ONLINE AND PHYSICAL STORES: DETERMINANT FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PURCHASING DECISION AND CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION

Over the last 20 years, there have been significant changes in the retail sector, which have been mainly influenced by technological advances, that have radically transformed the customer experience. This research contributes to the enrichment of the existing literature by examining new purchasing trends concerning the transition to the online environment caused by the COVID19 pandemic. For an indepth understanding of the topic, five determinants of the purchasing decision were identified: informativeness, social presence, sensory marketing, product type and brand trust. This study researched, using multi-line analysis, how these factors influence the customer degree of satisfaction regarding online and physical stores. The main results show that customer satisfaction is differently influenced by these factors, depending on the type of store, namely online or physical. These findings demonstrate that companies should adopt different business strategies, focusing on sensory marketing in physical stores and brand trust, together with informativeness in the online ones.

Do sensory reviews make more sense? The mediation of objective perception in online review helpfulness

PurposeDo consumers rate reviews describing other consumers' sensory experience of a product (touch, smell, sight, hear and taste) as helpful or do they rate reviews describing more practical properties (product performance and characteristics/features) as more helpful? What is the effect of review helpfulness on purchase intention? Furthermore, why do consumers perceive sensory and non-sensory reviews differently? This study answers these questions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyze 447,792 Amazon reviews and perform a topic modeling analysis to extract the main topics that consumers express in their reviews. Then, the topics were used as regressors to predict the number of consumers who found the review helpful. Finally, a lab experiment was conducted to replicate the results in a more controlled environment to test the serial mediation effect.FindingsContrary to the overwhelming evidence supporting the positive effects of sensory elicitation in marketing, this study shows that sensory reviews are less likely to be helpful than non-sensory reviews. Moreover, a key reason why sensory reviews are less effective is that they decrease the objective perception of the review, a less objective review then decreases the level of helpfulness, which decreases purchase intention.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the interactive marketing field by investigating customer behavior and interactivity in online shopping sites and to the sensory marketing literature by identifying a boundary condition, the authors’ data suggest that sensory elicitations might not be processed positively by consumers when they are not directly experienced, but instead communicated by another consumer. Moreover, this study indicates how companies can encourage consumers to share more effective and helpful reviews.

Sensory Marketing

The issue of sensory marketing is a relatively new concept in managerial science. Due to the competitive environment of the global market, companies are confronted with the constant need to find effective approaches that will allow them to maintain a competitive advantage in the fight for the customer. One such approach is the application of sensory marketing tools to brand-building processes. The aim of the chapter is to bring the issue of sensory marketing closer to the general professional public. The chapter also focuses on the pointing out the fact that only by taking into account the specifics related to sensory marketing, the process of building a brand becomes holistic and sustainable. The theoretical framework describes the basic foundations of the issue. The empirical part presents a description of the selected experiment from a series of five experimental investigations performed to verify the theoretical assumptions in practice. From the point of view of the findings, it can be stated that targeted stimulations of the senses have a significant impact on the overall experience of individuals. Through the synthesis of theoretical and practical knowledge, it was possible to compile a model for the application of knowledge to business practice.

Shape–Trait Consistency: The Matching Effect of Consumer Power State and Shape Preference

Angular and rounded shapes are two important visual elements widely used in the design of product shapes and brand logos. By introducing the power state, a psychological variable that is inherently relevant to consumers' product choices, brand preferences, and decision-making, we propose that consumers' power state influences their shape preference. Specifically, compared to low-power consumers, high-power consumers respond more positively to angular as opposed to rounded shapes, because the angular shape facilitates the expression of competence (as opposed to warmth). Through four studies, we provide consistent support for our main predictions as well as the underlying processes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that consumers experiencing higher power are more likely to prefer an angular shape over a rounded shape than those experiencing lower power through different research methods, research objects, and experimental materials. On this basis, studies 3 and 4 further explore the mechanisms underlying the observed effects. These findings contribute to sensory marketing and power research and provide important implications for visual design and advertisement development.

The effect of stereotypical music on the customer selection of wine in an online environment

The digital transformation of marketing leads to new forms of interaction with consumers. It has been established and well known that auditory stimuli generally affect human behavior. However, in the field of sensory marketing, only limited attention has been paid to the role and effects of audition in online marketing. In this research, we will further explore how sound influences consumer product selection in a digitalized setting. We have designed and performed an experiment in which respondents in a webshop environment were asked to select a bottle of wine from two different countries while hearing stereotypical music samples representing one of these countries. Our conclusion: In an online setting, auditory stimuli strongly influence consumer selection. In the case of constructed preferences, this effect was considerably stronger compared to well-defined preferences. These insights can help to further develop the effective use of sound stimuli in new forms of sensory marketing, such as virtual reality and other digital experiences in the marketing and sales context.