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The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into whether “more sense makes sense” when attempting to encourage consumers to purchase retail products using technology; that is, does engaging senses in addition to visual and aural senses, such as haptic touch, through interactive retail technology lead to an easier and more enjoyable consumption experience of retail products for consumers, while also enhancing service provider outcomes? To test this assumption (“more sense makes sense”), this study empirically examines whether differences are present in the consumer experience (usefulness, ease of use and customer-perceived value) and service provider outcomes (satisfaction and purchase intentions) across retail technologies with and without haptic touch enabled.

The study randomly allocated participants to either the haptic touch (haptic touch, visual and aural senses, n = 135) or no haptic touch (visual and aural senses only, n = 182) interactive retail technology condition. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The data provide support for the use of high-interactive technology achieved through the inclusion of haptic touch by showing it to provide a more visually appealing, easy to use, enjoyable and entertaining experience. However, the results also provide insight into boundaries of where the use of haptic touch does not significantly increase outcomes. Overall, the results suggest high-interactive retail technology using haptic touch provides a more entertaining experience for consumers, which leads to increased satisfaction with service providers, but this does not translate into a significant increase in purchase intentions.

This study examines the consumer and service provider benefits and limitations of using haptic touch in interactive retail technology. The effects of haptic touch for both the consumer and service provider have not previously been empirically examined thoroughly in a technological setting.

Touch plays an important role in the evaluations of products. However, prior quantitative touch research does not present a holistic perspective of haptics. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of haptic information that consumers attain from touch.

Adopting a qualitative research approach, semi-structured, depth interviews were conducted with industry experts.

Based on the findings, this research proposes a conceptual model of consumer haptic perception consisting of seven key influences, namely, the effects of haptic sensation, haptic perception, the influence of individual factors, the influence of external environmental factors, the multi-dimensionality of haptics, haptic cue congruity and haptic dominance.

This study suggests firms to understand the importance of consumers’ haptic perception as an opportunity to engage an individual’s heart and mind through information attained through touch.

This is the first study in marketing to propose a conceptual model of haptics comprising several new haptic influences. This model contributes to the emerging literature of sensory marketing by providing directions for future touch research by capturing the dynamic nature of haptics.

El tacto desempeña un papel importante en nuestras evaluaciones de los productos. Sin embargo, las investigaciones cuantitativas anteriores sobre el tacto no presentan una perspectiva holística de la percepción táctil. Este artículo pretende ofrecer una comprensión más completa de la información táctil que los consumidores obtienen del contacto.

Adoptando un enfoque de investigación cualitativa, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas en profundidad con expertos del sector.

A partir de los resultados, esta investigación propone un modelo conceptual de la percepción táctil del consumidor que consta de siete influencias clave: Los efectos de la sensación háptica, la percepción háptica, la influencia de los factores individuales, la influencia de los factores ambientales externos, la multidimensionalidad de la sensación táctil, la congruencia de las pistas táctiles y la dominancia de la sensación táctil.

Este estudio sugiere a las empresas que comprendan la importancia de la percepción táctil de los consumidores como una oportunidad para captar el corazón y la mente del individuo a través de la información obtenida mediante el tacto.

Este es el primer estudio en marketing que propone un modelo conceptual de la percepción táctil que incluye varias influencias táctiles nuevas. Este modelo contribuye a la literatura emergente del marketing sensorial proporcionando direcciones para la futura investigación táctil al capturar la naturaleza dinámica del sentido del tacto.

触摸在我们对产品的评价中起着重要作用。然而, 在先前定量的触觉研究中并未呈现触觉的整体视角。本文旨在更全面地了解消费者通过触摸获得的触觉信息。

本文采用定性研究方法, 与行业专家进行了半结构化的深度访谈。

本研究提出了一个消费者触觉感知的概念模型, 其中包括七个关键影响因素：触觉的影响、触觉感知、个人因素的影响、外部环境因素的影响、触觉的多维性、触觉线索的一致性和触觉的主导性。

这项研究建议企业了解消费者触觉感知的重要性, 并将触觉信息传达作为吸引消费者心灵的机会。

这是营销领域首次提出触觉概念模型的研究, 该模型包含几种新的触觉影响因素。这个触觉概念模型通过捕捉触觉的动态特性为未来的触觉研究提供方向, 从而为新兴的感官营销文献做出了贡献。

This paper aims to examine the effects of purchase environment, product type and need for touch (NFT) on cognitive response, affective response and overall product evaluation in the USA and India.

