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The main aim of this study is to examine the effect of virtual store atmospheric factors on impulsive purchasing in the metaverse context.

Grounded in purposive sampling, 451 individuals with previous metaverse experience were recruited to accomplish the objectives of this research. Next, to identify both linear and nonlinear relationships, the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) approaches.

The findings underscore the significance of the virtual store environment and online trust in shaping impulsive buying behaviors within the metaverse retailing setting. Theoretically, this study elucidates the impact of virtual store atmosphere and trust on impulsive buying within a metaverse retail setting.

From the findings of the study, because of the importance of virtual shop content, practitioners must address its role in impulse purchases via affective online trust. The study’s findings are likely to help retailers strategize and improve their virtual store presentations in the metaverse.

The discovery adds to the understanding of consumer behavior in the metaverse by probing the roles of virtual store atmosphere, online trust and impulsive buying.

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 paper is to examine the effects of physical environment design (PED) and its antecedents on consumers’ emotional well-being (EWB). Drawing on place identity and emotional theories, the study aims to provide a new perspective to retail store experiences.

A survey of 800 respondents was conducted in London, out of which 764 responses were constructively used. The data was collected from international retail outlets, and structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

The empirical results show that PED has a positive effect on consumers’ EWB. Among the antecedents, visual identity does not have any significant effect on PED and EWB. In contrast, communication had a significant effect on PED but did not have any effect on EWB, and further, cultural heritage had a positive effect on both PED and EWB. Further, moderator analysis identifies the boundary conditions under which specific theories hold.

The value of this paper lies in its potential to be used for creating the perfect design planning in retail stores. Significant implications for managers and researchers are highlighted.

This paper presents an innovative approach to develop the principles of retail store’s PED to support the EWB of consumers.

This study aims to use emotions-as-social information theory to investigate how physical (customer perceived store atmosphere) and social servicescapes (customer information searching) influence the effects of employees’ positive affective displays on customer outcomes via customer positive moods and positive expectation disconfirmation.

This research included two studies, each using a distinct research design, to empirically test the proposed model. Study 1 involved 200 observational data points on objective purchase amounts from designer watch shops. In Study 2, data were collected from 230 customers in designer jewelry stores.

The results of path analyses revealed that: employee positive affective displays are positively associated with customer purchase outcomes; employee positive affective displays had positive indirect effects on customer purchase outcomes by enhancing customer positive moods and positive expectation disconfirmation; these positive indirect effects were strengthened when customers engaged in information search behaviors; and these positive indirect effects were attenuated when customers perceive store atmosphere as favorable, indicating a substitution effect of customer perceived store atmosphere.

Previous research has not thoroughly examined the role of the servicescape in moderating the effects of employees’ positive affective displays on customer purchase outcomes. This present study not only clarified the affective and cognitive mechanisms that link employees’ positive affective displays on purchase outcomes but also identified servicescape as a critical boundary condition of these effects.

Western manufacturers have often benefited from the Country-of-Origin (COO) effect when a product is launched into emerging markets. The authors examine if this still holds true in the China market. The authors believe that the degree of perceived hedonism associated with the product does matter and, therefore, conducted an experiment to test how this influences the effect of COO on perceived quality and price of the product. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.

A lab experiment with a 2 (COO: Western vs. Local) x 2 (Hedonism: High vs. Low) factorial design was conducted with Chinese consumers as subjects. The dependent variables were perceived quality and price of the products.

It was found that Western COO has a positive effect on the product perceived quality and price in the China market, but the effect was significantly moderated by the degree of perceived hedonism of the products.

The study used an experiment to investigate the different prominence of the COO effect on perceived quality and price in terms of hedonic vs. utilitarian products which has not been done previously. The findings provide implications concerning allocation of marketing resources to product positioning in the presence of different degrees of perceived hedonism and suggest additional areas for future examination.

Digitalization is revolutionizing the retail sector as today's consumers prefer a seamlessly integrated, fluid and irritation-free shopping experience enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technologies. Literature highlights gaps in the understanding of the shopping experience in an omnichannel context, involving aesthetic, cognitive and affective experience dimensions. This research highlights the direct effects and the mechanism triggered in the presence of such device.

A sample of 259 consumers was interviewed at the point of sale. Data have been collected after a shopping experience in two concept stores belonging to the same fashion brand: (1) not equipped with AI-powered technology and (2) equipped with these tools. The measurement scales were validated through ANCOVA analysis and causal relationship analysis with structural equation modeling.

