SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 67 [605684]

SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 67
MAGDALENA GRĘBOSZ, BARBARA WROŃSKA
Politechnika Łódzka
Sensory Impact on Customer Behaviour
Introduction
The marketing concept holds that the accomplishment of the company’s objective
is highly related to the knowledge of how to satisfy consumer needs and wants. The
company success depends therefore on the extent, to which it is more efficient in the
accomplishment of those requirements than the competition. It can be said that in
contrast to the product-centred “make and sell” ideology, the marketing concept is
focused on the customer and could be defined as “sense and respond” philosophy. The
next that appeared during the history goes beyond the needs of the single customer
and is focused on the society as general and its long-run welfare. It does not mean
that the societal marketing theory resigns from satisfying the short-term desires of
the consumers – in contrary, it is trying to complete them thinking already about the
future human needs, e.g. related to the environment protection. It seems that all those
theories were successful.
During the last years, more and more marketing executives were becoming con –
scious of the fact that customers, while making their purchase decisions, are influenced
by something more than the product or the service itself. The human senses have long
been ignored in marketing, despite the awareness of their great significance. Today
sensory marketing was distinguished from mass and relationship marketing by having
its origin in the five human senses1. Krishna defines sensory marketing as “marketing
that engages the consumers’ senses and affects their behaviours”2.
According to Lindstrom3, it is the sensory branding that is the future of marketing
as it offers the potential to create the most binding form of engagement between brand
and consumer seen to date. Following this author, those new brands will possess
almost religious identity, expressed in its every message, shape, symbol, ritual, and
tradition therefore, through the multisensory experience.
The principal objective of this paper is to analyse the sensory impact on customer
behaviours as well as the limitations of its application. The sensory cues that are ana –
1 B. Hulten, N. Broweus, M. Van Dijk, Sensory Marketing , Palgrave Macmillan, London 2009, p. 1, 4-5.
2 A. Krishna (ed.), Sensory Marketing , Routledge, New York 2010, p. 2
3 M. Lindstrom, Brand Sense. How to build powerful brands through touch, taste, smell, sight & sound , Kogan Page
Limited, London 2005, p. 153 – 156.

KONSUMPCJA I ROZWÓJ NR 2/2012 68
lysed in this paper are sight, sound, scent and touch. Taste is excluded from the further
analysis as, according to Kotler, it does not apply directly to the atmosphere.
Sensory impact on behavioural responses and evaluations
of consumers
Kotler4 defined atmospherics as the “effort to design buying environments to pro –
duce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase probability”.
Kotler proposed that design of the atmosphere might be especially important in the
commercial situations where the product is bought or consumed – therefore it is of
a paramount importance for retailers while is less relevant for manufacturers and
wholesalers.
Impact of sound
Sound is any disturbance that travels through an elastic medium such as air,
ground, or water to be heard by the human ear5. The form of sound that can be found
most commonly in the service and retailing context is music. It is commonly de –
fined as the art of organized sound, the purpose of which is to elicit an aesthetic
response in listeners6. It was proved that appropriately structured music acts on the
nervous system, activating brain processes with corresponding emotional reactions7.
Appropriately structured and selected sound stimulus could play a significant role in
the success of a business by manipulating music’s variables.
Areni and Kim8 in their study on shopping comportment in a wine store discov –
ered that classical music produced a higher level of sales than “top-forty” music.
Classical music led customers to buy more expensive items. It also provides support
for Yalch and Spangenberg’s9 suggestion that classical music evokes perceptions of
higher priced store merchandise, in contrary to “top-forty” that could be paired with
more common, less refined environment. Milliman10 in his study concerning the be –
haviour of restaurant discovered that slow music led customers to stay longer in the
establishment and spend more money on drinks that contributed to 15% higher gross
4 Ph. Kotler, Atmospherics as a marketing tool , „Journal of Retailing”, 1973, V ol. 49(4), p. 48 – 64.
5 Sound , The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008, published: http://bit.ly/p0Ksg7 [access: 11.08.2012]
6 J.J. Kellaris, R.J. Kent, An exploratory investigation of responses elicited by music varying in tempo, tonality and
texture , „Journal of Consumer Psychology”, 1994, V ol. 2(4), p.381 – 401.
7 G.C. Bruner, Music, mood, and marketing , „Journal of Marketing” 1990, V ol. 54(4), p. 94 – 103.
8 C.S. Areni, D. Kim, The influence of background music on shopping behavior: Classical versus top-forty music in
a wine store , „Advances in Consumer Research” 1993, V ol. 20, p. 336 – 340.
9 R.F. Yalch, E.R. Spangenberg, Effects of Store Music on Shopping Behavior, „ Journal of Consumer Marketing”
1990, V ol. 7(2), p. 55 – 63.
10 R.E. Milliman, The influence of background music on the behavior of restaurant Patrons, „ Journal of Consumer
Research” 1986, V ol. 13(2), p. 286 – 289.

SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 69
margin of the restaurant than in the fast music condition. More recently, the study by
Herrington and Capella11 also considered the effects of music on money spent in a su-
permarket. Although they did not find any significant influence for manipulations of
tempo or volume, their analysis revealed a significant effect for musical preference.
Similar were results for the time spent in the establishment.
It was proved that music through its various characteristics may have an influence
on customers’ moods and level of arousal and pleasure. It is capable of affecting their
perception of products and services as well as the perceived time passage. It can also
contribute to more money and time being spent in the establishment. Therefore, it
can be concluded that adequate musical manipulation is important for business and
marketing activities.
Impact of smell
The sense of smell has been described by many researchers as one of the “chemi –
cal” senses, as it implies the response to the gaseous molecules that, when perceived,
are assimilated into the body12. Smell is considered to be the most closely related to
emotional responses of the five senses. Smell is directly related with the feelings
of happiness and hunger. Furthermore, scent is the closest sense linked to memory.
There is much more evidence that smell is able to affect customers, therefore market –
ing opportunities related with scent should be carefully examined by retailers.
Many researchers focused their investigations on the effect that olfactory cue may
exert on customers and, in consequence, the approach behaviours they were exhibit –
ing. In the study conducted by Spangenberg, Crowley and Henderson13, subjects did
not remain in the scented store longer than in the unscented environment, however,
their perception of the time spent was shorter. Participants expressed as well stronger
intentions to visit the store in the future when the scent was present. Similarly to the
merchandise evaluations, purchase intentions were varying across conditions for ex –
amined products. The intention of purchase for the backpack while no ambient scent
was present was only 2.29 (in the 7-point scale) while when the scent was applied, it
increased to 2.97. The Haberland’s findings14 confirmed not only the positive effect
of scent on approach behaviours but also its impact on the message processing. It was
observed that weak arguments (non-persuasive information) can be compensated by
the presence of olfactory cue, thus marketers can use fragrances to master a weak
11 J.D. Herrington, L.M. Capella, The effects of music in service environments: A field study, „ Journal of Services
Marketing” 1996, V ol. 10(2), p. 26 – 41.
12 M. Morrin, S. Ratneshwar, The impact of ambient scent on evaluation, attention, and memory for familiar and
unfamiliar brands , „Journal of Business Research” 2000, V ol. 49(2), p. 157 – 165.
13 E.R. Spangenberg, A.E. Crowley, P.W. Henderson, Improving the store environment: Do olfactory cues affect
evaluations and behaviors?, „ Journal of Marketing” 1996, V ol. 60(2), p. 67 – 80.
14 F. Haberland, The Power of Scent: Empirical Field Studies of Olfactory Cues on Purchase Behavior, published:
http://bit.ly/pgbbtn [access: 01.08.2012]

