Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer buying behavior] 1

How Sensory Marketing Affects Consumer Buying Behavior in Pakistan

Amber Shah Jillani (61370)

Umama Mayserah(61419)

Aqsa Fatima (60931)

Tuba Malik(7958)

PAF-KIET University
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 2

Contents

Acknowledgment.................................................................................................................3

Abstract................................................................................................................................4

How Sensory Marketing Affects Consumer Buying Behavior...........................................5

Background of the study:.....................................................................................................9

Literature Review..............................................................................................................11

Research framework:.........................................................................................................18

Problem Statement:............................................................................................................19

Methodology:.....................................................................................................................20

Research Design............................................................................................................20

Research Method...........................................................................................................21

Population......................................................................................................................21

Sample Size...................................................................................................................21

Sample Technique.........................................................................................................22

Research Instrument......................................................................................................22

RESULTS AND FINDINGS:............................................................................................23

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 3

Conclusion:........................................................................................................................25

Limitations and future recommendation:...........................................................................27

References..........................................................................................................................28

Acknowledgment

This research is dedicated to all those who were helpful, encouraging, and supportive and who

gave us precious advices during the whole process of this research.

First, we like to thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to study at PAF-KIET University and

completing the research project. Then I would like to give special thanks to our instructor Dr.

ATIF He gave us the invaluable assistance throughout the research. We would also like to thank

our fellow students for their constructive feedback and all the students who participated in the

survey.

Finally, we are also very thankful to our families for their moral and financial support.
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 4

Abstract

Knowing consumer's behavior, his/her preferences and reactions provides company with better

chance to establish itself in trade. While doing research, it is very important to analyze and

search for answers to questions why customers do the shopping, what they buy, when, where and

how often they do the shopping. The decision to buy a product or service is influenced by many

factors, including not only cultural, social, psychological but also personal factors. Sensory

marketing itself is coming to the foreground and more and more people are realizing its position.

It deals with involvement of sensory and tries to clarify their importance in business

communication. The aim of research is to evaluation of senses and their influence on consumer's

behavior in shopping area.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 5

How Sensory Marketing Affects Consumer Buying Behavior.

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 execution of those

requirements than the competition. It can be said that in contrast to the product-centered “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. . The last years, more and more marketing executives were becoming conscious 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. (Hultén, 2011) Sensory marketing deals with creating atmosphere in stores. Its aims are

five senses – visual, auditory, tactile, locative and gustative. Its task is to have an indirect impact

on consumers' senses and arouse emotions which may influence them (Lee and O' Mahoney,

2005).

Krishna (2012) defines sensory marketing as a type of marketing whose main task is to

connect senses and influence consumers' perception, judgment and behavior. Knowing

consumer's behavior, his/her preferences and reactions provides company with better chance to
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 6

establish itself in trade. It is very important to analyze and search for answers to questions why

customers do the shopping, what they buy, when, where and how often they do the shopping.

The decision to buy a product or service is influenced by many factors, including not only

cultural, social, psychological but also personal factors.

During the last decade human senses have received more and more attention,

emphasizing their meaning for consumers’ experience and behavior (Hulten, 2011). Explained

by Brakus et al (2009) the purpose of using the human senses in marketing is to provide

consumers with excitement, satisfaction and pleasure, where the sensory experience is on focus.

Each of the five senses -smell, sound, sight, taste and touch- and all the senses together, also

form the foundation of what is called the “Sensory experience”. A sensory experience is the

result of the reactions of the senses to different elements or triggers in marketing, called stimuli.

The human senses are of vital importance to our experience of our existence, and without the

senses no impression could be formed. It would not be possible to understand, feel, learn or think

without senses. They give invaluable information about different objects through smell, sound,

sight, taste and touch. The five human senses are of crucial importance for an individual’s

experience of different purchase and consumption processes. It is through the senses that every

individual becomes conscious of firms, products and “brands”. Because of this, further

knowledge about the human senses might make a firm’s marketing more successful and an

individual’s experience more pleasure. Academic research and Empirical studies has shown that

different sensory impressions impact consumer behavior and perceptions of goods and services.

