Haptic Sensation and Consumer Behaviour

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.

Margot Racat holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Lyon and is a researcher at the Magellan Research Center at the IAE Lyon, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, France. Her research focuses on sensory and digital marketing and particularly on consumption in virtual environments. Her work has been published in various academic and managerial journals (including the French Management Review, the French Marketing Journal, and the Journal of Interactive Marketing).

Sonia Capelli holds a PhD in Marketing from Grenoble University and is a Full Professor at the Magellan Research Center at the IAE Lyon, JeanMoulin University Lyon 3, France. Her research and publications focus on communication political and territorial and on consumer behaviour. Her work has been published in various academic and managerial journals (including the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Product and Brand Management, Psychology and Marketing, the Public Management Review, and Research and Applications in Marketing).