EFFECT OF SENSORY MARKETING ON CONSUMER BUYING

BEHAVIOUR IN EATERIES IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Mustafa Ayobami RAJI

MATRIC NUMBER: 16/27/PBA014

W
IE
EV
PR

June, 2021

Title page

i
EFFECT OF SENSORY MARKETING ON CONSUMER BUYING
BEHAVIOUR IN EATERIES IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

A Ph.D. THESIS SUBMITTED

BY

Mustafa Ayobami RAJI

W
MATRIC NUMBER: 16/27/PBA014

IE
In Partial Fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of
EV
Philosophy (Ph.D) in Business Administration

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PR

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL

SCIENCES

KWARA STATE UNIVERSITY, MALETE

NIGERIA

June, 2021

ii
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis titled “Effect of Sensory Marketing on Consumer Buying

Behaviour in Eateries in Southwest Nigeria” is a record of my research. It has neither been

presented nor accepted in any previous application for higher degree.

W
Mustafa Ayobami RAJI
IE ___________________

Student Signature & Date

EV
PR

iii
 CERTIFICATION
This is to certify that this thesis by Mustafa Ayobami RAJI has been read and approved as

meeting the requirements of the Department of Business and Entrepreneurship for the award of

the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Business Administration.

Dr. Aminu Brimah ___________________

Main Supervisor Signature & Date

Dr. Yusuf Ismaila Mustapha ____________________

Co-Supervisor Signature & Date

W
Dr. Zekeri Abu IE ___________________

Head of Department Signature & Date

EV

Dr Rahman Mustapha _________________

Internal Examiner Signature & Date

PR

Dr Mubaraq Sanni _________________

Internal Examiner Signature & Date

Prof. A.O Salami _______________

External Examiner Signature & Date

Prof. Hamzah AbdulRaheem _____________________

Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies (SPGS) Signature & Date

iv
 DEDICATION

I dedicate this research work to Almighty Allah.

W
IE
EV
PR

v
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the Almighty Allah who has granted me the will and grace to carry out and
complete this programme. For this and my life, I am eternally grateful for His mercies.

My sincere gratitude goes to my supervisors; Dr. Aminu Brimah and Dr. Yusuf Ismaila Mustapha
for their supervision, guidance, patience and tolerance and throughout the academic program. I
appreciate the efforts of the Head of Department of Business and Entrepreneurship, Dr. Abu Zekeri
for his fatherly role and guidance.

Also, I appreciate the staff of the Department of Business and Entrepreneurship; Professor Kenneth
Adeyemi, Professor Rotimi Gbadeyan, Professor Babaita Isiaka, Dr. Rahman Mustapha, Dr.
Bolarinwa Kadiri, Dr. Bisayo Otokiti, Dr. Ismail Yusuf, Mr. Lawal Ibraheem and Mr. Damilare

W
Adebola for making constructive criticisms which has added immeasurable value to this work. I
am grateful to Dr. Mubaraq Sanni of the department of accounting, Dr. Mufutau Abdulyakeen and
IE
Dr. Musa Biala of the Department of Economics and a host of others who had contributed to the
completion of this work.
EV
To my Ph.D. classmates of 2016 set namely: Dr. Mahmud Ajeigbe, Dr Alhaji Salau Azeez, Dr.
Kamal Akanbi, Alhaja Zainab Ayinla, Alhaja Zulpha Abdulkareem, Mrs Mutiat Kuranga, Mr.
Oluwaseun Oladeji, Chief Adedayo Sunday, Dr. Kelechi Okpara, High Chief Wilfred, Mr.
PR

Adeyemo Sakar, Mr. Ogunleye Philips, Mr. Akeem Ajani, Alhaji Mufutau Popoola, Mr. Solomon
Kowo, Mr. Fasanmi Olumuyiwa, Mr. Albert Alabi and Mr. Saheed Adeyemi, thank you for being
a part of the journey.

