Extended Reality (XR) - an umbrella term covering Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) - has firmly moved from experimentation to execution, with more than 72% of Fortune 500 companies actively rolling out XR technologies. Today, XR supports a wide range of applications, from surgical simulations and mental health therapy to industrial training, product design, and remote collaboration. On the consumer side, XR has expanded well beyond gaming, reshaping entertainment, shopping experiences, and brand interaction.
What are XR, VR, AR, and MR?
Extended Reality (XR) is the umbrella term for all technologies that blend the physical and digital worlds. It enhances or replaces what we see and experience by layering digital elements onto our surroundings or immersing us entirely in virtual spaces, a concept often called spatial computing.
Under XR sit three main layers:
- Augmented Reality (AR): Adds digital elements like graphics or data to the real world you see.
- Virtual Reality (VR): A fully immersive experience that replaces the real world with a digital one.
- Mixed Reality (MR): Blends the two, allowing virtual objects to interact with your physical environment in real time.
Together, these technologies are reshaping how we perceive presence, connection, and reality itself, paving the way toward the Metaverse, where the digital and physical truly become one.
Use Case: RemAid-AR for Smarter Remote Collaboration
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cONqjWcu_EM
Quelle: Usaneers (https://www.usaneers.de/en/medicine/ )
Through smartglasses, desktop/tablet and smartphone, remAid connects a remote expert (Spectator) with an on-site user (Operator) to deliver real-time guidance, training, and support through immersive AR. The Spectator can interact directly with the Operator’s environment using markers, laser pointers or 3D drawing. A Virtual Whiteboard allows image and video sharing, annotations, and text input. Operators can also take live snapshots via smartglasses, instantly shared in-session.
It is applicable not only for medical remote proctoring (e.g., real-time surgical supervision and expert consultation with AR overlays and diagnostic visuals), live training & medical congresses (e.g., interactive live streams for education, workshops, and congress presentations), but also for technical support, remote inspections, and industrial training—anywhere expert guidance is needed without being on-site.
Use Case: XR Drive Mode – Real-World Testing in Motion
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY3vnaeKoTU
Quelle: Usaneers (https://www.usaneers.de/virtuelles-training-fuer-unternehmen/ )
Usaneers’ XR Drive Mode brings Extended Reality (XR) into real driving environments, enabling the testing and optimization of digital controls and user interfaces inside moving vehicles. It delivers a stable, real-time XR experience on the road, allowing designers and engineers to evaluate digital features under actual driving conditions — not just in the lab.
It also enables collaborative, multi-user mode for in-car co-creation and testing.
Use Case: VR Oscilloscope Training - Learning Tech the Fun Way
Quelle: Usaneers (https://www.usaneers.de/en/projekte-en/vr-training-2/)
The VR Oscilloscope Training turns technical learning into an immersive adventure. Designed to spark young people’s curiosity about technology and engineering, the program lets learners explore how an oscilloscope works — from basic functions to advanced applications — entirely in virtual reality.
Guided by the friendly virtual assistant EEVE, trainees move step by step through interactive exercises that adapt to their individual pace and skill level. By practicing on a digital twin of a real oscilloscope, they gain hands-on experience in a safe, realistic environment — no physical device required.
Virtual Reality (VR) x Market/Consumer/UX Research
Among XR technologies, AR leads the way thanks to its easy integration with smartphones and everyday devices. For social and entertainment uses, people increasingly prefer layered AR/MR experiences that enhance the real world with AI — rather than fully immersive VR. However, in market and consumer research, VR is emerging as a powerful tool. VR places participants in realistic, interactive environments where researchers can observe genuine behaviors — something that would require significantly greater effort using traditional research methods.
By using VR headsets, companies can simulate 360° shopping environments, product experiences, or virtual conversations, complete with visual, haptic, and audio feedback to mirror real-life conditions. These immersive research methods can combine simulation, behavioral tracking, and advanced analytics to unlock deeper insights. From virtual product trials and store layouts to pricing tests and ad evaluations, VR helps businesses understand how consumers truly act and decide.
For example, in the FMCG sector, VR creates a realistic virtual store for testing new products, store layouts, advertisements, and pricing strategies by observing authentic consumer behavior in lifelike scenarios. Within these simulations, displays, prices, or ads can be instantly adjusted to see how each change influences consumer decisions — enabling flexible, scalable, and data-rich hypothesis testing.
