Much previous research concerning the effects of the in-store experience on customers’ decision-making has been laboratory-based. There is a need for empirical research in a real store context to determine the impact of product, service and in-store environment perceptions on customer satisfaction and behaviour. This study is based on a literature review (Project 1) and a large scale empirical study (Projects 2/3) combining two sources of secondary data from the largest retailer in the UK, Tesco, and their loyalty ‘Clubcard’ provider, Dunnhumby. Data includes customer responses to an online self-completion survey of the customers’ shopping experience combined with customer demographic and behavioural data from a loyalty card programme for the same individual. The total sample comprised n=30,696 Tesco shoppers. The online survey measured aspects of the in-store experience. These items were subjected to factor analysis to identify the influences on the in-store experience with four factors emerging: assortment, retail atmosphere, personalised customer service and checkout customer service. These factors were then matched for each individual with behavioural and demographic data collected via the Tesco Clubcard loyalty program. Regression and sensitivity analyses were then conducted to determine the relative impact of the in-store customer experience dimensions on customer behaviour. Findings include that perceptions of customer service have a strong positive impact on customers’ overall shopping satisfaction and spending behaviour. Perceptions of the in-store environment and product quality/ availability positively influence customer satisfaction but negatively influence the amount of money spent during their shopping trip. Furthermore, personalised customer service has a strong positive impact on spend and overall shopping satisfaction, which also positively influences the number of store visits the week after. However, an increase in shopping satisfaction coming from positive perceptions of the in-store environment and product quality/ availability factors helps to reduce their negative impact on spend week after. A key contribution of this study is to suggest a priority order for investment; retailers should prioritise personalised customer service and checkout customer service, followed by the in-store environment together with product quality and availability. These findings are very important in the context of the many initiatives the majority of retail operators undertake. Many retailers focus on cost-optimisation plans like implementing self-service check outs or easy to operate and clinical in-store environment. This research clearly and solidly shows which approach should be followed and what really matters for customers. That is why the findings are important for both retailers and academics, contributing to and expanding knowledge and practice on the impact of the in-store environment on the customer experience.

Much previous research concerning the effects of the in-store experience on customers’ decision-making has been laboratory-based. There is a need for empirical research in a real store context to determine the impact of product, service and in-store environment perceptions on customer satisfaction and behaviour. This study is based on a literature review (Project 1) and a large scale empirical study (Projects 2/3) combining two sources of secondary data from the largest retailer in the UK, Tesco, and their loyalty ‘Clubcard’ provider, Dunnhumby. Data includes customer responses to an online self-completion survey of the customers’ shopping experience combined with customer demographic and behavioural data from a loyalty card programme for the same individual. The total sample comprised n=30,696 Tesco shoppers. The online survey measured aspects of the in-store experience. These items were subjected to factor analysis to identify the influences on the in-store experience with four factors emerging: assortment, retail atmosphere, personalised customer service and checkout customer service. These factors were then matched for each individual with behavioural and demographic data collected via the Tesco Clubcard loyalty program. Regression and sensitivity analyses were then conducted to determine the relative impact of the in-store customer experience dimensions on customer behaviour. Findings include that perceptions of customer service have a strong positive impact on customers’ overall shopping satisfaction and spending behaviour. Perceptions of the in-store environment and product quality/ availability positively influence customer satisfaction but negatively influence the amount of money spent during their shopping trip. Furthermore, personalised customer service has a strong positive impact on spend and overall shopping satisfaction, which also positively influences the number of store visits the week after. However, an increase in shopping satisfaction coming from positive perceptions of the in-store environment and product quality/ availability factors helps to reduce their negative impact on spend week after. A key contribution of this study is to suggest a priority order for investment; retailers should prioritise personalised customer service and checkout customer service, followed by the in-store environment together with product quality and availability. These findings are very important in the context of the many initiatives the majority of retail operators undertake. Many retailers focus on cost-optimisation plans like implementing self-service check outs or easy to operate and clinical in-store environment. This research clearly and solidly shows which approach should be followed and what really matters for customers. That is why the findings are important for both retailers and academics, contributing to and expanding knowledge and practice on the impact of the in-store environment on the customer experience.

This study extends outshopping knowledge from North America to Europe. Outshoppers and non-outshoppers in a Finnish town are compared in terms of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, importance of shopping area choice attributes, perceptions of the local trading area, and purchase localities of products. Implications are drawn and comparisons of results are made to general findings from North America.

La place prise par le smartphone dans la vie des consommateurs ne cesse d’augmenter avec des usages en mobilité qui s’installent durablement au quotidien. Doté de ce pouvoir technologique et décisionnaire, le consommateur modifie son comportement d’achat. L’objectif de notre recherche est d’analyser l’impact des usages du smartphone sur les comportements de magasinage afin de comprendre quels sont les déterminants de la mobilité et de l’usage de la technologie qui jouent un rôle sur les parcours d’achat. La problématique est centrée sur l’analyse du processus d’achat dans sa globalité tout en gardant une approche moins monolithique. Notre recherche est empirique, fondée sur une double étude qualitative : une première étude où nous interrogeons les consommateurs sur leurs pratiques quotidiennes du smartphone et sur leurs expériences d’achats hybrides influencées par cet outil technologique ; une seconde étude où nous interrogeons des clientes juste après une expérience d’achat vécue dans un point de vente d’une enseigne multicanal de la chaussure. Un premier palier de résultats apporte une meilleure compréhension des usages du smartphone (sur les critères de fréquence et d’intensité d’usage) qui s’inscrivent définitivement dans la continuité du changement « mobiquitaire » des usagers. Un second palier de résultats montre le lien entre ces pratiques et la praxéologie du processus d’achat qui sous l’influence du smartphone devient plus rationnel et plus efficace. Néanmoins, l’expérience d’achat vécue en point de vente, telle que nous l’avons étudiée pour un produit particulier, atteste que le magasin doit garder sa singularité. Il doit remplir des fonctions multimodales : des fonctions de commercialité traditionnelles en lien avec un processus d’achat initié sur internet et des fonctions sensorielles et émotionnelles qui renforcent une expérience favorisant les achats d’impulsion et évitant une logique trop rationnelle. Nous proposons aux managers des enseignes des pistes d’amélioration pour adapter leur modèle de distribution et revisiter le rôle alloué à leurs points de vente physiques. / The role of the smartphone in consumers’ life is constantly developing with their increasing mobility. Endowed with this technological and decision-making power, consumers modify their buying behavior. The objective of our research is to analyze the impact of smartphone uses on shopping behavior in order to understand the determinants of mobility and the use of technology that play a role in shopping trips. The problem focuses on an analysis of the shopping process as a whole while keeping a less monolithic. Our research is empirical, based on a two qualitative studies: in a first study, we question consumers on their daily smartphone practices and on their hybrid shopping experiences influenced by this technological device; in a second study, we interview clients after a shopping experience in a shoe store of a multichannel retail chain. A first level of results brings a better understanding of smartphone uses (based on the criteria of frequency and intensity of use) that definitely fit in the continuity of “mobiquity”. A second level of results shows the link between these practices and the praxeology of the shopping process that becomes more rational and efficient under smartphone influence. Nevertheless, the shopping experience at the point of sale, studied here for a particular product, attests that the store must keep its singularity. It has to fulfill multimodal functions: traditional commercial functions in connection with a process initiated on the internet and sensory and emotional functions that reinforce impulse buying and avoid too rational logic. We propose to the retail managers to adapt their retail model and to revisit the role allocated to their physical points of sale.