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Product Touch and Consumers’ Online and Offline Buying: The Role of Mental Representation

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  • Liu, Wumei
  • Batra, Rajeev
  • Wang, Haizhogn

Abstract

As offline retailers struggle to compete with online ones, the importance of a consumer’s ability to touch a product prior to purchase becomes important to study. Prior research has found inconsistent results on whether product touch facilitates consumers’ product-related decision making. Some studies report a positive effect, whereas others do not. The current research reconciles this inconsistency and draws retailing implications. Across three experiments, we show that the effect of product touch on consumers’ purchase intentions and willingness to pay for a product being evaluated is evident when consumers’ mental representation of the product is concrete, but not when abstract. We further show that perceived risk and perceived ownership simultaneously mediate this moderating effect of mental representation. Implications are drawn for both offline and online retailers.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Wumei & Batra, Rajeev & Wang, Haizhogn, 2017. "Product Touch and Consumers’ Online and Offline Buying: The Role of Mental Representation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 369-381.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:93:y:2017:i:3:p:369-381
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2017.06.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    5. Madzharov, Adriana V., 2019. "Self-Control and Touch: When Does Direct Versus Indirect Touch Increase Hedonic Evaluations and Consumption of Food," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(4), pages 170-185.
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    8. Adilson Borges & Felipe Pantoja & Patricia Rossi & Amanda Yamim, 2020. "If I Touch It, I will Like It! The Role of Tactile Inputs on Gustatory Perceptions of Food Items," Post-Print hal-02507986, HAL.
    9. Fazal-e-Hasan, Syed Muhammad & Ahmadi, Hormoz & Mortimer, Gary & Grimmer, Martin & Kelly, Louise, 2018. "Examining the role of consumer hope in explaining the impact of perceived brand value on customer–brand relationship outcomes in an online retailing environment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 101-111.
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    11. Pathak, Kanishka & Prakash, Gyan, 2023. "Exploring the role of augmented reality in purchase intention: Through flow and immersive experience," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    12. Pantoja, Felipe & Borges, Adilson & Rossi, Patricia & Yamim, Amanda Pruski, 2020. "If I touch it, I will like it! The role of tactile inputs on gustatory perceptions of food items," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    13. Petit, Olivia & Javornik, Ana & Velasco, Carlos, 2022. "We Eat First with Our (Digital) Eyes: Enhancing Mental Simulation of Eating Experiences via Visual-Enabling Technologies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 277-293.
    14. Sanal Kumar Velayudhan, 2019. "Factors influencing online shopping in rural India: A review," Working papers 314, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
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    16. Andrzej Dudek & Daria Elżbieta Jaremen & Izabela Michalska-Dudek, 2020. "Socio-economic factors determining the ROPO trend in the travel industry," Tourism Economics, , vol. 26(6), pages 873-907, September.
    17. Halbauer, Ingo & Jacob, Saskia & Klarmann, Martin, 2022. "Brand presentation order in voice shopping: Understanding the effects of sequential product presentation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 759-778.
    18. Helm, Sabrina & Kim, Soo Hyun & Van Riper, Silvia, 2020. "Navigating the ‘retail apocalypse’: A framework of consumer evaluations of the new retail landscape," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    19. Ringler, Christine & Sirianni, Nancy J. & Gustafsson, Anders & Peck, Joann, 2019. "Look but Don’t Touch! The Impact of Active Interpersonal Haptic Blocking on Compensatory Touch and Purchase Behavior," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(4), pages 186-203.
    20. Suk Won Lee & Hye Jin Sung & Hyeon Mo Jeon, 2019. "Determinants of Continuous Intention on Food Delivery Apps: Extending UTAUT2 with Information Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, June.
    21. De Canio, Francesca & Fuentes-Blasco, Maria, 2021. "I need to touch it to buy it! How haptic information influences consumer shopping behavior across channels," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
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    23. Ju-Choel Choi, 2020. "User Familiarity and Satisfaction With Food Delivery Mobile Apps," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, November.
    24. Racat, Margot & Capelli, Sonia & Lichy, Jessica, 2021. "New insights into ‘technologies of touch’: Information processing in product evaluation and purchase intention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).

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