This book offers an overview of haptic sensation and its influence on consumers’ behaviour, especially in dual and mediated environments where products are accessible through an interface. After almost three decades, marketers have reached a critical understanding of the importance of consumers’ senses to the processing of brands, products and advertising information. Since the development of the internet, however, there have been questions as to how markets and consumers can reach out to products in different environments. Recent advances in technologies allow sensations to render or stimulate physical sensations similar to the handling of the same product. These emerging possibilities question the way consumers are and will be able to feel a product according to the reality it relies on. The book begins by defining and discussing haptic consumption, before introducing the challenge of appealing to consumers’ senses in the digital age and examining how marketing managers have overcome this tangible barrier to date. The authors go on to further investigate the role of interfaces in rendering tactile sensations, with a particular focus on technological innovations. Finally, the book presents the authors’ original research in the field and offers a prospective vision of consumption for the coming years.
Author(s): Margot Racat, Sonia Capelli
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 137
Tags: Consumer Behavior
Acknowledgements......Page 6
Introduction......Page 7
Reference......Page 9
Contents......Page 10
List of Figures......Page 13
List of Tables......Page 14
1 Introduction to the World of Haptic Sensations......Page 15
1.1 The Sense of Touch......Page 16
1.1.1 Social and Cultural Dimensions......Page 17
1.1.2 Neuro-Psychophysical Dimensions......Page 21
1.2.1 Consumers’ Individual Characteristics for Touching......Page 25
1.2.1.1 Need for Touch......Page 26
1.2.1.3 Interface Need for Touch......Page 27
1.2.2.1 Product Classification......Page 29
1.2.2.2 Product Evaluation: Exploratory Procedures......Page 31
1.2.2.3 Diagnostic Touch and Non-diagnostic......Page 32
1.2.3.1 Adding Tactile Cues to the Product......Page 33
1.2.3.2 Product Contamination......Page 35
1.3 Conclusion......Page 36
References......Page 37
2 Touching Without Touching: The Paradox of the Digital Age......Page 46
2.1 Internet Environment: Evolution of Consumers’ Experience with Products......Page 47
2.1.1 New Consumers’ Experience: Online Image Interactivity......Page 48
2.1.2 Mediated Environments: Human–Machine Interactions......Page 51
2.2.1 Multichannel Shopping Environments: Enhancing Sensory Interactions......Page 60
2.2.2 Visuo-Haptic Stimulation in Online Shopping Environments......Page 63
2.3 Conclusion......Page 64
References......Page 65
3 When Interfaces Make It Real......Page 78
3.1.1 Interface Haptic Stimulation and Influence on Consumers’ Behaviour......Page 79
3.1.2 Consumers’ Evolution of Touching in Computer-Mediated Environments......Page 82
3.2 Tactile Rendering Systems: Recovering Haptic Experiences......Page 84
3.2.1 Tactile Rendering Technologies: Functioning and Developments......Page 85
3.2.2 Realism for Consumption Environments: Visual and Haptic Rendering of Texture......Page 91
3.3 Managerial Focus: From Imagination to Sensory Stimulation......Page 95
References......Page 97
4 The Future of Consumption in a Haptic-Based World......Page 107
4.1 To Mimic or Not to Mimic the Reality? That Is the Question......Page 108
4.1.1 Congruency and Similarity in Mediated Environments......Page 109
4.1.2.1 Study 1—Evaluation of Realism Between Physical and Virtual Experiences of a Product......Page 113
4.1.2.2 Study 2—Tactile Rendering to Serve Sensory Similarity of the Virtual Product Experience......Page 116
4.2 Implication for the Future of Haptic Consumption......Page 121
References......Page 124
Conclusion......Page 129
Index......Page 131
