Since the early 2000s, the textile, furniture and luxury goods industries have had to adapt to an ever-changing business environment. In order to satisfy their customers, manufacturers have begun to offer personalized products [Nayak, 2014] and digital shopping experiences [Hagberg, 2016]. In this way, "mass customization" has revolutionized the purchasing process by adapting to consumer choices with unique solutions.

Although e-commerce and virtual showrooms offer an opportunity for the retail sector, several parameters remain important in the shopping experience: touch, feel and interaction with the product [Racat, 2020; Ornati, 2019; Silva, 2021]. While interaction possibilities are beginning to be explored (e.g. manipulation, fitting), it is not yet possible to "touch" products in virtual environments. Yet almost 60% of people worldwide prefer to buy in a store rather than online as they can touch the product [KPMG, 2017].

Integrating the feel of touch into digital shopping experiences has many benefits by enhancing the sense of presence [e.g. Campbell, 2018], immersion and realism [Muthukumarana, 2019], beyond what vision can do. Nevertheless, the integration of tactile touch into Virtual Reality (VR) is in the early stages of research development (e.g. haptic gloves, aerial tactile stimulation, "plasters" using shape-memory alloys), and few of these solutions appear to be applied or adapted to consumer shopping experiences at this stage.

1. Overcoming the lack of tangibility and sensory feedback in digital shopping experiences.
2. Create an immersive, simple and minimally invasive product "sense of touch" experience in VR.
3. Guarantee a high degree of realism both in the visual rendering of digital products and in interactions with them.

Design a "jukebox" of physical samples with spatial mapping in VR to assess the texture of different materials when "touching" an object in VR (HEIA; HEArc).
Explore different types of VR, in particular, with headset and hand tracking (e.g. Oculus Quest); with 3D monitor (e.g. SpatialLabs) and hand tracking (e.g. Leap Motion) to find the best compromise between realism and compactness (HEIA).
Offer high-definition 3D visualization, enabling the customer to see the final texture as close as possible to reality (HE Arc).
Iteratively validate the relevance and acceptability of the suggested device by involving end-users in the design process, through observation and testing (HE Arc).

This project will result in a proof-of-concept (technical feasibility, acceptability) that will first focus on the customizable luxury watches market, in the context of "showroom" sales. Our project seeks to validate the hypothesis that implementing the haptic sensory dimension in VR technology makes the purchasing experience more realistic, and increases the likelihood of making a purchase. In addition to watchmaking, we will be able to extend the results to other fields of application (e.g. accessories, clothing, furniture), paving the way for Innosuisse projects and mandates.

There are currently no files available for download.