My deep appreciation also goes to my parent Mr & Mrs Raji and my siblings, thank you so much.

vi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents
DECLARATION iii
CERTIFICATION iv
DEDICATION v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xi
ABSTRACT xii

W
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the study 1
1.2 Statement of Research Problem IE 4
1.3 Research Questions 5
1.4 Objectives of the Study 5
EV
1.5 to statement of Hypotheses 6
1.6 Justification of the Study 6
1.7 Scope of the Study 7
PR

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms 7

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 8
2.0 Preamble 8
2.1 Conceptual Review 9
2.2 Theoretical Review 41
2.3 Empirical Review 46
2.4 Gap in Literature 65
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 67
3.0 Preamble 67
3.1 Research Design 67
3.2 Population of the Study 68
3.3 Sampling Techniques 69

vii
 3.4 Sample Size Determination 70
3.5 Methods of Data Collection 71
3.6 Instrument of Data Collection 71
3.7 Validity of Research Instrument 72
3.8 Reliability of Research Instrument 73
3.9 Discriminant Validity 73
3.10 Methods of Data Analysis 74
3.11 Model Specification 75
3.12 Ethical Consideration 80
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYOFFINDINGS 80
4.0 Preamble 80

W
4.1 Response Rate 81
4.2 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 81

4.4 Data Analysis

IE
4.3 Descriptive Statistics of the Respondents’ Perceptions based on Study’s Variable 83
84
4.5 Goodness of Fit: Assessment of PLS-SEM Path Model Results 84
EV
4.6: Test of Hypotheses 85
Hypothesis One: Sensory Marketing and Consumer Decision 85
4.9:Qualitative Results and Analysis 95
PR

4.10: Discussion of Findings 101

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 103
5.0 Preamble 104
5.1 Summary of the Findings 104
5.3 Policy Implications of Findings 104
5.4 Conclusion 105
5.5 Recommendations 106
5.6 Contributions to Knowledge 107
5.7 Suggestions for further studies 107
REFERENCES 108
APPENDIX I- QUESTIONNAIRE 129

viii
APPENDIX II-INTERVIEW GUIDE 136

W
IE
EV
PR

ix
 LIST OF TABLES
Table2. 1 Marketing Strategy Continuum 14

Table3. 1 Average Number of Customers that Patronise KFC and Domino’s pizza per Day 68
Table3. 2 Sampling Size Determination 71
Table3. 3 Reliability Table 73
Table3. 4 Discriminant Validity (Fornell-Larcker Criterion) 74

Table4. 1 Response Rate 81

Table4. 2 Demographic Representations of Respondents 82
Table4. 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Respondents’ Perceptions based on Variable Questions 83

W
Table4. 4 Correlations among Sensory Marketing Variables Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table4. 5 Goodness of fit Model 85
Table4. 6 Structural Model Result for the Consumer Decision
IE 87
Table4. 7 Structural Model Result for the Consumer Patronage 90
Table4. 8 : Structural Model Result for the Consumer Satisfaction 93
Table4. 9 : Structural Model Result for the Consumer Loyalty 95
EV
Table4. 10: Observation Information 96
PR

x
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure2. 1 Conceptual Framework 40
Figure2. 2 Stimulus-Organism-Response Model of Decision Making 45

Figure4. 1 Histogram of Consumer Behaviour Variables Error! Bookmark not defined.

Figure4. 2 Scatter Plots of Sensory Marketing and Customer Decision ScoresError! Bookmark
not defined.
Figure4. 3 Scatter Plots of Sensory Marketing and Customer Patronage Scores Error!
Bookmark not defined.
Figure4. 4 Scatter Plots of Sensory Marketing and Customer Satisfaction Scores Error!
Bookmark not defined.
Figure4. 5 Scatter Plots of Sensory Marketing and Customer Loyalty ScoresError! Bookmark
not defined.

