The Consumer Acceptance of Artificial Intelligence Devices for a New In-Store Customer Journey

The potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI - Stone et al., 2020; Haefner et al., 2021) is prominently entering the fashion industry at many levels (Luce, 2018). From design support systems, for instance, using generative adversarial networks (GANs) to design fashion products (Sohn et al., 2020), from fashion recommendation systems through sensory evaluation and virtual try-on systems when consumers shop apparel online (Gonçalves et al., 2023), to intelligent tracking systems, and fashion e-marketing by arranging AI chatbots to influence the online customer experience in e-retailing (Chen et al., 2021). Examples in the use of these disruptive technologies to improve the value for enterprises and customers are constantly increasing, (Thomassey and Zeng, 2018), and the retail system is trying to adapt its business model to develop a more involving in-store shopping experience through digital technologies, enriching the brand value (Cuomo et al., 2020). Nevertheless, are managers sure that the solicitations provided by these tools could increase the value of the overall in-store customer experience or, conversely, they distract the shoppers from their main purpose? Above all, are firms sure that the effort to interact with the AI devices will positively impact the customer experience? In other words, understanding how consumers respond to new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, becomes crucial. The study aims to examine consumers’ acceptance and willingness to use AI devices in their shopping activities and to provide valuable insights for retailers.