Issue: 32, 2018 110 http://www.jrconsumers.com/Academic_Articles/issue_32/ In-Store Customer Experience and Customer Emotional State in the Retail Industry AUTHORS: Gokcen Ogruk, Ph.D.* School of Business Administration Texas Wesleyan University Fort Worth, TX, 76105 Phone: 817-531-4840 [email protected]Trisha D. Anderson, Ph.D., PMP School of Business Administration Texas Wesleyan University Audrey Sophie Nacass School of Business Administration Texas Wesleyan University ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of the ideal mix of atmospheric factors, including ambience factors (volume of music, type and strength of aroma, level of lighting), interaction with sales people, and store display on the in-store customer experience, used to create the in- store customer experience and emotional state in a retail market. Survey data 105 customers in an actual retail setting indicated that customers’ positive perception of interactions with sales employees is the main determinant of total customer experience. We also found that the proper blend of ambience variables triggers a customer’s positive emotional state, leading to an enjoyable, memorable store visit, more time and money spent in the store, and more products purchased. KEYWORDS In-store customer experience; Customer’s positive emotional state; In-store design; Partial Least Square; Path Modelling; Structural Equation Modelling
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In-Store Customer Experience and Customer Emotional State in the Retail Industry
AUTHORS: Gokcen Ogruk, Ph.D.*
School of Business Administration Texas Wesleyan University Fort Worth, TX, 76105 Phone: 817-531-4840 [email protected]
Trisha D. Anderson, Ph.D., PMP School of Business Administration Texas Wesleyan University
Audrey Sophie Nacass School of Business Administration Texas Wesleyan University
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of the ideal mix of atmospheric factors, including ambience factors (volume of music, type and strength of aroma, level of lighting), interaction with sales people, and store display on the in-store customer experience, used to create the in-store customer experience and emotional state in a retail market. Survey data 105 customers in an actual retail setting indicated that customers’ positive perception of interactions with sales employees is the main determinant of total customer experience. We also found that the proper blend of ambience variables triggers a customer’s positive emotional state, leading to an enjoyable, memorable store visit, more time and money spent in the store, and more products purchased.
Total Customer Experience 0.414 0.596 0.374 0.257 0.560 1.000*
* Square root of average variance extracted (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Positive Emotional State and Total Customer Experience are measured by a single indicator.
Structural Model
A step-by-step analysis was employed to test Hypotheses 1 to 8. We explored the relations
between positive emotional state, total customer experience and atmospheric factors in the first
step. Subsequently, in Step 2, we tested the mediating effect of the positive emotional state of
the customer on the relationship between atmospheric factors and total customer experience,
all while including shopping behavior as a latent variable in order to assess the full PLS path
model. We followed the guidelines provided by Hair et al. (2016).
scores were above the threshold level of zero (0.313 and 0.284 for total customer experience
and positive emotional state, respectively) indicating the predictive relevance of the PLS path
model.
TABLE 3. Structural Model Estimation of Total Customer Experience (Model 1) Endogenous Constructs R-Squared Q-Squared Total Customer Experience 0.367 0.313
Ambience Total Customer Experience 0.224 0.070 [0.04;0.46]
Social Total Customer Experience 0.391 0.000 [0.18;0.59] Appearance Total Customer Experience 0.182 0.069 [0.08;0.38]
Notes: 𝑄𝑄2 is derived from blindfolding procedure with an omission distance of 7. P-values were calculated by bootstrapping. The bias-corrected 95% (two-tailed) confidence intervals were computed using Shi’s double-bootstrapping method.
The effect of perceived customer interaction (social) with employees had a positive and
significant value of 0.391 (p < 0.01). Thus, Hypothesis 3 was empirically substantiated. We
found a weak positive link between ambience and total customer experience (Figure 2), and
the direct effect of ambience yielded a value of 0.224 (p < 0.10). The relation between
customer’s positive perception of design variables and total customer experience was weak
compared to other key constructs (p < 0.10), indicating weak support for Hypothesis 5. When
assessing the drivers of customers’ positive emotional state as measured by mood
improvement, we found ambience and social factors significantly influenced customers’
positive emotional state. The direct effect of ambience was 0.350 (p < 0.01) and social was
0.267 (p < 0.05). Our results confirmed Hypotheses 2 and 4 (Table 4). However, we did not
find a significant relation between customers’ positive perception of design variables and
positive emotional state of the customer; therefore, Hypothesis 6 is rejected.