W
Figure4. 6 Consumer Decision Measurement Model (Algorithm testing) 86
Figure4. 7 Consumer Decision Measurement Model (Bootstrapping testing) 86
Figure4. 8 Consumer Patronage Measurement Model (Algorithm testing) 88
IE
Figure4. 9 Customer Satisfaction Measurement Model (Algorithm testing)
Figure4. 10 Customer Loyalty Measurement Model (Algorithm testing)
91
94
Figure4. 11 Customer Loyalty Measurement Model (Bootstrapping testing) 94
EV
Figure4. 12 : Thematic representations of study objectives 97
Figure4. 13 : Thematic representations of observations 97
Figure4. 14 : Thematic representations of observations on multisensory experience 98
Figure4. 15 : Thematic representations of observations on multisensory experience 99
Figure4. 16 : Thematic representations of observations on Cultural experience 100
PR

Figure4. 17 : Thematic representations of observations on store image 101

xi
 ABSTRACT

The idea that humans perceive the world through senses and those bodily sensations affect the
decisions consumers provides an opportunity for eateries to leverage on. Despite these
possibilities, some eateries are not very careful about the image they project to the public, less
attention has been given to image and store attributes. The main objective of this study is to
investigate the effect of sensory marketing on consumer buying behaviour among selected eateries
in south west Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are to: examine the effect of sensory
marketing on consumer buying decision; evaluate the influence of sensory marketing on customer
patronage; determine the effect of sensory marketing on customer satisfaction; and examined the
effect of sensory marketing on customer loyalty. The study adopted triangulation approach
involving the use of cross sectional and ethnography approaches. The quantitative and qualitative
data were analyzed using Smart PLS-Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique and Nvivo

W
12 respectively. The results revealed that sensory marketing have significant effect on consumer
buying behaviour. From the study, it was established that consumer buying decision, consumer
patronage, customer loyalty and customer satisfaction have adjusted R2 value of 0.592,
0.549,0.868 and 0.890 respectively. The observation data was analysed thematically, where four
IE
themes was identified multisensory experience, cultural attributes, product attributes and store
image as the effect of sensory marketing on consumer buying behaviour. The study therefore
concluded that sensory marketing through gustative marketing, olfactory marketing, tactile
EV
marketing and auditory marketing significantly affect customers buying habits and decision
making. Based on the findings the study recommends that marketers should ensure they designed
policy on sensory marketing that would support all the elements to make sensory marketing
function as expected. Organizations should engage marketing expert when designing policy on
sensory marketing through gustative marketing, olfactory marketing, tactile marketing, visual
PR

marketing and auditory marketing. This would guarantee customers orientation , loyalty, and
positive patronage that increase the firm revenue based.

xii
 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The twenty-first century business setting throughout the universe has made consumers more
important than ever. For any business to survive, consumers must be a priority at the centre of all
its activities. Businesses now depend more on consumers not only to generate streams of revenue
through purchases but also to influence other potential consumers to patronize their business. The
development of having consumers at the core of a firm’s operation is therefore central to all
businesses and will continue to remain so. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly risky for an

W
organisation not to continuously meet and exceed consumers’ expectations. It has now become
imperative for marketers to understand and exceed customers’ expectations, as its failure could
lead to dissatisfaction and defection (Chezy & Itamar, 2017; Puccinelli, Goodstein, Grewal, Price,
IE
Raghubir, & Stewart, 2009).
EV
However, understanding consumers and their buying behaviour have become more complex than
ever (Yakup, Mucahit, & Reyhan 2011; Hsiao Yen, & Li, 2012). More importantly, in this age of
increased global competition, devaluation and technological advancement, marketing personnel
are finding it difficult to analyze the patterns of buying behavior which are germane towards
PR

predicting the future trends. Many efforts made toward the creation and maintenance of a strong
brand in the marketplace are failing thereby posing serious threats and ultimately affecting
company’s survival (Walden, 2013).