KONSUMPCJA I ROZWÓJ NR 2/2012 70
argument. Odours can be used to generate more income, comparing scented and un –
scented advertisement in the presence of weak argument, the increase of 29% in the
purchase intentions was observed. Moreover, odours appear not to hurt consumers’
responses. There were no more negative evaluations observed in the scented environ –
ment than in the scent absence.
It was proved that odours through their various characteristics are capable of
affecting customers’ perception of products and services as well as contributing to
more money spent and other approach behaviours (e.g. intentions to visit the store).
Therefore, it can be concluded that adequate scent manipulation is of the paramount
importance for business and marketing activities.
Impact of touch
Touch is the only of the five senses, the sensation of which can be experienced
anywhere on the body, contrary to other senses that are primarily located in single
areas on the human anatomical map.
Literature confirms that the possibility of the tactile investigation of the object
(vs. its lack) contributes to positive consumer responses for any product within the
acceptable quality range. Analysing the vast array of studies investigating the topic of
how touch influences customer’s behaviour, it could be observed that “touch hunger”
does not only apply to the social interactions between people, precisely speaking, its
lack, but it can also be used to explain customer behaviour in the commercial environ –
ment. Peck and Childers15 discovered that individuals differ in their “need for touch”
(NFT), which is “preference and motivation for gleaning information through touch”.
The authors presented NFT as a mixture of two underlying dimensions: instrumen –
tal and auto-telic. Instrumental characteristics could be explained as the belief that
only through the tactile inspection we may know if the product is good enough to be
bought, therefore it is motivation driven16. On the other hand, the auto-telic dimension
of the NFT expresses the idea of touching the object for fun, arousal, sensory stimula –
tion and enjoyment, therefore is hedonic driven. Peck and Childers17 discovered that
NFT had an influence on the impulse purchasing behaviour, customers’ inclination
to purchase in the spontaneous and unexplained manner in such a way that individu –
als with higher NFT results purchased more impulsively than the respondents with
low NFT results. When customers of the supermarket were encouraged to touch the
products through the presence of the sign telling “feel the freshness”, both high and
low auto-telic shoppers bought more impulsively than when no sign was displayed.
15 J. Peck, T.L. Childers, If I touch it I have to have it: Individual and environmental influences on impulse purchasing ,
„Journal of Business Research” 2006, V ol. 59(6), p. 757 -769.
16 A. Krishna, M. Morrin, Does touch affect taste? The perceptual transfer of product container haptic cues , „Journal
of Consumer Research” 2008, V ol. 34(6), p. 807 – 818.
17 J. Peck, T.L. Childers, If …, op. cit., p. 757 -769.

SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 71
The study conducted by Peck and Childers18 proved that the accessibility of the tactile
investigation of the object may affect customers’ confidence about the product evalu –
ation.
The results of the study indicate that managers should allow their consumers to
tactually investigate their products. This is expected to increase their evaluations of
the merchandise, especially for the high quality objects, as well as increased their
confidence about the choice and perceived accuracy of the selection.
Impact of sight
The function of the visual system is to transform light patterns into information,
owing to which people are capable of perceiving forms, colours, dimensions, move –
ments and distances between objects. Recent years showed that the way the product
looks is not the only factor important for the consumers. There is a wide array of
academic studies devoted to the discipline of environmental psychology that is trying
to explain how humans feel and behave within certain surroundings.
There are various roles that the product appearance is performing. According to
Creusen and Schoormans19, the way the product looks like first of all serves as the
communication of an aesthetic product value. If there are many products with similar
properties and price, consumers will choose the one that aesthetically appeal to them
most. This aspect of the object was mentioned to be especially important for durable
goods that are going to remain in customer’s home for many years.
The second most important feature of the product appearance is its symbolic value
as the single product can express by brand visual elements. The visual elements rep –
resent a range of promises, they are meant to inspire customers and make product
identifiable, memorable, and distinct from its competitors. The visual attributes of the
product are also expected to give us the information about its ergonomic value – abil –
ity of correct performance and expression of its functions.
Although there are many different visual cues that can affect customers’ percep –
tion of an environment or product. Researchers for many years focused mainly on
two aspects: colour and light, under which it is presented. When in 1950s Procter &
Gamble introduced on the market the new detergent with three colours of spots: red,
blue and yellow, market reports demonstrated that customers perceived the yellow
flecks detergent as the one that did not clean clothes enough, the red one as damaging
them and the blue as the only one that managed to get the clothes cleaner20. Another
study that confirmed that colour has an effect on the attitude towards the product was
18 Ibid.
19 M.E.H. Creusen, J.P.L. Schoormans, The different roles of product appearance in consumer choice, „ Journal of
Product Innovation Management” 2005, V ol. 22(1), p. 63 – 81.
20 C. Leichtling, How color affects marketing, published: http://bit.ly/qnFftZ [access: 04.04.2011]

