E-(Embodied) Knowledge and E-Commerce: How Physiological Factors Affect Online Sales of Experiential Products

Advances in information technology are making it possible to deliver multisensory stimuli over the Internet, giving rise to what we call second-generation electronic commerce, and to Web-based exchanges that approach in-store episodes and greatly exceed existing mass-market media in experiential richness. Delivery of multisensory stimuli is not enough, however, to fully activate, generate, and manage the embodied knowledge that is critical to consumer thinking about many types of products and services. Embodied knowledge refers to information elements that are generated and maintained outside the brain cavity and that are incorporated into consumer assessments of products and services. The view that consumers integrate embodied and conceptual knowledge into mental simulations of products and services is used as a foundation for a more general exposition of embodied knowledge and cognition. Three elements of embodied knowledge—body mapping and monitoring systems, proprioceptive knowledge, and body boundaries—are discussed, including their implications for e-commerce theory and practice and for marketing research in general. The methodological challenges of better understanding and managing embodied knowledge are also discussed