Over the years marketing have continued to evolve towards finding an approach towards
simultaneously balancing the other goals of the firm and satisfying consumers. Marketing has
witnesses the development of models and theories to this end. With the beginning of the
development of marketing models in the 1950s to encompass marketing process involving
consumers, non-profit and profit organisation, goods or services, the transactional marketing
model gained extensive recognition among marketers as several theories came up. At that time,
marketing was explained from the exchange perspective with a deep root in microeconomic and
behavioral theories of a firm (Rodrigues, Hultén, & Brito, 2011). The models at this period were

1
based on transactional exchange and consumers were largely regarded as having average needs in
a mass-market context. The interaction between market participants were conceived as single
transactions with sellers being more active and buyers being passive.

The transactional marketing approach had centered on the seller using advertising as a major tool
for reaching to the market and acquiring customers. In those times, companies ignored market
segment difference and appeal to the whole market. However, consumers with an urge for
advertisement‐free entertainment grew and unsurprisingly the transactional marketing approach
using mass marketing and appeal lost its strong relevance in the way it connects to customers and
the general population (Natalia & Paul, 2014). In fact snappier graphics, faster editing, more
appealing confirmations or bigger discounts are also becoming less effective (Latasha, Tooraiven,
Monishan, Randhir, 2016).

W
The transactional marketing model and its major tools of marketing mix became too restrictive,
IE
overly scientific and based solely on short-term economic transactions. Keller (2008) suggests that
age-old marketing mix using 4-P’s are not enough packages to tackle current marketing challenges.
Relationship became the solution in sight towards addressing the shortcomings of transactional
EV
marketing as it had greater sophistication. This addressed the issues of interactions as both buyers
and sellers became active and adaptive. Consumers were understood as being rational, and their
behaviour being broken up in defined reasoned steps, according to the offer and competition.
PR

Despite the impressive importance of the relationships marketing model, doubts were raised once
again. There were doubts as to whether companies would always or ever find it as a suitable or
profitable way to develop relational strategies or whether they should rather combine transactional
marketing and relationship marketing approaches at a managerial level. For instance a Kosile and
Ajala (2012) revealed that direct and relationship marketing is an insignificant predictor of
performance. Hence, the need to identify an approach to reach the target market, and to remain in
the customers’ minds as their first choice, is of therefore of high importance.

Furthermore, with the new marketplace now having more confused, frustrated, tired and more
cynical consumers than ever before, sensory marketing approach has emerged to respond to these
challenges. It is becoming increasingly established that consumers are not as rational in their
behaviour or broken up in defined reason steps as it was being thought by relationships marketing

2
approach (Muhammad, Mahsan, & Iffat, 2016). The paradigm has shifted in marketing from
transactional and relationship marketing to the present day paradigm of sensory marketing which
sets right the process with consumer experiences as the focus. Marketing has now evolved to
become multidimensional conversations, with senses finding their own voices and consumers
responding viscerally and subconsciously to them (Krishna, 2016). Sensory marketing puts the
experiences lived by the consumers and his feelings in the process of influencing their behaviour.

During the last few years, more and more marketing executives are becoming conscious of this
fact that customers while making their purchase decisions, are influenced by something more than
the product or the service itself. Sensory marketing not only intends to seal in the under-doings of
traditional marketing by connecting consumption to happiness through being beneficial but also
with the creation of senses (Majeed, 2017). The five human senses are now being used as reference

W
points for this reason, and at all industries as there are many factors stirring sensory stimulation.
Sensory marketing is the present and future of marketing as it offers the potential to create the
IE
most binding form of engagement between brand and consumer seen to date (Lindstrom, 2005).
In the light of the foregoing therefore, the need for this clear and effective marketing effort cannot
EV
be overemphasized.

