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Lost and Found? Recapturing Physical and Sensory Retail Experiences After COVID-19

Date

2023-08-29

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ORCID

0009-0000-0662-1164

Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Masters

Abstract

After COVID-19 struck and consumers were driven into online shopping, researchers began studying the effects of this shift on how consumers experienced brands. One of the retail sectors studied was the high sensory category of beauty and cosmetics (B&C) and how online experiences with the category were being viewed. Since then, even though COVID-19 was still circulating and many people were still fearful, stores reopened. There is a need to understand how consumers re-engaged with in-person shopping, and particularly how they newly interpreted the store’s physical and sensorial environment as they made a cautious re-entry into brick-and-mortar B&C retail stores. The newness and extreme conditions presented by the pandemic provided a novel environment for study. The attitudes and feelings upon first returning to stores and the differences and similarities between first returning and 20 months following the first stores’ re-opening, required exploration. This study aimed to fill this knowledge gap, using qualitative data collected from twenty participants. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach and line-by-line method were used for the data analysis and coding. The Stimuli-Organism-Response Theory (S-O-R) and the Holistic Purchase Framework guided the interpretation of the data, revealing attitudes and behaviours associated with in-store shopping in a post-COVID-19 time. While many similarities to pre-COVID-19 times had returned, numerous differences in the in-store shopping experiential were observed. The results suggest that, although in-store shopping has returned, the physical and sensory retail experiences after COVID-19 have not returned to normal. Overall, what consumers lost during COVID-19 has not yet been fully found. This research contributes to the literature by offering knowledge of consumers’ perspectives of the “new normal” holistic shopping experiences and how retailers, marketers, government, and policymakers should adapt their offline and online strategies for the forthcoming scenarios and gain insight into a possible future pandemic.

Description

Keywords

holistic retail shopping experience, store atmospherics, COVID-19, consumer behaviour

Citation

Degree

Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Department

Edwards School of Business

Program

Marketing

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DOI

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