KONSUMPCJA I ROZWÓJ NR 2/2012 72
published by Middlestadt21. It was shown that participants presented a pen displayed
on blue background within blue ambient colour room revealed more positive attitude
towards the product than the participants exposed to red condition. The object in blue
condition was perceived, among others, as significantly more pleasant, enjoyable,
higher in quality, elegant and expensive. All together, it might be concluded that slight
differences in how product or establishment is presented, although not being intrinsic
for the evaluations, may result in differences in the beliefs about their qualities.
During the study conducted by Shankar et al.22, respondents rated brown coloured
M&Ms as having more chocolate intensive flavour than the green ones, even though
all the bonbons have the same taste. The ratings of the “chocolateyness” were also
affected by the ingredients’ information – when product was described as being made
from dark rather than milk chocolate, it was perceived as having more intensive taste.
The authors suggest that those results are the consequences of the associations that
humans make between colours, labels and flavours.
Another important element is light that has a power in stimulating customers’
behaviour and opinions. Apart of this visual function, it was recognized that light
might be used to set a mood or impression and, as a consequence, it is an important
component of store atmospherics23.
It was proved that visual characteristics of an establishment and product may have
an influence on customers’ behaviour within the retail environment. They are capa –
ble of affecting their perception of products and establishment. Therefore, it can be
concluded that adequate visual manipulation is important for business and marketing
activities.
The regulations of application of solutions proposed by sensory
marketing
Following the analysis of the potential impact of senses on the customers’ be –
haviours, marketers and retailers may consider beneficial for their businesses the ap –
plication of the sensory marketing to improve their commercial performance. The
implementation of the sensory strategy would involve the introduction of musical,
olfactory, visual and haptic cues into the brand design and/or the retailing atmosphere.
However, from the environmental and social point of view, the existing law regula –
tions ought to be taken into account while implementing such a solution.
21 S.E. Middlestadt, The effect of background and ambient color on product attitudes and beliefs, „ Advances in
Consumer Research” 1990, V ol. 17, p. 244-249.
22 M.U. Shankar et al., The influence of color and label information on flavor perception, „ Chemosensory Perception”
2009, V ol. 2(2), p. 53-58.
23 T.A. Summers, P.R. Hebert, Shedding some light on store atmospherics. Influence of illumination on consumer
behavior , „Journal of Business Research” 2001, V ol. 54(2), p. 145-150; D. Ginther, Lighting: Its effect on people and
spaces, published: http://bit.ly/olgeMT [access: 08.08.2012].

SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 73
The owners of commercial establishments in Poland and in other European Union
countries are subjected to various laws and regulations related to the assessment and
management of environmental noise like, for example, music played in the commer –
cial establishment (shops, restaurants, etc.). At the first, supreme level, they are sub –
jected to the European Directive 2002/49/EC that emphasizes the urgency for noise
monitoring with the purpose of limiting noise pollution and preservation of the quality
of life24. The guidelines coming from this directive were implemented into the Polish
law through Environment Protection Law. As the consequence of the Environment
Protection Law, in 2002, the ordinance of the Minister of Natural Environment on the
threshold levels of noise was established presenting permitted values of noise within
various areas25.
Managers who would like to spread a pleasant aroma in their commercial estab –
lishments should be aware of the consequences that such a decision may have for
their customers and employees as well as natural environment. Two categories of air
freshening/scenting products are commonly known: continuous action and instant ac –
tion. Continues action category is composed on products like scented candles, incense
burners, wall plug-ins that aerosolize fragrance, wick and reed diffusers, etc., while
instant action devices are aerosol sprays (atomizers). The study published in 2004 by
the European Consumers Organization revealed that air fresheners may emit toxic air
pollutants. 74 products examined during the study emitted over 350 chemical sub –
stances including benzene, formaldehyde, terpenes, styrene, phthalates, and toluene26.
The study showed as well that most of the surveyed air freshening products contain
substances that may aggravate asthma. Moreover, those products were found to gen –
erate volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are to a large extent responsible
for the production of freon, the common air pollutant. Consequently, air freshening/
scenting products should be chosen with caution.
Negative environmental effects of visual attributes could be related with the inad –
equate selection of lighting (e.g. harmful for eyes) and its further inappropriate recy –
cling. In 2002, the European Committee for Standardization established EN 12464-1,
norm (in Poland known as PN-EN 12464.1:2004) about the quality aspects of lighting
workstations and their direct environment27. Lighting requirements, presented in the
norm, were determined to satisfy the three basic human needs: visual comfort, visual
performance and safety. European lighting standard values to be applied in commer –
cial settings are presented in Table 1. Not only usage of inappropriate lighting may
24 Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and
management of environmental noise , The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, published:
http://bit.ly/971rXF [access: 10.08.2012].
25 Rozporz ądzenie Ministra Środowiska z dnia 9 stycznia 2002 r. w sprawie warto ści progowych poziomów hałasu ,
Dziennik Ustaw nr 8, published: http://bit.ly/pudYfZ [access: 10.08.2012].
26 Emission of chemicals by air fresheners. Tests on 74 consumer products sold in Europe, BEUC Report, January
2005 published: http://www.beuc.org [access: 13.08.2012].
27 EN 12464-1 , published: www.ciop.pl [access: 13.08.2012].