Two experiments were conducted in two different consumer markets. In Study 1, participants evaluated haptic and non-haptic products and gave responses on cognitive response, affective response and overall product evaluation measures in the US market. In Study 2, the authors replicate Study 1 in a culturally different market of India and extend Study 1 by examining the moderating role of instrumental and autotelic dimensions of NFT on the effect of purchase environment on cognitive and affective responses.

Research findings suggest that cognitive and affective responses are the underlying mechanism between the purchase environment and overall response only for haptic product among Indian consumers. In contrast, affective response is the underlying mechanism explaining this relationship among US consumers. Furthermore, the instrumental dimension of NFT moderates the impact of purchase environment on cognitive but the autotelic NFT moderates the effect of purchase environment on affective response only for the haptic product but not for the non-haptic product.

The study uses a relatively homogenous sample in the Indian market in contrast to the US market.

Results advance the understanding of the importance of haptic information processing in consumer decision-making across different purchase environments, product types and NFT using psychological distance (proximity) as a theoretical underpinning. With non-haptic shopping environments (i.e. online and mobile) growing rapidly, the results have critical implications for development of marketing strategies in Asian and US markets.

Empirical research examining the underlying mechanism by which purchase environment influences overall evaluation for haptic product is scarce. Additionally, understanding of the differential roles of instrumental and autotelic dimensions of NFT on cognitive and affective responses is very limited. This research fills this void and provides an understanding of the specific environment in evaluating haptic and non-haptic products in two distinct markets.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it seeks to extend service and retailers understanding of how the inclusion of haptics can gamify digital service experiences. Second, it seeks to understand the moderating role of consumers orientation towards adventure in service experiences.

This research adopts a two-study, 2 (haptic technology: present vs absent) × 2 (adventure orientation: high vs low) to test the proposed hypotheses (Study 1 n = 210, Study 2 n = 452). The data are tested using ANCOVA's and Hayes PROCESS Macro to investigate mean differences and the potential presence of two different moderated mediated relationships.

The results are consistent across the two experimental studies evidencing that the inclusion of haptics to gamify the service experience leads to significantly improved outcomes for service brands and channels. Further, the results demonstrate that the impact of haptics is greater for consumers with a lower, compared to higher, sense of adventure. Thus, the results demonstrate that whilst haptics improves consumers experiences with technological services overall, this is more prevalent for those who have “less sense of adventure”.

This paper sheds insight into the emerging area of haptic technology and is one of the first to specifically examine the impact of consumers “sense of adventure.”

The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of low-end, low-fidelity (gaming/consumer-level) haptic devices for medical-based, surgical skills development (surgical bone-based drilling in particular) with serious games and virtual simulations as an affordable training solution with the potential of complementing current and traditional training methods.

The authors present the adaptation of two low-end haptic devices (Novint Falcon and Geomagic 3D Touch) to simulate a surgical drill drilling through bone for a serious game developed for total knee arthroplasty training. The implementation was possible through the analysis of the bone drilling mechanics. The authors provide a quantitative comparison of both haptic devices with respect to forces, movements, and development.

Although further testing is required, the initial results demonstrate that the low-end, consumer-level haptic devices can be incorporated into virtual environments/serious games to allow for the simulation of surgical drilling. The authors also believe that the results will generalize and allow these devices to be used to simulate a variety of technical-based medical procedures.

In contrast to previous work where the focus is placed on cost-prohibitive haptic devices, this approach considers affordable consumer-level solutions that can be easily incorporated into a variety of serious games and virtual simulations. This holds promise that haptic-based virtual simulation and serious games become more widespread, ultimately ensuring that medical trainees are better prepared before exposure to live patients.

Haptic interfaces enable person‐machine communication through touch, and most commonly, in response to user movements. We comment on a distinct property of haptic interfaces, that of providing for simultaneous information exchange between a user and a machine. We also comment on the fact that, like other kinds of displays, they can take advantage of both the strengths and the limitations of human perception. The paper then proceeds with a description of the components and the modus operandi of haptic interfaces, followed by a list of current and prospective applications and a discussion of a cross‐section of current device designs.