The sense of sight is the most powerful one for discovering changes and differences in the

environment and is the most common sense in perceiving goods or services. Impressions of

sound have been analyzed empirically by Garlin and Owen (2006). The sense of sound is linked
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 7

to emotions and feelings and this sense impacts brand experiences and interpretations about it.

Impressions of smell have been discussed by Goldkuhl and Styfven (2007). The sense of touch is

the tactile one, related to information and feelings about a product through physical and

psychological interactions. The marketers exploit the human mind which can fool itself by

believing many untrue things. There is a notable difference between awareness and perception

with regards to the sense of vision. Some of the biases are direct distance bias, the sizing bias and

consumption bias. Packaging gives different visual cues to the product. It can be used to convey

many descriptions of the product. To give an impression of heaviness, display the product image

on the bottom or right side of the package. Packaging can also be used to highlight certain

attributes of a product. Across various culture and region, symbols have different meaning. Many

visual cues are based on the respondent cultures especially if they are associated with specific

cultural norms or traditions. The sense of vision has many connections with other senses. Vision

precedes touch allowing us to identify which product we want to touch and what to expect when

we feel them.

According to the scientific theories scent and experience are directly related. Scent is also

related to the emotions we feel during those experiences. Because of this, the capability to

connect scent with emotions is greater than any other sense. Customers are able to recall the

attributes of a product when they are exposed to scent. Even when the scent is not reintroduced

they are able to recall the attributes. The challenge of the marketers is to properly utilize the

properties of the scent effectively and efficiently. Pay Attention to brand by refreshing the

human senses, become one of the most important issues in recent marketing. Branding is an

effective differentiation strategy that enables a state of identification for the product, the firm,

and the consumer. Understanding that brands constitute a form of identity suggests brands hold
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 8

more than the functional value of the product. Thus Building strong brands is a management

priority (Kapfere, 2008). To build a strong brand, the right knowledge structures must exist of

the minds of actual or prospective customers so that they respond positively to marketing

activities and programs in these different ways (Keller, 2009). Brands are one of the most

important tools in today’s global business. They have a value of nearly one third of the world’s

wealth. Five senses play key role at human life and according to ever-growing increase of

brands, therefore more applications of senses for establishing brand has gained great importance.

Because the lack of a general framework on the consumer senses, Emotions and psychology of

brands, we do not know how to answer empirical questions that would enrich our understanding

of brands, significantly beyond what we know already.

It is found that many marketing executives haven't realized the impact of sensory

marketing and cannot use it in an effective way is to persuade consumers to give preference to

buy products and services among others. In order to manage that five senses are used. This type

of marketing is based on requirements of consumers. Customer's loyalty influenced by their

experience has a big role So, this problem bring us to the question that how sensory marketing

will be used in an effective way as the promotional tool so that it increases the buying power,

customer value which will affect consumer buying behavior. The purpose of this study is to

understand the current characteristic of the sensory marketing that is used in brands in Karachi

(Pakistan).
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 9

Background of the study:

To make any business successful it is very necessary to know consumer’s buying

behavior and their preferences. There are many factors that influence consumer’s buying

behavior for example: culture, social, psychological and personal factors, but now days it has

been observed that ‘sensory marketing’ is also impacting buying behavior of consumers. The

objective to conduct this study is to identify the significance of relationship of sensory marketing

and consumer buying behavior. Sensory marketing includes (sight, smell, touch, hearing and

taste). “The task of sensory marketing is to persuade consumers to give their preferences to buy

products or services among others. In order to manage that five senses are used, this type of

marketing is based on requirements of consumer. Customer’s loyalty influenced by their

experience has a big role. (Hulten et al., 2009)

According to a research conducted in Slovikia form February to march 2017. In this the

respondents (312) were divided into three generation according to their age ( young, middle and

elder), marked 38%, 30% and 32% respectively Altogether there were 51% women and 49%

men. On the basis of this survey the most affected sense when buying is sight with 62%,

gustative sense (taste) was on second place with 175, smell with 11%, and hearing with 6% and

lastly touch. (koudelka, 2008). This shows that sight is the most significant sense among other

senses which influence consumers on their decision making.

