You touched it and I’m relieved! The effect of online review’s tactile cues on consumer’s purchase intention

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of online review’s tactile cues in consumer’s purchase intention, given the absence of direct experience in online shopping. Design/methodology/approach: Based on four empirical studies, the authors examine the role of online review’s tactile cues in consumer’s purchase intention. A secondary data analysis on Taobao and three experiments were conducted. Findings: First, this research demonstrates that tactile cues in online reviews are sure to have a significant influence on consumers’ purchase intention. Second, the purchase intention of consumers is easily influenced by the reviews of holistic tactile cues of the search product, which affects the final purchase intention through the way of outcome simulation. Consumers’ purchase intention is also easily influenced by concrete tactile cues of experience product, which affects the final purchase intention through the way of process simulation. Temporal distance is the boundary condition. Practical implications: A seller should manage the order of online review or labels related to corresponding tactile cues, in order to encourage consumers to comment on the relevant tactile features. Besides, in the aspect of website design, a seller can also encourage consumers to image about the process and the result of using so as to promote his sales volume. Social implications: The conclusion may give a solution on how to deal with the absence of direct experience in online shopping. Originality/value: There has been little research about the influences of others' tactile behaviors on consumers' behaviors. The authors focus the other tactile experience in online review. The previous studies on online reviews focus on the its influences of valence, quantity and sentiment polarity on the usefulness of reviews and sales volume. However, few studies are explored on contents of reviews. The authors focus on the content such as tactile cues.