The influence of sensory marketing on the consumer buying process for online furniture

As e-commerce continues to grow, the online furniture market faces a significant challenge: customers can’t physically touch or feel the products before buying them. This lack of sensory interaction makes it harder for consumers to evaluate furniture—an item where texture, appearance, and physical feel are traditionally key to the decision-making process. In response to this gap, sensory marketing has emerged as a powerful strategy to digitally recreate these sensory experiences and influence consumer behaviour online. This study explores how sensory marketing affects the consumer buying process in the online furniture industry. It focuses on how digital sensory cues—like visuals, sounds, and imagined touch—can shape consumer perceptions, reduce uncertainty, and boost purchase intentions when physical contact with the product isn’t possible. Through an in-depth review of existing literature, the research identifies ten key factors that consistently appear in studies on sensory marketing and online shopping behaviours: trust, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, enjoyment, purchase intention, haptic imagery, product informativeness, attitude, auditory stimulation, and enhanced visual experience. These factors formed the basis for a structured questionnaire designed to collect data from online furniture shoppers. The study is driven by four main objectives: (1) to examine how sensory marketing influences each stage of the consumer decision-making journey; (2) to pinpoint the most effective sensory cues in online furniture shopping; (3) to understand how these cues help reduce perceived risk and build consumer trust; and (4) to explore how digital platforms can simulate physical experiences to make up for the absence of touch. Ultimately, this research aims to offer practical insights into how sensory marketing can enrich the online shopping experience and help furniture retailers better connect with their customers.