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This study aims to examine the impact of green atmospheric and communicative servicescape dimensions on customers’ emotional and behavioral outcomes and explores the moderating effect of customer familiarity.

Data were collected from coffee shop customers in the USA. Structural equation modeling and a multigroup analysis were used for analysis.

The findings indicated that the atmospheric dimensions of green coffee shops have a greater impact than communicative dimensions on customers’ green place attachment and loyalty. However, the effects of green servicescape depend on customer familiarity. The impact of the communicative servicescape on customers’ attachment and loyalty is significantly greater in a high-familiarity group than in a low-familiarity group.

The findings provide coffee shop managers with insights into effective design of a green service environment. Although managers focus on both dimensions, they may use customer familiarity as a segmenting or targeting tool in designing the green service environment and developing a sustained relationship with customers with different levels of familiarity.

This study extends the existing servicescape models by incorporating green place attachment as a construct to comprehend customers’ inner evaluations. It also contributes to the literature on attachment by demonstrating the clear linkage between both green servicescape dimensions and place attachment. This study highlights customer familiarity construct that should be a critical issue in advancing the understanding of customer behavior in the green servicescape context.

Studying the role of advertising music (ad music) in a retail context can be an emergence of new marketing practices. The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential usage and utility of ad music as an atmospheric stimulus in contrast to music (retail music) as an atmospheric stimulus. This paper also aims to provide a model, which depicts how ad music could be an alternative to retail music in retail settings with regard to consumers’ attitudinal influence and its optimistic correlation with related marketing outcomes.

The paper reviewed the literature related to the role of retail music as an atmospheric stimulus and studies related to the role of music in the ad.

Advertising music as an atmospheric stimulus is more likely to influence consumers’ attitude towards advertising music, towards advertising and towards the advertised brand. Contrary to retail music, advertising music as an atmospheric stimulus may help a consumer for ad recall, ad message/brand information recall, brand recall, brand identification and brand recognition. Consequently, advertising music may always have an advantage over retail music with regard to purchase intent, brand choice and financial return.

This work may encourage the advertisers for the proper usage of ad music as an atmospheric stimulus that may holistically magnify the saliency of advertising theoretically and practically.

This study is a novel attempt to conceptualise the potential scope of utilisation of ad music in the retail context.

The majority of past studies on the physical store environment have focused on the impacts of distinct store environmental cues like music, crowding and décor on consumers' responses. However, recent research posits that consumer is more likely to experience several cues in a combination, rather than in isolation, i.e. different categories of store environmental cues are likely to impact consumer psychology holistically. Hence, our study aims to identify the relevant factors of store atmospheric cues impacting consumer's attitude in physical retail store context and validate scales to measure such factors.

This research develops and validates psychometrically reliable scales to measure two broad store stimuli factors namely: attractive and facilitating store stimuli, following the scale development method suggested by Churchill (1979).

The study shows that attractive store stimuli predict affective and sensory store brand experiences. The facilitating store stimuli moderate the effects of attractive store stimuli on affective and sensory store brand experiences. Affective and sensory store brand experiences predict store satisfaction.

This research contributes to the existing body of store ambience research by empirically understanding the psychological mechanism through which customers perceive different store cues holistically leading to the elicitation of store satisfaction.

The best possible way for brick-and-mortar retailers to maximise engagement with personalised shoppers is capitalising on intelligent insights. The retailer operates differently with diversified items and services, but influencing retail atmospheric on personalised shoppers, the perception remains the same across industries. Retail atmospherics stimuli such as design, smell and others create behavioural modifications. The purpose of this study is to explore the atmospheric effects on brick-and-mortar store performance and personalised shopper's behaviour using cognitive computing based in-store analytics in the context of emerging market.

The data are collected from 35 shoppers of a brick-and-mortar retailer through questionnaire survey and analysed using quantitative method.

The result of the analysis reveals month-on-month growth in footfall count (46%), conversation rate (21%), units per transaction (27%), average order value (23%), dwell time (11%), purchase intention (29%), emotional experience (40%) and a month-on-month decline in remorse (20%). The retailers need to focus on three control gates of shopper behaviour: entry, browsing and exit. Attention should be paid to the cognitive computing solution to judge the influence of retail atmospherics on store performance and behaviour of personalised shoppers. Retail atmospherics create the right experience for individual shoppers and forceful use of it has an adverse impact.

The paper focuses on strategic decisions of retailers, the tactical value of personalised shoppers and empirically identifies the retail atmospherics effect on brick-and-mortar store performance and personalised shopper behaviour.

To fill a gap in external atmospheric literature and provide useful information for small store retailers, this study aims to investigate the influence of external atmospheric variables, specifically window displays and landscaping (i.e., accessory vegetation), on customers’ responses towards an apparel boutique.

The Stimulus‐Organism‐Response (S‐O‐R) model proposed by Mehrabian and Russell provided the theoretical framework. Data were collected from students enrolled at an American university. Univariate analyses and simple regression analyses were used to evaluate the influence of two external variables (window display and landscaping) on consumer responses in terms of liking, mood, and patronage intentions.

