If I Feel It, I Desire It…: Harnessing Visual-induced Tactile Imagery for Enhancing Purchase Intention

Abstract

How can marketers create an illusion of touch through expanding the roles of the visual sense to better present products on online shopping platforms? This study is a conceptual attempt to apply cross-modal mental imagery in the context of generating illusions of tactile sense through stimulating visual sense by the use of sensory-aided descriptions (SAD). We establish that these perceptual illusions can enhance the purchase intention of online shoppers when they are making purchases. Furthermore, we introduce that this linkage is moderated by the unique imaginative capability of the customer. The proposed model in this paper provides thoughtful insights for marketing managers to consider during the process of designing online product presentations. Theoretically, it contributes by establishing that cross-modal mental imagery, when applied over SAD, can serve as effective stimuli in the generation of tactile mental imagery.