KONSUMPCJA I ROZWÓJ NR 2/2012 74
harm the final users, also incorrect recycling may bring negative consequences to the
natural environment and human beings’ health.
Table 1
Standard values for lighting according to European Norm EN 12464-1
Type of interior, task or activity Em (lux)* UGRL Ra
Sales area 300 22 80
Till area 500 19 80
Wrapper table 500 19 80
* Em (lux) – maintained luminance – the minimum value to which the luminance (light incident on a sur-
face) is allowed to fall; UGRL – Unified Glare Rating limit – upper limit for direct glare; Ra – is the lower
limit for the colour rendition index.
Source: Own elaboration on basis of EN 12464-1, published: www.ciop.pl [access: 13.08.2012].
The fact of enabling consumers to touch the product or enhance shop employees
to briefly touch customers does not have negative effects on the natural environment.
No law documents regulating this kind of customer – retailer relations were found to
be in force in the European Union or Poland.
The application of sensory cues in the marketing activities may have an influence
on the natural environment only when products that do not obey international security
norms are utilized and when they are not recycled properly. If the quality standards
of products (air fresheners, lighting) are followed and used objects are collected in
special containers, the environmental impact of the sensory marketing solutions will
be minimal.
Conclusions
The competitive environment and growing expectations of customers force the
companies to search the new methods and tools of customers’ value creation. The
principles and models of the traditional marketing became insufficient and they should
be completed by new solutions. To attract customers and affect their behaviours, com –
panies can use some experimental solutions proposed by the sensory marketing.
The analysis of the results of chosen international studies showed that the sensory
cues may positively impact the consumer’s behaviour, but all the managerial deci –
sions about applying senses to the retail establishment ought to be made with caution.
It should always be remembered that some combinations of cues might damage the
evaluations of the products or the environment (e.g. when their arousal properties do
not match), or even influence the purchase decision. Therefore, before applying the
sensory marketing, the pretest should always be conducted.

SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 75
Bibliography
Areni, C.S., Kim D., The influence of background music on shopping behav –
ior: Classical versus top-forty music in a wine store , „Advances in Consumer
Research” 1993, V ol. 20.
Bruner, G.C., Music, mood, and marketing , „Journal of Marketing” 1990, V ol. 54(4).
Creusen, M.E.H., Schoormans, J.P.L., The different roles of product appearance in
consumer choice, „ Journal of Product Innovation Management” 2005, V ol. 22(1).
Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June
2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise ,
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, published:
http://bit.ly/971rXF [access: 10.08.2012].
Emission of chemicals by air fresheners. Tests on 74 consumer products sold in Europe,
BEUC Report, January 2005 published: http://www.beuc.org [access: 13.08.2012].
EN 12464-1 , published: www.ciop.pl [access: 13.08.2012].
Ginther, D., Lighting: Its effect on people and spaces, published: http://bit.ly/olgeMT
[access: 08.08.2012].
Haberland, F., The Power of Scent: Empirical Field Studies of Olfactory Cues on
Purchase Behavior, published: http://bit.ly/pgbbtn [access: 01.08.2012]
Herrington, J.D., Capella, L.M., The effects of music in service environments: A field
study, „ Journal of Services Marketing” 1996, V ol. 10(2).
Hulten, B., Broweus, N., Van Dijk, M., Sensory Marketing , Palgrave Macmillan,
London 2009.
Kellaris, J.J., Kent, R.J., An exploratory investigation of responses elicited by music vary –
ing in tempo, tonality and texture , „Journal of Consumer Psychology” 1994, V ol. 2(4).
Kotler, Ph., Atmospherics as a marketing tool , „Journal of Retailing” 1973, V ol. 49(4).
Krishna, A. (ed.), Sensory Marketing , Routledge, New York 2010.
Krishna, A., Morrin, M., Does touch affect taste? The perceptual transfer of product
container haptic cues , „Journal of Consumer Research” 2008, V ol. 34(6).
Leichtling, C., How color affects marketing, published: http://bit.ly/qnFftZ [access:
04.04.2011]
Lindstrom, M., Brand Sense. How to build powerful brands through touch, taste,
smell, sight & sound , Kogan Page Limited, London 2005.
Middlestadt, S.E., The effect of background and ambient color on product attitudes
and beliefs, „ Advances in Consumer Research” 1990, V ol. 17.
Milliman, R.E., The influence of background music on the behavior of restaurant
Patrons, „ Journal of Consumer Research” 1986, V ol. 13(2).
Morrin, M., Ratneshwar, S., The impact of ambient scent on evaluation, attention,
and memory for familiar and unfamiliar brands, „ Journal of Business Research”
2000 , V ol. 49(2).
Peck, J., Childers, T.L., If I touch it I have to have it: Individual and environmental in –
fluences on impulse purchasing, „ Journal of Business Research” 2006, V ol. 59(6).