Ambience Positive Emotional State 0.350 0.001 [0.22;0.57] Social Positive Emotional State 0.267 0.007 [0.03;0.38] Appearance Positive Emotional State 0.159 0.147 [0.04;0.41] Notes: 𝑄𝑄2 is derived from blindfolding procedure with an omission distance of 7. P-values are calculated by bootstrapping. The bias-corrected 95% (two-tailed) confidence intervals were computed using Shi’s double-bootstrapping method.
In Step 2 of the PLS-SEM model, we evaluated the full path model, adding shopping behavior
as a latent variable and including the simultaneous presence of the positive emotional state of
the customer and total customer experience. The positive emotional state of the customer
mediated the relation between atmospheric factors and total customer experience (see Figure
3). We found a 𝑅𝑅2 value of 0.468 for the key target construct of total customer experience,
validating the moderate predictive ability of the model. There was an increase in the coefficient
of determination when we compared Model 1 (Figure 2) and Model 3 (Figure 3). This finding
was also supported by a 𝑄𝑄2 value of 0.35, which is well above zero, signifying the predictive
TABLE 5. Structural Model Estimation of Total Customer Experience and Shopping Behavior: Mediating Effect of Positive Emotional States (Model 3) Endogenous Constructs R-Squared Q-Squared Positive Emotions 0.351 0.263 Total Customer Experience 0.468 0.346 Shopping Behavior 0.169 0.065 Relation Path
Coefficient P-value Bias-Corrected 95%
Confidence Interval Ambience Positive emotions 0.362 0.002 [0.16;0.60] Social Positive Emotions 0.230 0.043 [-0.03;0.40] Appearance Positive Emotions 0.170 0.183 [-0.06;0.39] Ambience Total Customer Experience 0.055 0.728 [-0.41;0.36] Social Total Customer Experience 0.389 0.007 [0.09;0.66] Appearance Total Customer Experience 0.088 0.452 [-0.12;0.27] Positive Emotions Total Customer Experience
0.322 0.027 [0.06;0.72]
Positive EmotionsShopping Behavior 0.411 0.000 [0.31;0.64] Notes: 𝑄𝑄2 is derived from blindfolding procedure with an omission distance of 7. P-values are calculated by bootstrapping. The bias-corrected 95% (two-tailed) confidence intervals were computed using Shi’s double-bootstrapping method.
To test Hypothesis 7, we added customer shopping behavior to the model as a latent variable.
We found the positive emotional state of the customer had a significant positive impact on
customers’ shopping behaviour as measured by time and money spent and number of products
bought. The value for the direct effect of the customer’s positive emotional state was 0.411 (p
< 0.01). At the same time, there was a positive significant relationship between the positive
emotional state of customers and their store experience (path coefficient of 0.322, p < 0.05).
This result supports Hypothesis 7.
TABLE 6. Mediating Effect of Positive Emotional State Positive Emotional State Direct
Notes: Indirect effect is the mediating effect, whereas total effect is the sum of direct and indirect effect. P-values are calculated by bootstrapping. The bias-corrected 95% (two-tailed) confidence intervals were computed using Shi’s double-bootstrapping method.
Regarding Hypothesis 8, we checked the significance of indirect effects first before assessing
the mediating effect of positive emotional state between atmospheric factors and total customer
experience. None of the indirect effects were significant, thus we could not substantiate the
mediating effect of the positive emotional state of the customer on the relationships between
atmospheric factors and total customer experience, and we rejected Hypothesis 81.
Discussion and Managerial Implications
Our results indicate that customers’ positive perception of in-store service is the main
determinant of the in-store customer experience, more so than ambience cues and store display.
When customers perceive that sales personnel are friendly, knowledgeable, conversing,
interacting and providing suitable assistance, that is, when sales team performance exceeds
expectations, this leads to the creation of a positive and memorable shopping experience. Stores
aiming to create a unique shopping experience for their customers might focus on establishing
a friendly, communicative, and helpful customer service.
1 In a sensitivity test, we also tested the mediating effect of the emotional state of the customer on shopping behavior and the effects of total customer experience on shopping behavior. However, we did not find any significant effects regarding total customer experience and the mediating effect of the emotional state of the customer on shopping behavior.
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