The Influence of Store Atmosphere on Customer Engagement in Luxury Retail

Abstract

Both industry and academia have realised the importance of utilising interactive technology to provide exceptional customer experience and increase customer engagement. There is much research on the effect of store atmosphere on consumer behaviours, but few studies examine the role of technology on multiple atmosphere factors, and the influence of technology-enhanced in-store atmospherics on customer responses in luxury stores and lead to behavioural responses. Specifically, there is limited research on the impact of augmented reality (AR) on emotions and perceived values within luxury retailing and its subsequent effects on customer engagement behaviours. Additionally, the influence of digital signage on luxury retail has yet to be fully explored. Besides, with the development of social media platforms, the physical presence of friends can be replaced by virtual ones via social networking. However, research on the moderating effect of virtual social presence on the emotional and cognitive responses of the focal customers shopping within the luxury retail environment is scarce. Thus, this research aims to provide an improved theoretical understanding of customer emotional responses and perceived values of luxury in-store experience, by combining an extended technology-enhanced version of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, with in-store virtual social presence as a moderating effect, to investigate customer engagement behaviours. Moreover, based on the literature and the results of data collection, additional analysis is conducted to compare two sets of data for both Chinese and British millennials and the influence of dominance on customer engagement behaviours in the luxury retail context. The overall findings demonstrate that technology-enhanced in-store atmospherics have a positive impact on emotions and perceived values, with virtual social presence moderating this relationship. Both emotional responses and perceived value can positively influence customer engagement behaviours. Furthermore, the results of this research indicated that customer responses to technology-enhanced in-store atmospherics are influenced by culture. It shows that the impact of technology-enhanced in-store atmospherics on emotion and perceived value is stronger for British millennials compared with Chinese millennials.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Gianpaolo Vignali (Supervisor) & Daniella Ryding (Supervisor)