	The app’s 3D interactive display marketing system provides a similar experience to seeing a car offline.
Behavioral intention	BI1	The 3D interactive display marketing system through the app makes me more willing to buy car products.	Q. C. Jiang et al. (2022); W. Wang et al. (2012)
	BI2	I will continue to learn about car product information through the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system.
	BI3	I highly recommend others to learn about car product information through the app’s 3D interactive display marketing system.

Experiment Data Collection

The results of the descriptive statistics of the questionnaire sample are shown in Table 2 below. This study had 460 participants in total (no questionnaires were returned as incomplete), which is more than 10 times the number of items that were examined (21), therefore meeting the SEM’s sample size standards. Among them, 55.43% (255) were male and 44.57% (205) were female. The respondents were all adults, mainly aged 26 to 40 years old, accounting for 90.65% of the overall respondents, which is basically consistent with the survey data in the “2020 China Auto Sales Satisfaction Investigation (SSI)” released by J.D. Power, a consumer insight and market research firm, on July 2, 2020. The report states that 32% of China’s car buyers are post-90s, 30% are post-85s, 22% post-80s-84s and 17% are pre-80s. Therefore, the respondents of this study are representative.

Table 2.

Descriptive Statistics Results of the Questionnaire Sample.

Sample	Category	Number	Percentage
Gender	Male	255	55.43
Gender	Female	205	44.57
Age	18–25	23	5
	26–30	218	47.39
	31–35	152	33.04
	36–40	47	10.22
	41–45	14	3.04
	45+	6	1.3
Education	High school degree or below	97	21.09
	Bachelor’s degree	208	45.22
	Master’s degree	107	23.26
	Doctoral degree	48	10.43
Occupation	Student Foreign enterprise	4	0.87
	Research scholar student	24	5.22
	Public servant	68	14.78
	National enterprise	95	20.65
	Private-owned enterprise	204	44.35
	Public service organization	59	12.83
	Others	6	1.3

Experiment Data Analysis

Reliability Test of the Data

The consistency or stability of the scale measurement results is referred to as reliability. The Cronbach’s α values of each measurement variable were calculated using SPSS software, and the results were all greater than 0.6, and the constructs’ Cronbach’s α after deleting any question item was not significantly higher than the current results, which indicated that the question items shouldn’t be deleted, demonstrating the scale’s high reliability, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3.

Results of Confidence Analysis.

Construct	Item	Corrected item-to-total correlation	Cronbach’s α after deletion	Cronbach α
Information richness	IR1	.600	.697	.771
	IR2	.644	.648
	IR3	.572	.728
Information quality	IFQ1	.557	.690	.750
	IFQ2	.610	.630
	IFQ3	.566	.680
Interaction quality	IAQ1	.557	.651	.735
	IAQ2	.545	.665
	IAQ3	.574	.630
Esthetic experience	ATE1	.545	.721	.754
	ATE2	.625	.622
	ATE3	.584	.672
Action experience	ACE1	.526	.730	.750
	ACE2	.595	.648
	ACE3	.616	.622
Emotional experience	EE1	.528	.605	.704
	EE2	.527	.606
	EE3	.508	.629
Behavioral intention	BI1	.507	.735	.744
	BI2	.621	.603
	BI3	.587	.640

Validation Factor Analysis

In this study, the convergent validity (Table 4) and the discriminant validity (Table 5) of the scales were analyzed through using AMOS software. It shows that the factor loadings of each question item pertaining to all measured variables are greater than 0.6, and the average extracted variance values of each variable are higher than 0.36, suggesting that this scale has good convergent validity. Moreover, the square root (the value on the diagonal) of each variable’s AVE value in Table 4 is higher than the correlation coefficient between that variable and the other variables. This result indicates that the scale in this study has good discriminant validity.

Table 4.

Results of Convergent Validity Analysis.