The results show that the presence of an in-store AI-powered technologies in a connected store generates a higher aesthetic reaction when visiting the store, a higher absorption when shopping through the flow and a higher intent to purchase. The authors further investigate the underlying mechanism triggered by the presence of this technology, which enables the authors to outline their consequences regarding purchase intention.

The study, conducted within an actual connected store in France, explores the impact of AI technology in connected retail environments on consumer responses. It is an early research in this field, shedding light on a rarely explored area. The authors’ research addresses a significant gap, providing insights into AI-driven retail experiences.

Design is an important construct in the retail environment literature. Yet, the measures used for design have not followed appropriate scale development procedures. The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual definition and then develop a scale for retail environment design (RED).

Interviews with both consumers and marketing researchers are used to generate a potential list of items. Using four different studies, these items are refined, and the RED scale is offered.

This study develops and validates the four-dimensional RED scale to measure the design of retail environments. The dimensions are functional, aesthetic, lighting and signage.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailing researchers to measure lighting and signage qualities as part of retail design, measure design of retail environments more accurately and allow different studies to be compared.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailers to better understand customers’ perceptions of the four dimensions of design. Retailers spend significant time and money designing and redesigning retail environments. The RED scale will enable managers to ensure these significant investments create competitive advantages and an appropriate return on investment.

A scale to measure retail environment design is developed. The scale includes two dimensions (lighting and signage) that are not typically investigated.

This study examines the effects of scent arousal on consumers' time perception in retail service environments and further explores how the effect is moderated by consumer-perceived stress.

A laboratory experiment (Study 1) and a field experiment (Study 2) were conducted to examine the relationship between scent arousal and time perception and the mediating effect between scent arousal and consumers' store evaluations. Another laboratory experiment (Study 3) was conducted to explore how consumers' stress modifies the scent arousal effect.

Consumers in a low-arousal scent condition perceived a shorter duration of time than those in a high-arousal scent condition. This finding was verified in a field experiment, whereas scent arousal affects consumers' store evaluations through the mediating effects of time perception. However, the impact of scent arousal on time perception was attenuated in high-stress conditions.

Time duration perception is an important indicator in the retail service marketing process. Evidence shows that underestimating time duration in the shopping process represents positive responses. This study extends prior research by examining how scent arousal influences time perception and how consumers' stress moderates scent arousal’s effect.

Impulse purchases are a phenomenon of interest in recent years that provides a high revenue stream for companies compared to planned purchases. Airports are a unique shopping environment. Travellers usually need to arrive at the airport early and can only utilise limited time to shop at duty-free stores, which makes the shopping experience time-constrained and has the potential to make impulse purchases. The main purpose of this research is to create a model to examine whether “time pressure” and “hedonic shopping motivation” lead to impulse shopping through the formation of “positive emotion” in the context of airport duty-free shops.

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in this study. The data collection for this study targeted individuals who had previously used airline services for international travel and visited duty-free shops at international airports. A total of 502 valid subjects participated in this survey.

The findings indicated that time pressure and consumers’ hedonic motivations have a positive impact on emotions. Positive emotions have a positive impact on the occurrence of impulse purchases. Music and light can moderate the impact of hedonic motivation on emotion but cannot reduce the influence of time pressure on emotion. Social factor significantly moderates the positive association between hedonic shopping motivation and emotion.

The research collected data from various international airports and social media, enabling the findings to be generalised.

This study aims to explore the impact of store atmospherics on urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions to purchase apparel in an emerging African market context. This study also considers purchase antecedents to attitude, perceived behavioural control and social norms as determinants of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ apparel behavioural intentions.

Using non-probability sampling, specifically purposive and interlocking sampling, data collection was secured from 881 economically active Namibian urban bottom-of-the-pyramid respondents through interviewer-administered questionnaires. Covariance-based structural equation modelling assessed the significant relationships among all constructs in the conceptual model.

This study found that for favourable apparel behavioural intentions of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers to occur, apparel retailers should emphasise trust, perceived awareness and self-identity through apparel assortment and groupings, easy-to-read visible signage, together with competent, friendly and respectful sales personnel in their store atmospherics.

The findings of this study may guide apparel retailers in other emerging African markets to develop regional integration, market-based solutions and inclusive economic growth focusing on “non-essential” products, such as apparel, among urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers.

This study expands the intellectual boundaries of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions towards “non-essential” products. The theoretical framework supports the integration of both the stimulus-organism-response model and the theory of planned behaviour into one single model for empirical investigation. Additionally, adopting a novel theoretical framework helped identify the impact of store atmospherics from a bottom-of-the-pyramid perspective in an emerging African market context, such as Namibia.