Online shopping has become a commonplace thing nowadays as people can buy products from the comfort of their home. But such environments do not offer a complete sensory interaction as consumers are unable to touch products which is quite important for certain categories of products such as apparels. Therefore, in order to find whether every individual seeks touch equally, the purpose of this paper is to deal with the differences in an individual’s preferences for touch. The study also evaluates customer responses towards the introduction of touch-enabling technology which can, to some extent, compensate for the lack of touch. Lastly, the study includes customers’ views regarding showrooming and webrooming.

A total of 203 responses were received through online and offline questionnaires. The data were analysed using ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis through SPSS version 23.

The results revealed that gender influenced the Need for Touch (NFT) with women having higher NFT. The people who were high in NFT preferred to buy in-store, whereas their low NFT counterparts were comfortable with both online and in-store options. Lastly, it was found that there was a significant impact of NFT on online buying behaviour. The new technology when used by online retailers would break the barriers that exist between real touch and virtual touch.

Although previous authors have given several options like mental representations, verbal details and brand image as alternatives to touch but the use of touch-enabling technology can revolutionise the way online products are perceived. The study adds value by relating NFT with online preferences, showrooming and webrooming.

The purpose of this study is to design a highly integrated smart glove to enable gesture acquisition and force sensory interactions, and to enhance the realism and immersion of virtual reality interaction experiences.

The smart glove is highly integrated with gesture sensing, force-haptic acquisition and virtual force feedback modules. Gesture sensing realizes the interactive display of hand posture. The force-haptic acquisition and virtual force feedback provide immersive force feedback to enhance the sense of presence and immersion of the virtual reality interaction.

The experimental results show that the average error of the finger bending sensor is only 0.176°, the error of the arm sensor is close to 0 and the maximum error of the force sensing is 2.08 g, which is able to accurately sense the hand posture and force-touch information. In the virtual reality interaction experiments, the force feedback has obvious level distinction, which can enhance the sense of presence and immersion during the interaction.

This paper innovatively proposes a highly integrated smart glove that cleverly integrates gesture acquisition, force-haptic acquisition and virtual force feedback. The glove enhances the sense of presence and immersion of virtual reality interaction through precise force feedback, which has great potential for application in virtual environment interaction in various fields.

With the growth of online shopping, during which consumers are not able to touch products, there is much for researchers and marketers to learn about the underlying role of the need for touch (NFT) in driving online shopping decisions. Consumers' emotional state prior to purchase is considered a situational variable that affects their attitude and behaviour. This study explores the effects of consumers' NFT and pre-purchase emotional states on their online decision-making behaviour, examining perceived quality, confidence in product judgment and intention to purchase.

A field experiment was conducted using a scenario presenting buying a sweater as a real purchase opportunity available to participants. A convenience sample of two hundred ninety-eight university students at a university in the southeast of France was used in this study. A 2 (NFT: high/low determined by a median split) × 2 (emotional states: high/low level) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to further examine the interaction of NFT and emotional states in consumer decision making.

The results indicate that autotelic NFT and positive emotional states experienced before shopping have an impact on consumers' decisions in relation to perceived quality, confidence in product judgment and intention to purchase. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that instrumental vs autotelic NFT affects consumer decision making, with mixed support found for negative emotional states acting as possible moderators.

This study advances the NFT field and leads to insights regarding online consumer purchase decision making by exploring instrumental vs autotelic NFT and pre-purchase emotional states as antecedents of consumer decisions.

By integrating the Uses and Gratifications Theory and Flow Theory, this research seeks to untwine the veiled effects of interactive commerce enhancements (ICEs), specifically haptic imagery and social presence, in promoting user immersion and sustaining social commerce (SC) users' usage intention, considering the moderating role of autotelic personality.

The research utilized purposive sampling of Malaysian SC app users with recent transactions. A dual-source data collection approach, encompassing offline and online channels, was employed to ensure a broad and diverse respondent pool. Partial least squares–structural equation modeling was chosen for its adeptness in analyzing complex relationships in predictive studies.

The findings revealed the significant positive effects of haptic imagery and social presence on user immersion and continuance intention within SC apps. Social presence and immersion were found to mediate the proposed paths. Additionally, autotelic personality traits were identified as moderators, influencing the strength of these relationships.

This research makes a unique contribution by addressing critical gaps in SC environments, extending the concept of ICEs, understanding the impacts of underlying mediators and pioneering the examination of autotelic personality traits' moderating effects. It introduces a fresh perspective on how individual differences impact user engagement. This groundbreaking study benefits social media and interactive marketing literature by comprehensively understanding how ICEs elevate SC, fostering innovation and heightened engagement.