A project/dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Westminster

for the degree of BA Marketing Communication

April 2014

Nathalia Pereira da SilvaID number: w13617792

Supervisor: Dr. Annie Chen

“Exploring sensory marketing appeals influence on consumer behaviour - Abercrombie & Fitch store in London as an example”

Abstract

Research question: “Exploring sensory marketing appeals influence on consumer behaviour

– Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store in London as an example”

Research aim: The main objective of this dissertation is to explore whether sensory

marketing appeals influence consumers’ behaviour towards

Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) in London. This research will look at how

sensory marketing can influence purchase behaviour, time spent in

store, and consumers’ memory.

Methodology: This research will use a multi qualitative method, using an inductive

approach, which based on findings a theory can be created. In order to

collect information this research will use observation, and in-depth

interview qualitative methods. Ethical issues and permissions have been

considered.

Findings: The study found that it is valuable for A&F to use sensory appeals to

connect with customers and create emotional bonds. Research also

analyses 3 levels of customer relationship with the brand and has found

that A&F can benefit from this relationship. In addition, the study shows

that the multisensory experience can create a positive memorable

experience for consumers. Finally, results showed that sensory

marketing appeals do influence consumer purchase behaviour, and time

spent in store positively for the A&F brand.

1. Introduction

In a highly competitive market, having only high quality products is not enough to attract customers

and mostly important to keep them. In the past few years companies are placing more effort into

building brands which stimulate sensations and positive behaviour in consumers (Brakus, Schmitt

and Zarantonello, 2009). Companies use their stores as a sensory environment, using lighting, music,

colours, and smells to affect consumer behaviour and create a relationship with them (Martin, 2008;

Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2006).

The main objective of this dissertation is to explore whether sensory marketing appeals influence

consumers’ behaviour towards Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) in London. This research will look at how

sensory marketing can influence purchase behaviour, time spent in store, and consumers’ memory.

Abercrombie & Fitch is an American clothing store founded in 1892. They positioned themselves as a

casual luxury brand, targeting mainly teenagers between 14 – 22 years old (Kunde, 2013). According

to their website, A&F currently have 1055 stores in 16 countries around the world. An Abercrombie

& Fitch store best suits this study because they have a strong focus on selling not only clothes but an

experience to their customers. Their stores also use a variety of sensory appeals to create a shopping

experience.

2. Methodology

The research will follow a pragmatism philosophy. Pragmatism looks to research a situation that

happens in the societal context (Cherryholmes, 1992). The study will look at the influences of

sensory appeal in consumers’ behaviour towards A&F. This philosophy allows multi qualitative

methods of research. The pragmatism philosophy best suits the research because it allows multiple

interpretations and techniques. For the purpose of this research it will be appropriate to analyse and

explore the information obtained from different perspectives (Saunders et al., 2009).

To better understand the consumers’ in-store multisensory experience and explore their consumer

behaviour the research will follow an inductive approach. The inductive approach is based on

collecting data to better understand the nature of the situation, and analysing the data to create a

theory based on the findings (Saunders et al., 2009).

A multi-methodology will be used in this research. The qualitative research will use in-depth

interview to explore consumers’ opinions and experiences at an A&F store in detail, and observation

to examine the interaction between multisensory appeals and the consumer.

Purpose of Research

The research is of an exploratory nature. It will explore whether multisensory marketing appeals

influence consumer behaviour, looking at the relationships between multisensory appeals and time

spent in store, purchase, and sensory memory. The exploratory research will give the study

flexibility, allowing for the direction to be changed according to findings (Saunders et al., 2009).

Primary Research

Observation

The researcher will use a complete observer technique, meaning that the nature of the researcher’s

identity will not be revealed to the subjects of the research (Saunders et al., 2009). This technique

will give a higher probability that the researcher will not affect the consumers’ natural behaviour

(Kinnear and Taylor, 1996). The main objective is to observe the consumers’ behaviour in-store, and

examine their interaction with multisensory appeals.