KONSUMPCJA I ROZWÓJ NR 2/2012 76
Rozporządzenie Ministra Środowiska z dnia 9 stycznia 2002 r. w sprawie wartości
progowych poziomów hałasu , Dziennik Ustaw nr 8, published: http://bit.ly/pudYfZ
[access: 10.08.2012].
Shankar, M.U. et al., The influence of color and label information on flavor perception,
„Chemosensory Perception”, 2009, V ol. 2(2).
Summers, T.A., Hebert, P.R., Shedding some light on store atmospherics. Influence of il –
lumination on consumer behavior, „ Journal of Business Research” 2001, V ol. 54(2).
Spangenberg, E.R., Crowley, A.E., Henderson, P.W., Improving the store environ –
ment: Do olfactory cues affect evaluations and behaviors?, „ Journal of Marketing”
1996, V ol. 60(2).
Sound , The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008, published: http://bit.ly/p0Ksg7 [access:
11.08.2012].
Yalch, R.F., Spangenberg, E.R., Effects of Store Music on Shopping Behavior, „ Journal
of Consumer Marketing” 1990, V ol. 7(2).
Summary
The principal objective of this paper is to analyse the sensory impact on cus –
tomer’s behaviours as well as the limitations of its application. The analysis is based
on the results of various international studies. It was proved that music and odours
through their various characteristics may affect customers’ perception of products
and services as well as the perceived time passage and contribute to more money and
time being spent in the establishment. The results of the study indicate that manag –
ers should allow their customers to tactually investigate their products. It was proved
also that visual characteristics of an establishment and product may have an influ –
ence on customers’ behaviour within the retail environment. The implementation of
the sensory strategy would involve the introduction of musical, olfactory, visual and
haptic cues into the brand design and/or the retailing atmosphere. However, from the
environmental and social point of view, the existing law regulations ought to be taken
into account while implementing such a solution.
Key words: sense, customer’s behaviour, sensory marketing.
JEL codes: D19, M31
Wpływ zmysłów na zachowania konsumentów
Streszczenie
Zasadniczym celem artykułu jest analiza oddziaływania zmysłów na zachowania
klientów, jak również ograniczenia jego stosowania. Analiza opiera się na wynikach

SENSORY IMPACT ON CUSTOMER BEHA VIOUR 77
różnych badań międzynarodowych. Wykazano, że muzyka i zapachy poprzez swe
różne cechy mogą wpływać na percepcję przez klientów produktów i usług, jak rów –
nież postrzeganego upływu czasu i przyczyniać się do tego, że w placówce wydaje
się więcej pieniędzy i spędza więcej czasu. Wyniki badania wskazują, że menedże –
rowie powinni pozwalać swym klientom na dotykowe badanie swych produktów.
Wykazano również, że wizualne cechy placówki i produktu mogą mieć wpływ na
zachowanie klientów w środowisku placówek detalicznych. Wdrożenie strategii
sensorycznej wiązałoby się z wprowadzeniem bodźców muzycznych, węchowych,
wzrokowych i dotykowych do projektu marki i/lub klimatu w handlu detalicznym.
Z drugiej strony, ze środowiskowego i społecznego punktu widzenia należałoby brać
pod uwagę istniejące przepisy prawne w trakcie wdrażania takiego rozwiązania.
Słowa kluczowe: zmysł, zachowanie klientów, marketing sensoryczny.
Kody JEL: D19, M31