The Influence of Need for Touch in Multichannel Purchasing Behaviour. An approach based on its instrumental and autotelic dimensions and consumer´s shopping task

• Autor(a) principal: Manzano, Roberto
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Ferran, Magdalena, Gavilan, Diana, Avello, Maria, Abril, Carmen
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://u3isjournal.isvouga.pt/index.php/ijmcnm/article/view/161
• topic: need for touch, multichannel, shopping task, purchases stages

This paper analyses the relationship between the consumer’s need for touch (NFT) and the channels used during search and purchase stages. The focus is the apparel and fashion industry, characterised by offering highly hedonic products, where great importance is placed on the sense of touch. The moderating effects produced by the type of touch (autotelic/instrumental) and by the types of shopping task (goal-oriented/experiential-oriented) are also analysed. Results show that autotelic NFT becomes delimited by the instrumental one, and high NFT levels always involve a high instrumental dimension. The instrumental NFT dimension defines both the use of physical and online channels. The instrumental NFT prevails over the autotelic one, both for goal-oriented and experiential consumers. Regarding multichannel consumers, those who search or buy on the Internet show lower NFT, both overall and in its two dimensions, compared to those consumers who choose physical channels.