A diary will be used to record the researcher experience in the store and observations made during

the visit, using experiential data as the form of data collection. This technique uses the

interpretation and perception of the researcher during the observation and thus has a high

ecological validity, meaning the study is a set in the real-word that will be studied.

It is important to note that the reliability of the observation study may be threatened due to

observer bias. According to Delbridge and Kirkpatrick (1994) the researcher’s own life experience

and knowledge affects the interpretation of the situation observed.

In-depth interviews

Data will be collected through structured in-depth interviews. The sample size will be eight A&F

consumers divided by gender (Figure 1) between the ages of 14 to 22, which is A&F’s main target

audience (Kunde, 2013).

A random sample will be used, which means that at the specific time and location of the interviews,

the probability of an individual being selected from this specific population is equal, giving more

accurate results (Bryman and Bell, 2003). Each interviewee will be questioned at the point of leaving

the A&F Flagship store in Mayfair in London. The person will only be selected for interview if leaving

the store with a purchased item from A&F. These criteria ensure that the person selected is an A&F

consumer and is more likely to have had a multisensory shopping experience at the store. It will give

more reliability and ensure a good quality of research. The identities of the participants will be kept

confidential.

Due to the time restrictions, all the interviews will be carried out on the same day and at only one

store (A&F Mayfair). Carrying out a higher number of interviews within different A&F stores would

give more validity to the research (Krueger and Casey, 2009). However, eight in-depth interviews

together with literature will provide enough information to understand if the multisensory appeals

in store influence brand attitude towards A&F.

To ensure validity of research the interview will have a structured questionnaire to make sure

questions are hereby not manipulated to receive a specific answer, and interviewees are encouraged

to express their true opinion about their experience (Saunders et al., 2009).

Figure 1

Gender Quotas

Female 50% 4

Male 50% 4

Total 100% 8

Considerations – Ethical issues, permissions

Permission from A&F Mayfair store will be necessary for this research, as well as permission from

interviewees. All the identities of the participants will be kept confidential.

3. Literature Review

In recent years, companies have comprehended the importance of sensory appeals to build strong

brands (Lindstrom, 2005). An extensive number of studies have been conducted looking at one

specific sense, such as smell (Herz, 2004, Krishna and Lwin et al., 2010, Buck, 2005), touch (Harlow,

1958, Montagu, 1986, Peck and Childers, 2003a, Peck and Wiggins, 2006), sight (Raghubir and

Greenleaf, 2006, Shepard, 1967), audition (Zhu and Meyers-Levy, 2005, Lowrey and Shrum, 2007,

Macinnis and Park, 1991), and taste (Elder and Krishna, 2010, Dubose and Cardello et al., 1980,

Hoegg and Alba, 2007). There has also been some recent researches on the interaction between two

senses, such as taste and smell (Krishna and Elder et al., 2010), vision and audition (Rusell, 2002),

taste and vision (Hoegg and Alba, 2007), smell and audition (Spangenberg and Grohmann et al.,

2005), taste and audition (Yorkston and Menon, 2004), and taste and touch (Krishna and Morrin,

2008), but little research has been conducted so far in the multisensory brand experience.

Sensory marketing is defined as “marketing that engages the consumers' senses and affects their

behaviours” (Krishna, 2010: 2), so by engaging with a consumer using sensory experience can

activate their emotional responses that can cause change on purchase behaviour (Yoon and Park,

2012). Understanding the process of how the human senses work, and how they can create stimuli

which appeal to the consumer is important in helping to maximise the effectiveness of a marketing

plan (Hill, 2003).

Early ideas about sensory marketing started with Kotler (1973) that emphasized the relationship

between store atmosphere and consumer purchase behaviour and the fact that marketers have not

paid much attention to this matter. The importance of offering the customer not only a product but

an entire brand experience has in recent years been more widely recognised and understood, and

the scope for sensory marketing has improved in line with this. Studies by Hultén, Broweus and Dijk

(2009) and Krishna (2010) have acknowledged that the human senses take an important role in

connecting experiences with emotions.