Trend in using sensory marketing approach is gaining much relevance and impact across different
sectors. For Instance, Rupini and Nandagopal, (2015) reveals that fortune 500 companies have
PR

understood that the five senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, sound) play a vital role in branding and
establishing a marketing strategy that appeals to multiple senses. It is essential for future brand
building and revenue generation in the past eight years, of which the trend is linked with the new
requirements for organisational performance. A recent report shows that in Asia, about 42% have
tapped into sensory marketing as a way to personalize brand experience compared to only 28% in
North America and 13% in Western Europe (Tay, 2017).

In Africa, the business market environment conditions are continuously changing. The competition
is heating up; sensory marketing is gaining influence faster than ever, as a result of raising
technology. However, sensory marketing has generally been neglected in marketing research
specifically in Africa with little research focusing on Africa and the tested models are inadequate
(Anvar, 2016).

3
In Nigeria, not until recently, sensory marketing were grossly limited, but today, the picture is
becoming different with some multinational organisations and national companies. They are now
making conscious effort towards sensory marketing. Examples are the Guarantee Trust Bank jingle
in mantrap and the introduction of sensory marketing on its next level innovation payments
medium.

1.2 Statement of Research Problem

Service system in Nigeria has been epitomized with failures, which have led to the industry
witnessing frequent collapse of eateries, supermarkets among other service stores in the country,
thereby threatening the fate of customers on its services. According to Campbell (2007), there are
instances when eateries exhibit irresponsible behaviour such as deceiving customers, swindling

W
investors, putting consumers at risk, selling poisonous product and cheating the government
leading lack of patronage.
IE
Moreover, consumers in Nigeria have become more cautious on their buying decision. Consumers
are not looking only for buying a product or a service alone, but seeking an emotional and unique
EV
experience around what he buys Laimona and Jérémy (2017). The idea that humans perceive the
world through senses and that bodily sensations affect the decisions consumers provides an
opportunity for eateries to leverage on. Yet eateries fail to realize this basic change in consumers
purchasing patterns and, as well as how they affect their buying decision. Despite these
PR

possibilities, some eateries are not very careful about the image they project to the public, less
attention has been given to image and store attributes. Some eateries have few product assortments
offered for sale, unattractive store design/layout, poor staff responsiveness, poor shopping
convenience and among others, yet they seem not to be bothered about it.

Other problems affecting eateries in Nigeria are poor parking space, the doorman is unkempt, the
salespersons are lazy, old products, dusty and carelessly placed (Joseph, Okonofua & Udoh, 2018).
Such a store may leave the consumers with feelings of regret and dissatisfaction as most sensory
needs of consumers are being neglected. In the light of this, satisfying consumers have created a
gap and meeting the unending consumer desire is now a problem for most the eateries. This has
necessitated the need for an alternative model to satisfy better the consumers.

4
Furthermore, many retailers get involved in franchising as the fact that they can benefit from
controlled product facilities and gaining better profitable turnover. However, achieving customer
loyalty continues to be an elusive dream for most eatery operators in Nigeria. Many Nigerians
prefer to make their meals at home, minding the better environments and their control over it.
Consequently, most eatery shoppers tend to find eating at eateries an excruciating task with their
patronage motives unclear. Therefore, the loss of fate in some services by customers reflected in
the observed high rate of switching from one eatery to the other, which has impaired some loyalty
potential arising from competitive advantage accruable from customer’s loyalty.

Drugowitsch, DeAngelis, Klier, Angelaki, and Pouget (2014) submitted that humans and animals
will not only integrate but also respond to sensory evidence from various sources to make decisions
in a statistically near-optimal manner, provided that the stimulus presentation time is fixed across

W
trials. Consumers are expected to behave in similar manner across fixed trials and research are to
report similar results in humans irrespective of location or time. All these have therefore
IE
engendered the preliminary research on sensory marketing in an eatery environment.