First data was gathered in order to compare different generations through visual effects

(color, material and shop appearance). It is noticed that young generation of (6 to 18) age prefer

color, middle generation (19 to 64) and elder generation (65 and above) focus on material first.
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 10

Furthermore, research aim was to identify the relationship of sound effects and customers

while shopping. It shows that about 53% customers are affected by radio music and rests of the

respondents are affected by natural sound of the shop or store.

Touch is another factor which influences the decision of consumers. Almost all

generation make decision on the basis on touching material i.e.: packaging and surface treatment.

Then it comes smell factor. 82% of respondents are affected by olfactory that is natural

smell of store (spices, dairy products etc) and 18% responds towards artificial smell.

The last sense evaluated was gustatory sensory (taste) the most affecting factor were free

sample, secondly quality of product. It is also noticed that free sample affects the men of all

generation, while on another hand quality of product influences women.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 11

Literature Review

Kotler4 defined atmospherics as the “effort to design buying environments to produce 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 sight: The function of the visual system is to transform light patterns into information,

owing to which people are capable of perceiving forms, colors, dimensions, and movement sand

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 toCreusen 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 values the single product can express by brand visual elements. The visual

elements represent 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 – ability of correct

performance and expression of its functions.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 12

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 defined 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. Reni

and Kim8 in their study on shopping comportment in a wine store discovered 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 behavior 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 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 supermarket. 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.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 13

Impact of smell:The sense of smell has been described by many researchers as one of the

“chemical “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 marketing 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 behaviors they were

exhibiting. 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 examined 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 Haber land’s findings14 confirmed not only the

positive effect of scent on approach behaviors but also its impact on the message processing. It

was observed that weak arguments (non-persuasive information) can be compensated byte

presence of olfactory cue, thus marketers can use fragrances to master a weak argument. Odors

can be used to generate more income, comparing scented and unscented advertisement in the

presence of weak argument, the increase of 29% in the purchase intentions was observed.

Moreover, odors appear not to hurt consumers’ responses. There were no more negative

evaluations observed in the scented environment than in the scent absence.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 14

It was proved that odors 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 behaviors (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. Analyzing the vast array of studies investigating the topic of how touch

influences customer’s behavior, it could be observed that “touch hunger “does not only apply to

the social interactions between people, precisely speaking, it slack, but it can also be used to

explain customer behavior in the commercial environment.

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: instrumental 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 stimulation and enjoyment, therefore is hedonic driven. Peck

and Childers17 discovered thatNFT had an influence on the impulse purchasing behavior,

customers’ inclination to purchase in the spontaneous and unexplained manner in such a way that
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 15

individuals 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. 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 evaluation. The results of the study indicate that

managers should allow their consumers to actually 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 taste:Taste provides the most specific function of any of the five human senses. It

plays very vital role in branding. Smell and taste are closely linked together and it is practically

impossible to taste something without smelling it (Lindström, 2005). Eating and drinking is

strongly associated to joyful, positive memories, which is one of the reasons why the taste aspect

should not be neglected in marketing (Gobé 2001). It recalls memories and past experiences.

Taste has impact on perception of a brand. To build strong perception of a brand, all the senses

should be included. There are a limited number of brands, which are actually including taste in

their branding strategies (Lindström, 2005). However, taste will lead to build a stronger

emotional connection for the consumer. Adding taste to the brand increases the value for the

customers and the perceived benefits in the minds of the consumers (Gobé, 2001).

Although there are many different visual cues that can affect customers’ perception of an

environment or product. Researchers for many years focused mainly on two aspects: color and

light, under which it is presented. When in 1950s Procter &Gamble introduced on the market the
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 16

new detergent with three colors 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 color has an effect on the attitude towards the product was

published by Middlestadt21. It was shown that participants presented a pen displayed on blue

background within blue ambient color 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

colored M&Ms as having more chocolate intensive flavor than the green ones, even though all

the bonbons have the same taste. The ratings of the “chocolatiyeness” 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 color s, labels and flavors.