Pioneering research on the relationship between sensory appeals and brand equity has been carried

out by Lindstrom (2005). He proposes that every brand should have a multisensory strategy that

incorporates a sensory experience for the consumers. For instance, Singapore Airlines offers a brand

experience that appeals to different senses through sight (synchronization of colour throughout the

airlines), sound (unique cabin announcements), smell (patented fragrance), and taste (carefully

selected meals). The greater the number of sensory appeals used, the greater the consumer’s brand

loyalty will be (Lindstrom, 2005).

This study will use qualitative research to investigate how A&F uses multisensory marketing that

appeals to a teenage audience and how it affects consumer behaviour. As studies suggest,

consumers often use products and brands to present their ideal self to others (Belk, 1988). By

creating a multisensory experience that represents the target audience desired self (Markus, 1977),

it encourages consumers to relate their past experiences to the experience created by the brand

(Burnkrant and Unnava, 1989).

Consumer behaviour

According to Gabbot and Hogg (1998), consumer behaviour is related to the decision making process

a consumer goes through when purchasing a product or service. However, if a company is able to

understand this process, it makes it easier to provide the most effective experience for the

consumer to achieve full satisfaction with their purchase (Bettman et al. 2008).

Consumers are driven to achieve a goal, which could be, for example, the happiness felt on

purchasing a product (Baumgartner and Pieters, 2008). Therefore it is important to understand the

motivating factors in the consumer’s decision to make the purchase. Jones and Fazio (2008) say that if

the consumers have the right opportunity and motives, it will influence how they buy.

There are also other factors that affect consumer behaviour, such as price, friends, advertising, and

past experiences (Vargas, 2008). This leads to a conclusion that external factors such as sensory

marketing appeals can affect consumer’s behaviour and their decision making process (Hultén,

Broweus and Dijk, 2009).

Consumers’ Perception

Perception is the process that the consumer decodes the sensory stimulus received using

information in their memory and previous experiences (Peck and Childers, 2008). Since the world is

bombarded with information, humans use a selective process to limit the amount of information

received (Gabbott and Hogg, 1998). For example, when consumers enter a store each individual will

perceive something different, one may notice a dim lighting and other people may not. Each

consumer will perceive a certain stimulus in a different way and react to it differently (Scholderer,

2010). Since this is a complex process, marketing activities that appeal to different senses give a

greater chance of reaching the consumer (Hultén, 2011).

Emotional Engagement

Brands are using more emotional efforts, such as humour, enjoyment, beauty, and pleasure to

attract and engage with consumers (Lindstrom, 2005). Emotional experiences are unique to each

individual because they relate to past experiences and emotions that have already been felt before,

which means that each person will react to the emotional stimuli differently. This can have a

positive, neutral or negative impact on the brand (Hultén, Broweus and Dijk, 2009).

The emotional stimuli are received through the five senses, further emphasising the importance of

sensory marketing appeals which emotionally engage with customers (Gazzaniga, Ivry and Mangun,

1998). It is also believed that emotions affect consumer behaviour by affecting their moods (Cohen

et al. 2008). Thus, influencing a consumer to be in a positive mood will mean that the individual will

give a higher level of attention to the stimuli and possibly associate the brand with the positive

mood (Gordon, 2002). Finally, the emotional stimuli also influence how much an individual learns

and remembers about a situation (Rapaille, 2006).

The use of emotional stimuli is an important marketing tool. Besides increasing the effectiveness of

the marketing appeals by affecting consumers’ moods, learning power, and memory, it also creates

an emotional bond with the brand, which is the ultimate goal for most companies (Hultén, 2007).

Memory

Memory is an important tool for marketers to understand, as it is where the individual holds their

past experiences, which influences their emotions, learning and reactions (Martin, 2008). There are

also triggers that can be used to recover memories stored in the brain which are captured by the

human senses (Philippe, Lecours and Beaulieu-Pelletier, 2009).