The behaviour of consumers is complex and various approaches have been adopted in the past by
EV
researchers and marketers. Particularly influencing consumers and satisfying them is more
important than ever, therefore sensory marketing have been proposed in recent literature as a tool
towards achieving this. This has therefore engendered research in this area.
PR

1.3 Research Questions

The following research questions are drawn from the statement of problem as follows:

i. To what extent does sensory marketing affect consumer buying decision?

ii. To what extent does sensory marketing influence customer patronage?
iii. What are the effect of sensory marketing on customer satisfaction?
iv. In what way does sensory marketing have significant impact on customer loyalty?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of sensory marketing on consumer
buying behaviour. The specific objectives of the study are to:

5
i. examine the effect of sensory marketing on consumer buying decision;
ii. evaluate the influence of sensory marketing on customer patronage;
iii. determine the effect of sensory marketing on customer satisfaction; and
iv. ascertain the impact of sensory marketing on customer loyalty.

1.5 to statement of Hypotheses

To provide answers to the research questions, the following hypotheses were tested in this study
and are thus stated in null form.

H01 : - sensory marketing does have significant effect on consumer buying decision

H02 : sensory marketing does not have significant influence on customer patronage

W
H03 : there is no significant effect between sensory marketing on customer satisfaction
IE
H04 : there is no significant impact of sensory marketing on customer loyalty.

1.6 Justification of the Study

EV
The justification of this study is brought about by the fact that no sufficient research has been
conducted to investigate the impact of sensory marketing on consumer buying behaviour in a
country like Nigeria as there are few empirical evidences such as the works of Nwokorie (2017)
PR

and Ifeanyichukwu and Peter (2018). This research would therefore serve as a template for other
researchers that are likely to have interest on the topic.

It will provide a framework for sensory response comparison, particularly in terms of visual and
auditory marketing in a country in Nigeria. Marketing strategies emphasize the need for every
organization to seek better performance and customer satisfaction. This research provides the
opportunity for companies to understand approaches needed to be adopted in applying sensory
marketing.

This research work is of great benefit to various categories of stakeholder. The managers and
policy makers in different organisation especially those of restaurant business will know where to
channel the sensory marketing strategies when it comes to influencing consumer senses.

6
This study will also provide a guide for shareholder and investor in eateries to improve on the
survival of a business, since well-planned sensory marketing adoption and application is expected
to translate into favorable patronage and survival.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The geographical scope of this study covers selected southwestern states in Nigeria. Since sensory
marketing is channeled towards consumers, this study will focus on the customers of the selected
eateries in South West Nigeria. This study focused on eateries under franchise in order to have a
defined scope for the research work. Eateries were selected because it is the only business where
all the five senses can be explored. South West Nigeria was selected because it is the commercial
hub on Nigeria. Lagos and Oyo state were selected in South-west because franchised eateries were

W
concentrated in these two locations with large population. The sensory marketing aspect of the
study will cover visual, auditory, olfactory tactile and gustative marketing, while the consumer
buying behaviour aspect of the study will cover consumer buying decision, customer patronage,
IE
customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The time frame for the study was between 2019 to
2020.
EV

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

Sensory Marketing: marketing that engages the consumers’ senses to influence their buying
PR

behaviour.

Consumer buying behaviour: this deals with how consumers arrive at their buying decisions

Eateries: these are established, well-organised restaurants having established location with
branches across states. They may or may be listed on the Nigerian stock exchange or they may or
may not be franchised.

Visual Marketing: The sight-based appeal to consumers as dimensional image of visible objects,
turns it into visual image, then the brain changes this image and enables them to make buying
decisions.

Olfactory Marketing: the use of scent as a marketing tool to help enhance experiences and
associations in all kind of contexts to influence consumers

7
Auditory marketing This marketing focuses on the effects of sound symbolism (the sound of the
word affects the perception of the object, ambient music, jingles and auditory logos, phonetic
scripts, and voice

Tactile Marketing: Marketing approach using the touch feeling of the product in order to test its
texture, its quality to influence consumers.

Gustative Marketing: Marketing of the mouth-feel and taste of product to create create a
complete experience for consumers.