In the automotive sector, VR powers virtual showrooms, prototyping, and interactive customization. It’s also a vital tool for autonomous vehicle (AV) research: driving and urban simulations allow scientists to study how pedestrians perceive and interact with AVs — exploring factors like trust, perceived safety, and reactions to external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs).
VR even redefines how researchers conduct focus groups. Participants can meet inside shared virtual spaces to explore products, exchange opinions, and react naturally, while researchers capture authentic social dynamics, facial expressions, and group sentiment without any physical limitations.
In Car Clinics, VR is increasingly used to gather consumer feedback on design concepts. Test participants wear VR headsets to experience cars in a realistically simulated environment, viewing and comparing different colors, wheels, and interior designs without the need for physical prototypes. Premium automotive brands are using VR to transform how customers experience and evaluate vehicles. Through virtual showrooms and immersive product configurators, prospective buyers can explore models, features, and design options in 3D — long before stepping into a dealership.
Video (BMW World Study): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0L1m1JMPS8
Quelle: Spiegel Institut
Use Case: Envisioning the Car Concept with VR
Using VR and a real cockpit setup, Spiegel Institut conducted an immersive user study in China to explore and evaluate futuristic interior, exterior, and interface design concepts for a vehicle’s smart cockpit.
Use Case: VR Exploration of Future Passenger Information Systems
Combining qualitative methods with VR and IDIs across two immersive studies, Spiegel Institut assessed the suitability of certain visualizations of passenger information and zoning for orientation in Germany.
Why VR Is Transforming Market Research
The biggest advantage of VR lies in its combination of realism and control. By simulating realistic environments, researchers can observe natural reactions and make design changes instantly. They enable observation of "natural" consumer behavior in realistic but easily controlled scenarios, yielding highly actionable data.
Every element—from store layouts to product placements—can be precisely adjusted, allowing researchers to test countless variations quickly and safely. It enables the testing of complex, lifelike scenarios—from virtual showrooms to digital retail experiences—under fully controlled conditions. The immersive nature of VR is key to its effectiveness in research, as it can induce emotions (such as nostalgia, joy, or fear) and emotional arousal under experimental control in a secure laboratory setting. Immersion and presence are essential elements that make VR an effective tool for eliciting emotions.
VR hardware and trackers can collect a significant amount of (behavioral) data, including translation, gaze, (hand) movement, and dwell time, completion vs. drop off rate, providing more granular behavioral data than camera-based surveys or field studies and supporting richer comparative analytics, such as time spent on specific tasks, error rates per scenario, and direct comparisons of group performance in controlled digital environments.
Integrated eye-tracking and motion sensors reveal exactly where participants look, how they move, and what captures their attention first. For example, heatmaps from VR eye-tracking studies visualize gaze patterns in a virtual store, helping brands identify which shelf layouts or packaging designs attract the most attention. The sequence of glances can also be precisely identified with the help of VR.
An illustrative example of a heatmap
Beyond visuals, with haptic devices and biometric sensors, VR captures authentic emotional responses and behavioral patterns through gestures, gaze, and even biometrics (such as physiological response (stress, excitement) to stimuli), providing richer insights than traditional surveys.
A further standout advantage is the significant internal cost efficiency. Without building physical prototypes or renting large test spaces, VR studies not only are flexible, but also could reduce a wide range of internal costs, including:
- physical prototype construction
- shipping and transportation of vehicles/materials
- coordination effort across departments and countries
- setup, teardown, and storage logistics
- lead time and iteration cycles, etc.
These hidden savings in time, manpower, materials, environmental impact, and more can be substantial and can make VR the more efficient choice even when initial external costs appear similar.
Challenges of Using VR in Market Research
While VR offers exciting opportunities for innovation and insight generation, it also comes with a set of practical and technical challenges. Since VR is still a relatively new technology, participants often need time to familiarize themselves with the equipment. Older or less tech-savvy users may struggle with navigation and controls, which can limit the diversity of study samples. Researchers and companies also face a learning curve, as they must first master the software and systems required to create and conduct VR studies. In contexts such as clinical evaluations, users’ immersive competence—that is, their ability to navigate and operate VR systems—can introduce a bias unrelated to the actual abilities being assessed. This highlights the need for thorough hands-on preparation.