A study by Zucco (2003) found that olfactory memory is the strongest of all senses. People who were

exposed to certain smells had the same percentage of recognition after exposure as after a year,

meaning that the olfactory memory remembering curve does not oscillate. In contrast, when people

were exposed to images, they could remember them straight after exposure, but after 4 months the

remembering rate had dropped significantly (Shepard, 1967).

Using different sensory appeals can connect to the memory in different ways. According to

Lindstrom (2005), only one percent of the top brands in the world use more than one sense as a

marketing tool, which shows that are great opportunities for marketers to exploit this area.

Store Experience

It is known that store atmosphere enhances brand experience and affects consumers emotionally,

having a positive effect on their behaviour (Puccinelli et al., 2009). Creating a store experience for

customers has become more important to affect consumer behaviour (Solomon et al., 2010), and

selecting the correct design for the store can directly affect the human senses, creating an emotional

link with consumers (Summers and Hebert, 2001).

This experience can be provided by creating sensory cues such as lighting, music, smell, colour, and

textures (Kotler, 1974), which can move customers up the loyalty ladder (Kamaladevi, 2010).

According to Holbrook and Hirschman (1982), a purchase should be more than a mere transaction.

Providing consumers with an emotional and unique experience will create a competitive advantage

for the brand, as well as emotionally engaging with the consumer to create future purchases (ibid.).

In addition to creating an emotional bond between the brand and the consumer, a store experience

offers the company the opportunity to sell their products at a premium price. According to Atwal

and Williams (2009), consumers are prepared to pay more to have an experience at a store, which

should be memorable and unique. This indicates that the brand has the opportunity to transfer the

brand essence and identity to the physical environmental of the store (Floor, 2006), which makes

extremely important that marketers ensure that every sensory appeal is carefully planned to be

perceived by the consumer in the intended way (Kotler, 1974).

4. Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) Background

Abercrombie & Fitch positions itself as a casual luxury brand (Anfcareers.com, 2014). It encourages

customers to live a full brand experience, demonstrating that it is not only a clothing shop but it has

a complete involvement with the customers. It also uses most of the human senses to provide its

customers with a true brand experience. The sales people are all carefully selected models, the

music is very loud electronic tracks, the fragrance in the stores is very bold, and the entire store is on

dim lights (Hill, 2003).

Store scent

To enhance the olfactory sense of their customers, A&F employees spray all over their stores their

signature fragrance “Fierce”. The fragrance is standardised in all A&F stores and sprayed several

times a day to ensure a bold and uniform smell all over the store (Airsensenews.com, 2014). The

male fragrance “Fierce” is also sold in bottles, so customers can take this signature smell home.

Studies have shown that smell is the second most significant sense in enhancing brand loyalty

(Lindstrom, 2005). Morrin and Ratneshwar (2003) showed in their study that ambient scents

increase brand recall and recognition.

The sexual aspect

As a form of sexual appeal A&F hire young, fit, and attractive models as sales people who have been

carefully selected to represent the brand. The sales personnel work in the store half nude, and

customers are encouraged to take photos with them. The high interaction between customers and

sales people is an important factor to deliver a higher standard of brand experience, and has a great

impact on customer satisfaction and brand attitude (Grace and O'cass, 2004).

Music and lighting

According to DMX Music, the company responsible for producing the music set for A&F, all the music

played in-store is carefully selected to reflect the A&F brand (Scheidnes, 2006). The music is a

signature of the brand and transmits, together with the dim lighting, a night club atmosphere to the

consumers entering the store. The music at A&F stores is unique to the brand, a customised

electronic beat played with loud volume and no pauses between tracks. According to Bruner and

Gordon (1990), loud music implies excitement and proximity to consumers, as well as the fast beat

of the songs and foreground music can increase expenditure behaviour in store (Yalch and

Spangenberg, 1990).

