The Role of Multisensory Environmental Stimuli in Enhancing Refah Chain Stores Customers in Store Experience

In recent years, by the expansion of service industries, competition in retailing industry has grown more than ever. Retailers can overcome their rivals by creating an attractive, enjoyable, and even more exciting store environment. The purpose of present research is helping marketers, managers and retailers in order to create a memorable experience for their customers by using the right multi-sensory environmental stimuli. The present research has a qualitative approach and is based on the grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The sampling was conducted based on theoretical sampling method and by using a purposeful technique in which ten people with high experience in the retail sector were interviewed. Data were analysed using Strauss and Corbin method and paradigm model. Visual, auditory, taste, tactile and olfactory dimensions were selected as axial categories. Based on the results of open, axial and selective coding, their relationship with other categories were elicited as causal conditions (interior design, showcase, shop staff, fragrances, music, product appearance, store crowd density, store awareness tools), strategies (soft strategies: personnel management, store traffic management, data management) and (hard strategies: store environment management, consumer incentive tools management, sales incentive management), consequences (cognitive experience, emotional experience, behavioral experience), interventional conditions (consumer characteristics in terms of shopping behavior and the purpose of the purchase, brand and store brand reputation, store location) and dominant context (Iranian consumer culture, chain store policies).