Eureka! Institutional Repository

The purpose of this study is to explore how sensory stimuli influence emotions associated, perceived quality, satisfaction and loyalty towards a face cream brand. Nowadays consumers believe that the functional attributes of products are granted and look for an emotional attachment with each product. The aim of sensory marketing is to reinforce the attachment between a product and its consumers, through the involvement of human senses. Sensory marketing is yet a new practice, thus the number of studies concerning its effect on brand perception are limited. Two conceptual frameworks, the stimulus-organism-response (S.O.R.) behavioral framework (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974) and the conceptual framework of sensory marketing, (Krishna, 2011), were merged and elaborated to construct the research model of this study. The use of sensory marketing at this study was explored by administrating an anonymous self-completed questionnaire, which was distributed to 154 face cream buyers, within 9 pharmacy stores across Thessaloniki, Greece. For the purposes of the study, an exploratory principal component analysis was conducted. The factor solution identified 11 factors. All factors were labeled, interpreted and discussed in the light of existing knowledge in order to understand better the consumer behavior in relation to sensory stimuli. The findings indicate that sensory stimuli influence brand perception positively leading to a stronger (rational and emotional) bond between the brand and the consumer.