Touch

To enrich the touch experience in store, customers are free to try and touch anything at A&F without

the permission or help of any member of staff. Peck and Childers (2003b) found that when

consumers touch the product before purchase they are more likely to have a higher product

satisfaction. There is also a high physical interaction between customers and sales people (models).

Customers are encourage to hug and take photos with models. Studies have shown that services are

judged to be better when people served are touched (Crusco & Wetzel, 1984; Fisher, Rytting and

Heslin, 1976). Morhenn, (et.al., 2008) found that touch is related to generosity. In the study, people

who were touched were more likely to give money to strangers than the ones who were not. This is

due to an increase in oxytocin levels that leads to a greater generosity towards strangers.

5. Research - Analysis and Findings

In this section the data collected from eight in-depth interviews and observations will be analysed.

Findings will be broken down into four different sections to better show how the multisensory

appeals influence consumer behaviour.

Sensory experience influence on purchase behaviour

The A&F brand markets itself as casual luxury brand, meaning that they sell everyday clothing at

premium price. Participants described A&F products as ‘high quality’, ‘stylish’, and ‘unique’, which

could explain why the consumers interviewed were prepared to pay premium prices for the clothes.

During observations three types of consumers were identified. The first type was the people who

entered A&F store to experience only the entertainment on offer such as photos at the entrance

with models, a luxury store experience, and the multisensory appeals. They did not purchase

anything in-store, and were mostly not in the range of the target audience. This type was found to

form the majority of visitors. As Mayfair is a touristic area, the A&F store could have become a

shopping tourist attraction over time, which could explain the high number of tourists visiting the

store. Even though these visitors did not make any purchases they may positively influence other

consumers to purchase at A&F through word-of-mouth (Solomon et al., 2010).

The second type of consumers were the ones who were in the range of the target audience, but

have less purchase power, spending around 50 to 60 pounds per visit. This group were the second

largest group visiting the store, and they usually carry a small size A&F bag when exiting the store.

According to Atwal and Williams (2009), A&F could fall in the category of ‘New Luxury’ brand, which

means it is a desirable brand which offers consumers a brand experience and quality products, but

its price, whilst relatively expensive, is still affordable for most consumers. This type of consumers

are valuable for the company as they have a bond with the brand, and besides having a low

purchase power, they form a high percentage of the total A&F customers.

The last type of consumers buy with more frequency at the store, with an expenditure between 100

and 300 pounds per visit, and can be classified as ‘high level customers’ (Solomon et al., 2010).

These consumers have a high level of relationship with the brand, and an emotional bond, as well as

loyalty (Babin and Harris, 2012).

Influence of touch on consumer behaviour

The first contact the consumer has when entering the store is the opportunity to take a photo with a

half nude A&F model. Customers are encouraged by staff to take the picture, which is printed

straight away so they can take it home with them. This means the first sensory cue that the

consumer has is touch. Studies showed that when a consumer is touched by another individual, this

person is more likely to have a satisfactory experience in store (Fisher, Rytting and Heslin, 1976), and

is also more likely to be monetarily generous (Morhenn, Park, and Piper, 2008). Having the models

hugging the customers to take a picture as the first encounter before they have had the opportunity

to look at any of the products in store creates a positive impact on the consumer behaviour.

How sensory cues influence time spent in store

A&F uses a variety of sensory cues and marketing appeals to increase time spent in store. Research

showed that the average time spent in store is around 1 hour and 30 minutes, with some

interviewees spending up to 3 hours in the store and others around 40 minutes. During

observations, several sensory cues and store marketing appeals were identified that could influence

longer period of time spent in store, such as music and smell.

As stated earlier, A&F spray their signature fragrance ‘Fierce’ in the store. According to research,

ambience smell affects time spent in store, leading to consumers spending more time browsing

through products (Mitchell, Kahn and Knasko, 1995). This behaviour was proven through in-depth

interviews as 7 in 8 respondents enjoyed spending time browsing through products.

