Touch Matters: The Impact of Physical Contact on Haptic Product Perception in Virtual Reality

Nowadays, the presentation of products through virtual reality and other online media coexists with traditional means. However, while some products may be perceived correctly in digital media, others may need physical contact. In this scenario, this work analyses how presenting a product highlighted for its haptic properties and the presence or absence of physical contact during the presentation can influence the perception of its attributes and stimulate purchase intention. To this end, an experiment was designed in which each participant viewed and interacted with a chair presented in five different means that elicited a greater or lesser sense of presence. Participants evaluated the product's attributes on a semantic scale with bipolar pairs. No relation was found between the presentation means and users' purchase intention. However, results showed significant differences in the evaluation of some physical characteristics depending on the presentation means, and the product was generally more liked when presented in means in which it could be touched. We conclude that choosing means that allow a product to be touched and elicit a greater sense of presence may impact more positively on evaluations of haptic features when presenting a product with high haptic importance.