Factor	Item	Unstd.	S.E.	CR	p	Std.	AVE	CR
Information richness	IR1	1	-	-	-	0.713	0.533	0.773
	IR2	1.06	0.077	13.704	0	0.773
	IR3	0.981	0.076	12.831	0	0.701
Information quality	IFQ1	1	-	-	-	0.667	0.501	0.75
	IFQ2	1.051	0.089	11.826	0	0.72
	IFQ3	1.085	0.091	11.932	0	0.734
Interaction quality	IAQ1	1	-	-	-	0.689	0.481	0.735
	IAQ2	0.986	0.082	11.999	0	0.665
	IAQ3	1.096	0.085	12.832	0	0.726
Esthetic experience	ATE1	1	-	-	-	0.684	0.513	0.759
	ATE2	1.042	0.081	12.836	0	0.773
	ATE3	0.888	0.074	12.014	0	0.689
Action experience	ACE1	1	-	-	-	0.732	0.499	0.749
	ACE2	0.861	0.064	13.537	0	0.691
	ACE3	0.885	0.065	13.587	0	0.694
Emotional experience	EE1	1	-	-	-	0.655	0.442	0.704
	EE2	1.036	0.082	12.611	0	0.688
	EE3	0.955	0.079	12.065	0	0.652
Behavioral intention	BI1	1	-	-	-	0.737	0.487	0.740
	BI2	0.868	0.066	13.104	0	0.687
	BI3	0.886	0.069	12.791	0	0.669

Table 5.

Results of Discriminant Validity Analysis.

	IR	IFQ	IAQ	ATE	ACE	EE	BI
Information richness	0.73
Information quality	0.369	0.708
Interaction quality	0.479	0.431	0.694
Esthetic experience	0.453	0.36	0.45	0.716
Action experience	0.549	0.52	0.582	0.387	0.706
Emotional experience	0.476	0.459	0.595	0.511	0.616	0.665
Behavioral intention	0.443	0.409	0.499	0.498	0.511	0.644	0.698

Note. The items on the diagonal on bold represent the square roots of the AVE.

Model Tests

In this study, the model hypotheses were tested and the correlations between the variables were confirmed using the AMOS software. From Table 6, it can be shown that the test results of each fitness index of the model (χ², df, χ²/df, RMSEA, CFI, IFI, SRMR) are in the ideal range. This shows that the hypothetical model constructed in this paper fits the data well. And the results of the path analysis, which are displayed in Table 7 and Figure 3, suggest that 13 of the study’s 14 hypotheses are valid, among which H2 is not valid. This result indicates that there is no significant influence of user’s action experience on their behavioral intention in the process of car 3D interactive display marketing.

Table 6.

Model Fit Index.

Common indices	χ²	df	χ²/df	RMSEA	CFI	IFI	SRMR
Judgment criteria	-	-	<5	<0.10	>0.9	>0.9	<0.1
Value	552.118	175	3.155	0.069	0.901	0.902	0.056

Table 7.

Model Path Analysis.

Y	←	X	Unstd	S.E.	CR	p	Std.	R ²
Information quality	←	Information richness	0.541	0.069	7.855	0	0.538	.289
Interaction quality	←	Information richness	0.667	0.071	9.456	0	0.685	.469
Esthetic experience	←	Information richness	0.266	0.095	2.812	.005	0.276	.455
	←	Information quality	0.155	0.065	2.381	.017	0.161
	←	Interaction quality	0.354	0.087	4.061	0	0.357
Action experience	←	Information richness	0.247	0.09	2.75	.006	0.235	.771
	←	Information quality	0.359	0.066	5.462	0	0.344
	←	Interaction quality	0.518	0.087	5.958	0	0.482
Emotional experience	←	Information richness	0.094	0.081	1.159	.246	0.099	.769
	←	Information quality	0.269	0.057	4.684	0	0.286
	←	Interaction quality	0.63	0.088	7.122	0	0.649
Behavioral intention	←	Esthetic experience	0.216	0.08	2.684	.007	0.178	.764
	←	Action experience	−0.029	0.117	−0.251	.802	−0.026
	←	Emotional experience	0.969	0.152	6.377	0	0.779

Figure 3.

Path analysis results.