Results indicated that window display and landscaping had no main effects on pleasure or arousal. However, the presence of window display and landscaping influenced respondents’ liking of the store exterior and patronage intentions. Additionally, consumers’ liking of the store exterior and mood positively influenced patronage intentions.

Store retailers, especially small apparel boutiques, would benefit from landscaping the external portion of their store and pay special attention to their window displays.

Turley and Milliman stressed the pressing need for further empirical research on external atmospheric variables because of lack of research on exterior atmospheric variables. This study focused on external atmospheric variables and their impact on shopper behaviors and thus adds to the existing literature.

This paper aims to examine the effects of natural plants on satisfaction and loyalty in the hospitality servicescape and provides a theoretical framework explaining the underlying processes.

An experimental study (plants vs no-plants) was conducted in a restaurant with a sample of 119 individuals. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and bootstrapping moderated mediation analysis (Hayes, 2013).

The results of the study confirmed significant effects of indoor natural plants on consumers’ satisfaction and loyalty, mediated by the experiential value components of aesthetic value, service excellence and escapism. The absence of an interaction of these influences with consumers’ connectedness to nature indicates that the beneficial effects of indoor plants universally affect all individuals, independent of their personal degree of feeling connected with nature.

Indoor natural plants as ambient elements in restaurants can improve satisfaction and loyalty by enhancing the dimensions of aesthetics and escapism of the service experience, as well as the perception of service quality.

This is the first experimental study analyzing the effects of indoor plants on customer satisfaction and loyalty conducted in a real-life restaurant setting using actual plants. The findings contribute theoretically by providing an integrated conceptual model of the satisfaction and loyalty effects of atmospheric stimuli (i.e. plants) in the hospitality servicescape, which offers a process explanation based on the mediating influence of aesthetic value and the sequential mediations of aesthetic value → service excellence and aesthetic value → escapism.

In a consumer-driven world, captivating experiences are increasingly vital and retailers prioritise them for consumers. This study aims to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework that explores the impact of a consumer's multi-sensory and atmospheric experiences on their intention and commitment to a mall, with perceived value acting as a mediating factor.

The study employed a descriptive quantitative research approach and utilised a self-administered mall-intercept survey. A total of 380 shoppers participated in and responded to the survey administered at the mall. The collected responses are analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Study findings show that experiences significantly influence consumers' intentions to patronise shopping malls, leading to their commitment. The study reveals a strong impact of atmospheric experience on multi-sensory experiences. Furthermore, perceived value mediates the relationship between consumers' experiences and their mall patronage intention.

The research sheds light on the significance of atmospheric elements in creating sensory experiences for consumers. Additionally, the study introduces the concept of “props” as essential components of the atmospheric experiences in retail stores and malls. Furthermore, the study advances inference theory by exploring the effects of these sensory and atmospheric experiences within the shopping mall environment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of artistic elements in a shopping mall’s experiential marketing strategy and the effects of artistic elements on customer shopping value (e.g. utilitarian, hedonic and symbolic) and shopper response (e.g. satisfaction, behavioural intention).

Data were collected from 300 shoppers in a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. A partial least square-structural equation model was used to examine the impact of the artistic elements along with other elements in the shopping mall on shopper response through perceived shopping value.

Empirical evidence shows that artistic elements in an artified mall have a positive effect on customer hedonic and symbolic value, which in turn leads to positive shopper response. Artistic elements perform better than other elements in predicting symbolic value.

The findings suggest that artistic elements should be considered a new source of mall differentiation and customer experience enhancement. Unique artistic elements add emotional and symbolic appeal to the mall, and mall managers should carefully choose artistic content that matches the position and target shoppers of their mall.

This paper proposed and empirically examined the effect of artistic elements as the new fourth atmospheric element. It extends the art infusion theory by applying it to the “non-luxury” shopping mall context to demonstrate the spillover effect of art on shopping value, which further influence shopper response.

Much of the literature on consumer empowerment focuses on consumers' efforts to regain control of their consumption processes from suppliers. The purpose is to argue that many suppliers achieve success by trying hard to empower consumers. The mechanism by which this takes place consists of researching and providing what consumers want. Consumers feel empowered when they are able to enjoy the consumption process. This is of particular note in shopping, which is not simply obtaining products but also experience and enjoyment.

Research is examined into the links between firms' efforts to understand what consumers want, atmospheric stimuli, emotions and buying behaviour.

The paper finds that successful firms' try hard to understand what consumers want and to improve consumer satisfaction and empowerment by providing pleasant marketing environments and apt, relevant information.

The approach is based on prior literature. The paper examines marketing to consumers in company locations, e.g. stores, malls, restaurants and banks to examine specific evidence of the effects of atmospheric stimuli such as aroma, music and video screen media.

The paper contends that firms can and do become successful in a competitive arena by providing pleasant environments and information that people want.

The paper shows how consumer empowerment is an important concept. This paper contributes since there is a dearth of writings specifically about consumer empowerment in the marketing literature. Far from the popular view of consumers being manipulated by firms, successful firms try hard to and succeed in empowering consumers in their marketing activities.