Consumer need for touch and multichannel purchasing behaviour

Abstract

This paper firstly analyses the relationship between the consumer’s need for touch and the channels used during search and purchase stages. The focus will be the fashion industry, characterised by offering highly hedonic products, where great importance is placed on the sense of touch. Secondly, 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, and subordinated to, the instrumental one, as in the configuration of the overall NFT, high levels always involve a high instrumental dimension without which they do not occur. The instrumental NFT dimension defines both the online purchase, with its lowest values, and the use of physical channels, as it has values as high as those related to the autotelic one. The instrumental NFT dimension prevails over the autotelic one, both for goal-oriented and experiential consumers. Regarding multichannel shopping, those consumers who search or buy on the Internet show a lower level of NFT, both overall and in its two dimensions, compared to those consumers who choose physical channels. This is particularly noticeable in relation to the purchase phase.