Another issue is the potential feeling of isolation caused by being completely cut off from the real world while wearing a headset. Some users may also experience motion sickness - a sense of dizziness or nausea triggered when visual perception and body movement don’t align. This physical strain can cause participants to abandon the experiment or distort the results.
On the technical side, limited hardware performance, connection issues, or software bugs can delay research and compromise data quality. Some VR headsets could be ergonomically imperfect, making them uncomfortable for extended use.
From an external cost perspective, the upfront investment for VR studies (primarily the VR headsets and the production of high-quality, realistic stimulus materials) can be relatively high. Naturally, this varies greatly depending on the complexity of the request and the study design. As a result, VR does not always offer a clear cost advantage for simple or low-complexity tests. However, for complex, multi-scenario, or large-scale clinic environments, VR becomes more cost-efficient. For example, in a comparable car clinic project—such as a 2-hour middle-class vehicle clinic with 50 participants and 5 vehicles—managed by Spiegel Institut and Usaneers local teams in Germany or China, a VR setup can save at least 5% compared to a traditional on-site clinic.
Additionally, when VR assets (e.g., digital prototypes, environments, or interfaces) can be reused or adapted in follow-up VR studies, total costs drop substantially—creating strong long-term cost efficiency.
It is important to note that study prices vary significantly depending on locations, complexity of scenarios, brand involvement, number of vehicles/concepts, methodological constellation, sample size, and many other factors. Every project is unique. If you’re exploring VR options or want to transform an early idea into an innovative testing approach, we’re here to help. Reach out anytime—we’d love to find the most effective solution for your needs.
Reimagining Market/Consumer/UX Research: How Virtual Reality (VR) and AI Are Shaping the Future of Insight
While challenges like device comfort and user adaptation remain, technological progress and AI integration are transforming VR into a more powerful, accessible research method. The fusion of AI and spatial computing now powers dynamic, adaptive environments that respond in real time to participants’ actions, emotions, and gaze. With generative AI accelerates the creation of entire simulated/virtual worlds from simple prompts, researchers can iterate quickly and at lower cost while maintaining ecological validity. Meanwhile, AI-driven analytics automatically detect patterns in behavior, attention, and sentiment, providing unprecedented depth and precision in data interpretation.
At the same time, hardware evolution is making VR more user-friendly and inclusive. The shift from bulky, tethered headsets to lightweight, standalone devices, like Meta Quest 3 Pro or Apple’s Vision Pro, means smoother, more comfortable experiences for participants. 5G and edge computing further reduce latency, enabling seamless streaming and lighter devices. Natural Multimodal Interaction by adding haptic gloves, spatial audio, and gesture-based interaction, real-time translation, and speech recognition as well as the result is an ecosystem where realism and usability finally meet.
Given the complexity of immersive research, companies exploring VR, AR, or MR should collaborate with experienced, full-service partners that combine technological expertise with methodological depth. Effective XR research requires more than advanced hardware - it calls for a deep understanding of human perception, cross-cultural behavior, usability, and data interpretation.
With 75 years of professional market, consumer, and UX research experience and innovation engineering globally, especially in Europe, the USA, and China, Spiegel Institut and Usaneers unite psychological insight, design excellence, and technological know-how to deliver reliable, actionable results. By integrating AI and human-centered design, they empower clients to use XR (AR/MR/VR) as a powerful research and innovation tool across industries and markets. From automotive clinics and virtual product testing to global consumer behavior studies, Spiegel Institut and Usaneers provide end-to-end XR consulting - from strategy and design to implementation and analytics.
Author：Peiyi Huang, Finja Marquardsen
Key References：
https://5cc2b83c.delivery.rocketcdn.me/app/uploads/eye-tracking-vr-virtual-reality-heatmap-jpg.webp
https://de.statista.com/outlook/amo/ar-vr/weltweit
https://gridraster.com/news/91-of-businesses-already-using-or-planning-to-adopt-ar-or-vr-technology/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20survey%20by%20Grid%20Raster%2C,recent%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic%20may%20speed%20AR/VR%20adoption**
https://hqsoftwarelab.com/blog/ai-and-ar-vr/#:~:text=It%20controls%20virtual%20characters%20with,education%20more%20effective%20and%20engaging.
https://medium.com/@northof41/what-really-is-the-difference-between-ar-mr-vr-xr-35bed1da1a4e
https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/de/eye-tracking-virtuelle-realitaet/
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