Subjective presence is used to describe the experience where one will feel his presence rather in the mediated environment than in the physical one. This individual is then supposed to respond to a mediated object like he does if the media won't be there. The concept of subjective presence has became an important component in our understanding of how people experience mediated environment, and more particularly, is central to theorizing about virtual reality. On the other hand, a growing number of companies are interested in integrating virtual reality in their marketing communication. In spite of this increasing interest, the specific influence of subjective presence on consumer behavior still remains an open question. Our doctoral research aims at understanding and explaining the role of consumer s subjective presence in the perception of commercial virtual environment. Its major contribution is to determine how subjective presence in a virtual point of sale is likely to have a positive influence on the perception of such point of sale. For instance, store trust will be higher for individuals in subjective presence than those less in this state, which is very interesting in an e-commerce perspective where establishing trust is a key success factor. However, technical and ethical conditions concerning store design must be achieved to profit from subjective presence.
Jeandrain, A.-C. (2006). L’influence de la présence subjective du consommateur sur sa perception des points de vente virtuels : une application au commerce de détail. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/75615