Discussion

Behavioral intentions can be positively influenced by both esthetic and emotional experiences (H1, H3), with emotional experience playing a more substantial impact; however, behavioral intentions cannot be positively influenced by action experiences (H2 does not hold). The results show that although the 3D interactive display marketing system allows users to operate the car products virtually, the virtual action experience is insignificant compared with the action experience obtained by actually operating the car in reality, and is therefore insufficient to stimulate their behavioral intentions. However, the 3D interactive display marketing system can, to a certain extent, enhance users’ sensory enjoyment and provide positive feedback. It can also arouse users’ inner emotions and create a strong emotional resonance between users and products, which can increase users’ willingness to buy cars.

The interaction quality can positively influence the esthetic experience, action experience and emotional experience (H4, H5, H6), and the influence on emotional experience is more obvious. The study’s findings show that the 3D interactive display marketing system can bring users higher interaction quality and a better user experience. Moreover, the higher the quality of interaction between users and the 3D interactive car display marketing system, the better the sensory enjoyment and the feeling of operating the virtual car products, and the more effective it is in stimulating the emotional resonance and the inner emotion of users, which can further make them interested and act to purchase cars.

The quality of information can positively influence the esthetic, action and emotional experience (H7, H8, H9 are established). In the 3D interactive display marketing, good information quality makes user experience guaranteed. The high level of information quality (e.g., beautiful pictures, clear details, accurate information, etc.) brought by the 3D interactive display marketing system can bring users better sensory enjoyment and more realistic operation experience, and can stimulate users’ understanding and imagination of real car products, thus gaining a richer user experience, and thus significantly increasing users’ willingness to purchase cars. This result proves that the quality of information displayed through 3D interactive display technology plays an important role in improving user experience.

Information richness can positively influence esthetic experience, action experience, emotional experience, interaction quality and information quality (H10,H11,H12,H13,H14 established), among which the influence on interaction quality and information quality is more obvious. In 3D interactive display marketing, the rich information presented by the system is the basis for the user’s experience from it, and it is also the basic guarantee of interaction quality and information quality (Gallino & Moreno, 2018) . This is especially true in automotive 3D interactive display marketing, where the user learns about the car product through the system, and the rich information enables the system to bring better interaction and information quality to the user (Kang et al., 2020), thus allowing the user to have a deeper knowledge of the product, thus improving the user experience and thus their willingness to act.

In addition, based on the path analysis results in Figure 3, it can be seen that the path coefficient of “information richness → interaction quality → emotional experience → behavioral intention” (H14 → H9 → H3) is the highest and significantly higher than other paths. It can be seen that users of the 3D interactive display marketing system for automobiles value its interaction quality more. In other words, users value the interaction experience brought by the whole automotive 3D interactive display marketing system, such as the smoothness, completeness, and convenience of the interaction. For a significant portion of users or consumers, deciding which car to buy is a relatively subjective decision. Although consumers also cared a lot about information quality (H13), the action experience with the highest coefficient in the part of information quality for user experience did not affect behavioral intention (H2). Therefore, under the breakdown of information richness, interaction quality, and information quality have a greater impact on users’ emotional experience (H6, H9) than on their esthetic experience (H4, H7), which is also consistent. In other words, although esthetic factors such as the shape and color of the car also have an impact on consumers’ intentions, emotional liking may play a more important role for users. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it is necessary to continue to optimize the interaction quality of the 3D car display marketing system based on the current information richness to increase the user’s experience of using the system if the user’s desire to purchase is to be increased. In this way, it is possible to increase the subjective favorability of consumers, which can enhance their intention to purchase a car.

Conclusions and Suggestions

Conclusions

This study explores and analyzes how automotive 3D interactive display marketing affects consumers’ behavioral intentions to purchase a car. Our proposed model is based on information richness, information quality, interaction quality, user experience, and behavioral intention (which includes esthetic experience, action experience, and emotional experience), which reflects our understanding of the change in consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase a car before and after using the automotive 3D interactive display marketing system. Although many automakers and sellers have attempted to change pre-store churn through automotive 3D interactive display marketing, they are unsure of how automotive 3D interactive display marketing can positively impact consumer purchase intentions, and this study will help them to have a clear understanding of this. This study further confirms that automotive 3D interactive display marketing is a new type of automotive marketing that is effective in increasing consumers’ purchase intention and can play a very positive and important role in the automotive industry. The 3D interactive display marketing is different from other online display marketing in that it does not directly lead to purchase activities, but it can provide rich information, better information quality, and interaction quality to let users have a better understanding and knowledge of the car, thus improving the user experience and thus increasing the user’s willingness to purchase a car. Therefore, car manufacturers and sellers need to improve the information richness, information quality, interaction quality, and user experience of the 3D interactive display marketing system to improve consumers’ willingness to purchase cars.