W
IE
EV
PR

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Preamble

This chapter is divided into five sections. The first section is the conceptual review which explains
the concepts relevant to this work which are sensory marketing and consumer buying behaviour,
and retailing. The second section discusses the theoretical review while the third section discusses

8
the empirical review. The forth aspect explains the conceptual framework on which formed the
basis for the study. The fifth section explains the gap in literature.

2.1 Conceptual Review

2.1. 1 Concept of Marketing

Several scholars defined Marketing in different ways based on their views. Many of these views
are still relevant till today. The definition of marketing has always been multidisciplinary in
approach guided by an evolving perspective. At some times it was viewed as an art such as the
view of Kotler (1983) as a human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange
processes. At other times it was viewed as science as posited by Kotler and Parment (2011) as
the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target

W
market at a profit. Marketing involves satisfying human needs and wants through exchange
processes (Gaedeke & Tootelian, 1983). It could also connote the activities of individual business
IE
firms as they compete for the purchasing power of consumers within the framework of a free
marketing economy (Runyon, 1982). As adopted by the National Association of Marketing
EV
Teachers, an American Marketing Association (AMA) predecessor organization, marketing is the
performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to
consumers (AMA, 1935).
PR

The concept of marketing has continued to change overtime to accommodate current trends in the
business world. In 1985, AMA viewed marketing to be an organizational function and a set of
processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing
customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. The 2004
definition condensed the definition to be the process of planning and executing the conception,
pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy
individual and organizational objectives (AMA, 2004).

In 2007, AMA defined marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients,
partners, and society at large (AMA, 2007). The most recent definition (AMA, 2013) is that
marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering,
and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The
9
most recent definition of marketing shows that it is certainly multidisciplinary which is neither a
pure science nor art and it affects even the society at large. Marketing is a multidisciplinary, in fact
a companywide function, as it is neither limited to a particular industry nor is it restricted to the
sales division.

2.1.2 The Human Senses

Nearly all that we understand in the world is through our senses (Mehrnaz, Houshang & Kambiz,
2014; Lindstrom & Kotler 2005). Human senses can be divided into distant senses and near senses.
Distant senses include hearing, vision and smell, while near senses refer to taste and touch. We
can use distant senses to perceive an object from a distance (Shieh, Ling, & Chen, 2013). Theses
senses do not require our physical contact or touch. However, some object properties cannot be

W
experienced without a physical contact or taste (Ludden, Schifferstein, & Hekkert, 2009). The
human senses are as follows

2.1.2.1 Vision Sense

IE
Visual sensation or sight is based on the eye which is the most important component of sight, and
EV

each eye creates a two-dimensional image of visible objects, turns it into visual image, then the
brain changes this image and enables us to see three-dimensional image of objects (Mehrnaz,
Houshang & Kambiz, 2014). Vision is the sense that helps us to know what is where and these
PR

functions in the brain are called the ventral pathway (what) and dorsal pathway (where) and
features such as colour, orientation, motion texture and stereoscopic depth (perception of depth
and 3-D structure obtained on the basis of visual information deriving from two eyes) (Rupini &
Nandagopal, 2015). The visual system is to transform light patterns into information, owing to
which people are capable of perceiving forms, colours, dimensions, movements and distances
between objects.

Sight is the most relied upon and important sense for most humans and often drives a first
impression. Lightening and colour are very crucial when it comes to vision. Lighting is a term that
refers to the medium of illumination that makes sight possible. It is therefore safe to say that all
types of colours depend significantly on the use of lighting (Pegler, 2010). The term colour is the
element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye (Esaak,

10
2012). According to Esaak (2012) there are three characteristics of colour, namely shade which
refers to the name of the colour, for example blue, intensity which refers to the brightness of a
colour, for example "royal" blue and value which refers to the darkness or lightness of a colour,
for example light blue or dark blue. Colour is the most predominant element of sight and is
therefore one of the most domineering design instruments used by retailers to communicate to their
consumers (Bell & Ternus, 2012).

