The Design of an Advanced Virtual Shopping Assistant for Improving Consumer Experience

The aim of this chapter is to propose the design of an anthropomorphic Virtual Shopping Assistant (VSA), endowed with an advanced system, to be used in the context of an innovative technologically based in-store service. The VSA is able to provide information based on a knowledge management system. It is based on the perceived best human typical seller’s characteristics, as well as on the results of psychological studies on consumers’ perception of virtual characters. In particular, its interface is anthropomorphic, and thus capable of displaying emotions. This VSA can be used as a mobile application or installed in stores