Another important element is light that has a power in stimulating customers’ behavior 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 heaven influence on

customers’ behavior within the retail environment. They are capable of affecting their perception

of products and establishment. Therefore, it can be concluded that adequate visual manipulation

is important for business and marketing activities.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 17

Research framework:

Sight

Consumer
Smell
Buying Behavior

Sound

Taste

Touch

H1=there is positive relationship between sight and the consumer buying behavior

H2=there is positive relationship between smell and the consumer buying behavior

H3=there is positive relationship between touch and the consumer buying behavior

H4=there is negative relationship between sound and the consumer buying behavior

H5=there is negativerelationship between taste and the consumer buying behavior

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 18

Problem Statement:

During the last years, more and more marketing executives were becoming conscious of the fact

that customers, while making their purchase decisions, are influencedby something more than the

product or the service itself. The human senses have longbeen ignored in marketing, despite the

awareness of their great significance. Todaysensory marketing was distinguished from mass and

relationship marketing by havingits origin in the five human senses and how sensory marketing

(five human senses) affects consumer buying behavior.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 19

Methodology:

Research Design

“A research design is the detailed blueprint used to guide the implementation of a

research study toward the realization of its objective” (Aaker & Day, 1990 pp59) .It is a

framework for collecting and analyzing of data. Research design is a choice which reflects

decision about the priority being given to a range of dimension of the research process. There are

five different types of research such as, experimental design, cross-sectional design or survey

design, longitudinal design, quantitative design and comparative design (Bryman & Bell, 2007).

Among from them I have chosen quantitative design for my research. Quantitative involves with

the detailed and intensive analysis of a research (Bryman & Bell, 2007). In this research how

sensory marketing affects consumer buying behavior Quantitative often use in exploratory type

of research. It allows the researcher to investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real-

life context. We would investigate the impact of sensory marketing on consumer buying

behavior. Quantitative design is capable of handling both qualitative and quantitative data which

is an advantage for the researcher. So, according to our purpose of study and research method,

quantitative design is appropriate.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 20

Research Method: Selection of research method is vital for any kind research. It is a technique

for collecting and analyzing the empirical data. There are two types of research method. These

are qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative method is focused on numeric data. The ultimate

goal of this method is to classify feature, count them and explain things which are observed

during research in statistical model. This type of approach involves some tools for data collection

such as questionnaires. The objective of quantitative method is to seek measurements and

analysis of target concepts by using data collection instruments. This type of approach is also

useful in measuring customer attitudes, satisfaction, and commitment and for some other market

data (Gorard, 2001).So, According to the purpose of our study and research question,

quantitative method is appropriate.

Population: Population refers to the whole group about which some facts and detail is required

to be deduced” (Chaudhury, 2010).

Karachi city, the capital of Sindh, It covers an area around 3,527 km². The population of

Karachi city according to recent censes is about 20 Million. We take the consumers of Karachi

city as our population sample.

Sample Size: Sample size refers to the subdivision of a population adopt to take part in the

observation (Brink 1996; Polit&Hungler, 1999).

In this study, a portion of 385 that is three hundred eighty five was pick out from the

whole population of consumers of Karachi, whom behavior is affected by the factors that are

sight, smell, sound, touch and taste .

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 21

Sample Technique: Sampling helps the researcher to gain required information about the whole

population by the use of limited sources and time (Mugenda&Mugenda, 2003).

In this study we used convenience sampling. This technique refers to the sample as the

use of readily approachable people in an observation (LoBiondo-Wood and Habe, 1998).

Convenience sampling is helpful in the cases where it is not possible to recognize all members of

the population (De Vos, 1998). In this study it is not possible to predict the number of consumers

whom behavior is affected by the factors for this reason we used convenience sampling

technique.

Research Instrument: In this study a close ended questionnaire was used to collect the required

information because it was the productive way to collect the information from the larger samples

in a shortest possible time period and its gives the standardize form of data. All five variables are

mentioned above.