2.1.2.2 Smelling Sense

The sense of smell has been described by many researchers as one of the “chemical” senses, as it
implies the response to the gaseous molecules that, when perceived, are assimilated into the body
(Morrin & Ratneshwar). An individual can close his or her eyes, cover the ears, do not call and

W
refuse to taste, but the smell perceived can influence ones response (Lindstrom, 2005). There are
about 100,000 scents out of which about 1,000 are so called primary scents and the rest being
IE
mutations and blends of scents (Bell &Ternus, 2012). Out of all our senses, scent taps right into
memory. When we smell something our nose recipient cells signal our brains limbic system that
triggers memories, our emotions and senses of wellbeing (Lindstrom, 2005). The scents are being
EV
registered in our brains faster than other senses as through the connection between our nose and
brain is short. There are about 6-10 million cells in our nose and we can identify 2,000-4,000
different smell combinations. Scents are found out to strengthen communication and bonding.
PR

According to Enquist (2006), features of scents are: ambience, identification and memory-cap. The
function of smell is also to alert humans of potential danger, like poison or fire where smoke, for
instance, can be smelt before a fire or smoke is seen. Smell is an individualistic sense which is
linked to personal experiences (Hines, 2003),

2.1.2.3 Hearing Sense

Hearing (like smell, but unlike vision, touch, and taste) is a sense that requires no effort to operate
and human beings have no control over the auditory stimuli they perceive, although they have
some control over which stimulus they are attending to (Elder, Aydinoglu, Barger, Caldara, Chun,
Lee, Mohr, & Antonios, 2010). Sound has to do with any disturbance that travels through an elastic
medium such as air, ground, or water to be heard by the human ear. The form of sound that can be
found most commonly in the service and retailing context is music (Kellaris & Kent, 2004). It was

11
 proved that appropriately structured music acts on the nervous system, activating brain processes
with corresponding emotional reactions (Hulten, Broweus & Van 2009). Ears are body organs for
receiving sounds and creating of sense of hearing. The human ear is able to diagnose minimum 16
to 28,000 cycles per seconds (Mehrnaz, Houshang & Kambiz, 2014).

2.1.2.4 Feeling/Touch Sense

Touch is the first sense to develop in the womb and the last sense one loses with age. Even before
we are born, we start responding to touch and also start touching our own selves (Krishna, 2011).
Touch is the largest sensory organ of the body and it is a symbol of physical contact through the
skin (Mehrnaz, Houshang & Kambiz, 2014). The senses are the receptors of information from the
environment and feeling as a sense is experienced through touch and it confirms the presence of

W
whatever information that is being received. In the context of food, the sense of feeling is primarily
referred to as “mouthfeel,” and plays an important role in the textural perception and enjoyment
IE
of food (Barham,2010). Feeling is often experienced as the overall sensation and the involvement
of all the senses and sensory associations (Philipe, Schacher & Adolphe, 2003).
EV
2.1.2.5 Taste Sense

The sensation of taste like all sensations resides in the brain and human beings detect taste with
taste receptor cells (Rupini & Nandagopal, 2015). The five primary taste sensations are salty, sour,
PR

sweet, bitter and umami (savoury flavor found in mushrooms, soya sauce, sea foods, etc.) Taste
sensations have an important role in human lives, from physical, to social and even emotional
level. Eating and drinking are associated to happiness and positive memories, which stress that
taste aspects should not be neglected by marketers (Esmailpour & Zakipour, 2016).

2.1.3 Sensory Marketing

In the last decade, human senses have received more and more attention, emphasizing their
implications for consumers’ experience and behavior (Hulten, 2011). It has been stated that
consumers search for and buy emotional experiences around what has been bought and no longer
buy products and services alone (Latasha, Tooraiven, Monishan, & Randhir, 2016). Brakus,
Schmitt, and Zarantonello (2009) observe that the purpose of using the human senses in marketing

12

Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.