The impact of “e-atmospherics” on physical stores

Abstract

Marketing literature abounds with discussions of the importance of environmental and atmospheric variables for determining the consumer shopping experience. Through a field a study conducted in a toy brand flagship store, this research studies the effects of using two technologies in a physical toy store (magic mirror with augmented reality, interactive game terminals) on holistic perceptions of store atmospherics, affective reactions, and perceived shopping values, which should have consequences for satisfaction and patronage intentions. These results offer an initial exploration of the effect of new technologies on shopping experiences in physical stores; they confirm that digital in-store technologies and generalized multichannel consumer behaviors reduce boundaries between classical in-store atmospherics and e-atmospherics.

Introduction

Nearly 40 years after Kotler (1973) noted the importance of the retail atmosphere for purchase decisions, marketing literature has affirmed the importance of a range of environmental and atmospheric variables. Atmospherics can induce an environment that attracts customers to a particular location and enhance their purchase behaviors (Bitner, 1992). Turley and Milliman (2000) and Baker et al. (2002) together listed more than 60 empirical studies that established this relationship between store atmospherics and consumer behavior. In reference to environmental psychology work by Mehrabian and Russell (1974), most researchers assume that shoppers׳ emotional states mediate the link between the store atmospherics and consumer behavior. In addition, Dailey (2004) highlights the importance of e-atmospherics for online purchases and demonstrates that the conditions Kotler (1973) proposes also apply to e-atmospherics. In Eroglu et al. (2003) model, e-atmospherics affect online store consumer behaviors, similar to the effect of offline atmospherics.

As noted in the call for this special issue (Pantano, 2013), the past decade has seen increasing interest in the application of innovative technologies in retail domains to improve physical points of sale. Experiential aspects of new digital technologies in the store may attract more customers to visit the point-of-sales and eventually increasing sales. Bodhani (2013) observed that leading retailers are turning to these technologies to drive sales, customer relationship and to improve the shopping experience. Moreover recent developments in the form of technologies (e.g., interactive terminals, augmented reality, and smartphone applications) and cross-channel marketing strategies seem to have reduced the boundaries between physical atmospherics and e-atmospherics (Krafft and Mantrala, 2010, Shankar et al., 2011). Pantano and Viassone (2014, p. 44) observed “a huge deal of effort in the development of the best technology for improving the traditional points of sale such as interactive displays and smart mirrors.” Hence, shopper marketing, and especially the embracing of technology innovations, emerges as a key managerial practice (Shankar et al., 2011). Bodhani (2012) investigated how digital technologies can reinvent the retail shopping and concluded that stores will become a place for brand and consumer experience and new technologies. Previous researches tested the effect of some of these technologies in retailing contexts (Pantano and Naccarato, 2010, Pantano and Servidio, 2012, Clodfelter, 2010) but not with an atmospherics perspective.

Thus a pertinent question arises: how can new technologies be integrated into physical store atmospherics? To address this question, we consider the effects of two technologies, adopted by a brick-and-mortar toy store (i.e., a magic mirror with augmented reality and interactive game terminals), on consumers׳ holistic perceptions of the store׳s atmospherics. We also investigate their affective reactions and perceived shopping values, which enables us to delineate the consequences for satisfaction and patronage intentions.

Our results show that new technologies such as a magic mirror with augmented reality and an interactive game terminals impact on store atmosphere perceptions and on shopping experiences and on positive affective reactions. In particular, a magic mirror with augmented reality offers strong positive benefits in terms of satisfaction and patronage intentions. The findings of the present confirm that digital in-store technologies reduce boundaries between classical in-store atmospherics and e-atmospherics and yield important insights and implications for marketers and retailers.