Music also influences amount of time spent in store. According to Kellaris & Kent (1993), music in-

store can take the consumer to a state of excitement, increase pleasure, and make the consumer

feel like they have spent less time in-store than they actually did. Interviewees gave positive

responses for the music in-store, and mostly said it was ‘cool’, ‘modern’ and ‘fun’. One person

compared the store to a night club. Actual time spent in-store compared with perceived time spent

were not monitored in this research. Further research needs to be conducted in this matter.

How sensory appeals influence consumers’ memory

A&F stores are full of sensory triggers to recover information stored in the consumer’s brain, which

makes the store ambience familiar to them (Philippe, Lecours and Beaulieu-Pelletier, 2009). During

in-depth interviews respondents were asked about words they associate with A&F stores, the

responses were, ‘familiar place’, ‘summer’, ‘hot guys’, and ‘California’. This means that the sensory

cues designed for the stores are being perceived by the consumers in the way planned by marketers

(Kotler, 1974).

Two sensory cues were remembered by the respondents when asked about their first impression

upon entering the store, the strong fragrance smell, and how dark the store was. The store

fragrance ‘Fierce’ is used in store as a sensory trigger. Studies found that store fragrance can

increase brand recognition and create emotional links with the consumer (Morrin and Ratneshwar,

2003). This means every time the fragrance is smelt by the consumer it is likely to recall the brand

(Herz, 1997). Studies by Knez and Kers (2000) showed that consumers have a greater preference for

dim lighting because it feels to them that the ambience is warmer and more welcoming. By having a

darker ambience, certain products can be spot-lit, emphasizing them to consumers (Summers and

Hebert, 2001), as observed inside the A&F store.

6. Conclusions

Through literature and qualitative research this study has shown that multisensory appeals do

influence consumer behaviour. Sensory cues at the A&F store affect how consumers purchase and

experience the brand.

Three types of consumers were found to visit the A&F store in London. Even though the purchase

power of each type of consumer differs significantly, these consumers are beneficial to the brand at

different levels, and have created an emotional connection with A&F.

When consumers enter the store they came in contact with different sensory triggers that can affect

their behaviour positively. The multisensory experiences at A&F are carefully planned by marketers,

so consumers receive and perceive the experience as planned. The first contact with the customers

is through touch by models at the store front which puts the consumers in a positive mood even

before having any contact with the products. After entering the store the consumer is exposed to

another set of sensory cues, such as music, lighting, and smell that creates a joyful and exciting

environment to browse around the store that eventually can lead to purchases.

Besides the sensory experience having a great impact on consumer behaviour, it also creates a

memorable experience and emotional bond with the brand. The bold fragrance and the dark

ambience of the store were two sensory appeals remembered by most consumers interviewed,

which showed these sensory appeals are used as triggers for brand recollection.

As a premium brand A&F does not aim only for customers to purchase their products, but also

creates a whole brand experience which creates strong emotional bonds with them that influence

their behaviour positively towards A&F.

7. Limitations

During interviews difficulties were found due to language barriers. As the A&F store in London is

located in a tourist area, most of the consumers at the store were tourists, and had limited

knowledge of the English spoken language. For this reason, answers to the interviews were limited

to basic English. Interviewees had difficulties expressing themselves and finding a variety of words to

describe their experience at the store. Answers to the questionnaire could have been more

elaborate if both parties had a fluency in the same language.

Due to time constraints only a small sample were interviewed. If a more in-depth study were to be

carried out in response to this study, a larger sample would be preferable, in order to ensure greater

validity of research.

8. Suggestion for future work

More extensive research is suggested at A&F stores, including behaviour in different stores, and

larger samples. To monitor perception of time spent in store versus real time spent it is

recommended that the researcher observes behaviour of each respondent individually followed by

an interview at the end of observation. This could be a more accurate way to analyse consumer

behaviour as people often cannot express in words their own behaviour.

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