The questionnaire was divided into 5 sections parts. The first part of the questionnaire is

based on the title of the study which is factors affecting consumer buying behavior which

included respondents personal details. Similarly for all four variables respondents are asked to

give their response to indicate their views towards the given statement.
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 22

RESULTS AND FINDINGS:

To find the results of our research we used smart PLS version 3.2. The findings of our

results are as follow:

CBB is the consumer buying behavior which is the dependent variable of our research

and SS, SSM, SSO, SST and STE these are the independent variables of our research. To check

the reliability or validity of result we put the data in software of smart PLS and check the validity

of all variables. If the data is valid it beat the benchmark that is if average value is higher than

0.5, alpha values are higher than 0.6 and composite reliability values are higher than your data is

valid.
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 23

To check the confidence level we did the bootstrapping in the smart pls software

are following

Above table shows the relationship five independent variable and their relationship

H1 states that there is a positive relationship between sight and consumer buying behavior

H2 states that there is a negative relationship between smell and consumer buying

behavior.H3 states that there is a negative relationship between sound and consumer

buying behavior H4 states that there is a positive relationship between taste and consumer

buying behavior. H5 states that there is a positive relationship between touch and consumer

buying behavior.
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 24

Conclusion:

The main purpose of this research is to make an attempt to present the influence of sensory

marketing on buyer’s buying behavior. The research covers the topic regarding the theory of

influence of individual senses on buyer’s behavior.

Sight is the most used sense in sensory marketing. The first way of brand’s identification is

through colors, shapes, and lights. When the light is natural or softened customers spend more

time in one place, but when light is an intensive customer become more dynamic.

Sound is also important for sensory marketing users. But this research finds that when consumer

buys any product or makes decision of buying any goods or services the sound impact is less

compared to other senses

Taste is often used when companies offer free-tasting promotional operations. Companies take

emotions spared off by touch during the conditioning of the product or its conception. Sensory

marketing is a deep and effective concept. Taste makes a valuable addition to food products and

their brands as well as strengthens their identity. It is often a lasting competitive advantage. But

only when consumer buy food other than that the sense of taste is used when buying product at

super market when consumer cannot eat to check the quality they use their other senses as a

substitute for example sense of smell and sense of touch.

Touch is also a crucial sense in creating emotions in the choice of packaged products. Sense of

touch used when consumer buy product to check or measure quality of a product

Sense of smell is also very important. 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.
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 25

RESULTS

The research indicated by 70%, and a quarter considers sight as a decisive sense in consumers’

behavior on the market.

The people surveyed also use the sense of taste when judging of products. 38% of people

indicate this sense as important.

According to 35% of the respondents, smell is also very important.

The people surveyed also use the sense of touch is also used to confirm the quality of products.

18% of people indicate this sense as important.

The sense of hearing is not used when making a purchasing decision of product although they

indicate music is an important factor in creating the attractive atmosphere of the place.

Limitations and future recommendation:

Although the findings provide meaningful information for consumer buying behavior research,

this study is not without its limitations. The nature of sampling unit under study cannot be

generalized to a larger population as only students of PAF KIET were examined. The use of

cross-sectional data in a single group also limits some of the conclusions obtained. The study can

be strengthened by increasing the sample size and including participants in other geographical

areas. With an increased sample size, a more detailed analysis can be done. Potential correlations

between some of the independent variables (e.g. gender, race, education, income level) need to

be reported in a future study.

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 26

References

4 Ph. Kotler, Atmospherics as a marketing tool, „Journal of Retailing”, 1973, Vol. 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, Vol. 2(4), p.381 - 401.

7 G.C. Bruner, Music, mood, and marketing, „Journal of Marketing” 1990, Vol. 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, Vol. 20, p. 336 - 340.

9 R.F. Yalch, E.R. Spangenberg, Effects of Store Music on Shopping Behavior, „Journal

of Consumer Marketing”

1990, Vol. 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, Vol. 13(2), p. 286 - 289.

11 J.D. Herrington, L.M. Capella, The effects of music in service environments: A field

study, „Journal of Services

Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 27

Marketing” 1996, Vol. 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, Vol. 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, Vol. 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]

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, Vol. 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, Vol. 34(6), p. 807 - 818.

17 J. Peck, T.L. Childers, If …, op. cit., p. 757 -769.

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, Vol. 22(1), p. 63 - 81.

20 C. Leichtling, How color affects marketing, published: http://bit.ly/qnFftZ [access:

04.04.2011]
Running head: [Sensory Market Affects Consumer Buying behavior] 28