Theoretical Contribution

With the widespread adoption of 3D interactive display marketing in online sales, researchers are increasingly interested in understanding its impact and effect on consumers’ purchase behavioral intention. This study explores the impact of automotive 3D interactive display marketing on consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase a car by constructing a research hypothesis model and validating the model’s path relationships. The validation results of the model indicate that automotive 3D interactive display marketing is an effective marketing strategy and can have a positive impact on consumers’ purchase behavior intention. The relationship between information richness, information quality, interaction quality, user experience, and consumer behavior intention presented by the 3D interactive display marketing system can be studied in depth: to improve consumer behavior intention through 3D interactive display marketing, the main entry point is to improve user emotional experience. Moreover, the main way to improve the emotional experience of a 3D interactive display marketing system is to improve the quality of interaction between it and users. The quality of interaction between the 3D interactive display marketing system and users is influenced by the richness of information provided by the system, in addition to technical factors. This suggests that 3D interactive display marketing systems can improve consumers’ behavioral intentions through information richness, information quality, interaction quality, and user experience. From this perspective, the research in this paper and the model constructed in this paper are theoretically valuable. From a theoretical perspective, the findings of this paper confirm the importance of 3D interactive display marketing for automakers and sellers of automobiles to acquire potential consumers. In addition, the model proposed in this study has value and significance for similar studies and can provide possible directions for further research in this area.

Managerial Implications

This study explores consumer behavior issues based on quantitative analysis and makes some suggestions on how to improve the purchase behavior intention of automobile consumers. This study will be of great importance in improving the marketing strategies of automobile manufacturers and sellers. When manufacturers and sellers in the automotive industry use 3D interactive display marketing to attract potential consumers and increase consumers’ purchase behavior intention, they need to pay attention to the following points: First, they need to improve the user experience of 3D interactive display marketing system to consumers, among which improving consumers’ emotional experience is the priority. Second, give full play to the advantages of 3D interactive display technology to present more complete, detailed, and realistic product information, so that the automotive 3D interactive display marketing system provides users with a higher level of interaction quality and information quality. Finally, according to the requirements of emotional experience, interaction quality, and information quality, the information richness of automotive 3D interactive display marketing content is improved in terms of display mode, display form, and display content. In this case, manufacturers and sellers in the automotive industry can effectively increase the willingness of consumers (especially potential consumers) to purchase cars through automotive 3D interactive display marketing.

Research Limitations and Future Research

Given the limitations of this study, potential directions for future research would be reflected in the following areas:

(1) This study clearly explored the path of automotive 3D interactive display marketing influencing consumers’ willingness to purchase a car, but did not further explore the specific influence process and content of each factor, etc. Future research would be more helpful to car producers and sellers if it explores this aspect.

(2) Since this study focuses on the relationship between 3D interactive display marketing and consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase a car, it does not analyze how to improve the 3D interactive display marketing system for cars. Future research will provide more practical value to manufacturers and sellers in the automotive industry and consumers if this study is conducted in depth.

(3) It is clear from this study that the emotional experience brought by the 3D interactive display marketing system is the key to influencing consumers’ intention to purchase a car. Therefore, future research may further examine the importance of the above dimensions and will explore them in more depth.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who helped me during this research process, including my colleagues, interviewees and interpreters.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article was funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China (NSSF) Art Major Project “Research on Urban Image Design in China” (NO.22ZD18) and General Program of Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Foundation, “Research on the Innovation Mechanism of Public Art under the Intervention of Digital Media” (NO.23YSB002)

Ethics Statement

This article does not deal with the ethical issues of animal and human research. This study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and informed consent was obtained from all participants and all methods were performed relevant guidelines and regulations.

ORCID iD

Chao Gao

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

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