Multisensory Consumer Experience in Retail Environments
Summary
In modern retail settings, shoppers are influenced not only by visual displays but by an integrated blend of sight, sound, scent, touch and, in some cases, taste. This multisensory approach draws on principles of sensory marketing and environmental psychology to shape emotional states, cognitive appraisals and purchasing behaviours. Retailers manipulate lighting schemes, background music, ambient odours, tactile fixtures and even digital interfaces to create cohesive store atmospheres that reinforce brand identity and differentiate offerings. Crossmodal interactions—the way in which one sensory cue alters the perception of another—play a critical role in driving engagement, dwell time and loyalty. Practical applications range from themed pop-up events that employ congruent scent-sound pairings to luxury boutiques that prioritise tactility and subdued acoustics. Globally, interest in multisensory design is expanding as retailers seek evidence-based strategies to enhance consumer well-being and commercial performance in both physical and hybrid omnichannel environments.
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Multisensory Consumer Experience in Retail Environments publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in multisensory consumer experience in retail environments across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Store atmospherics: The deliberate design and coordination of sensory stimuli in a retail space to influence consumer perception and behaviour.
Sensory congruence: The alignment between different sensory cues (e.g. scent and sound) that creates a unified and coherent experience.
S-O-R model: A framework linking environmental Stimuli to internal Organism states (emotions, cognition) and consequent consumer Responses.
Crossmodal interaction: The phenomenon whereby stimulation in one sensory modality alters perception in another modality.
Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA): A configurational method for identifying combinations of causal conditions associated with an outcome.
References
- Visual merchandising and store atmospherics: An integrated review and future research directions. Journal of Business Research (2022).
- Effects of Stores’ Environmental Components on Chinese Consumers’ Emotions and Intentions to Purchase Luxury Brands: Integrating Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Approaches. Frontiers in Psychology (2022).
- Customer Engagement in Multi-Sensory Virtual Reality Advertising: The Effect of Sound and Scent Congruence. Frontiers in Psychology (2022).
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