This study investigated significant influences including Hispanicness, traditionalism and demographic characteristics on Hispanic women's purchase behavior when selecting work and social activity apparel. A sample of 114 Hispanic women from a Hispanic professional organization or businesses in the Dallas and El Paso, Texas areas. Surveys were collected by mail or administered to subjects. Analyses included frequencies, percentages, t-tests, and Pearson's product-moment correlations. For both situations, mean scores indicated the most influential information sources were: clothing displays, friends, and female family members, while the most used acquisition sources were: department and specialty stores. In both situations, these women had very feminine appearance attributes and very feminine and fashionable clothing style. Hispanicness, traditionalism, and demographic characteristics made some difference when selecting work and social activity apparel.

While research has shown the positive impact of sensory cues and cue- congruency on emotion and behavior in retail store atmospheres, these cues have primarily been investigated in isolation or in pairs. Consequently, little is known on how multi-sensory cues in interplay impact on consumer emotions and purchase behaviors. In addition, research has not yet provided any clear conceptualization of congruency in marketing when designing retail store atmospheres, other than stating that some cues are expected to match, therefore become pleasantly perceived. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to examine and show how multi-sensory cues in interplay and congruency can be utilized in creating a retail store atmosphere to enhance consumer emotions and purchase behaviors. To address the purpose, a sequential method was adopted with four essays. The first essay explores multi-sensory interplay in marketing contexts with a literature review that forms the basis for a research agenda. The second essay employs focus groups to highlight the congruency between cues, products and the retail setting, and identifies which category of cues is in need of investigation. The third essay uses field experiments to investigate two congruent visual, auditory and olfactory cues (six cues in total) in a retail setting, and their impact on consumer emotion and purchase behavior. The final essay, also use field experiments to examine and duplicate one cue from each sense, and employs these together in interplay, to show how multi-sensory cues in interplay impacts emotions and purchase behaviors. This research concludes that multi-sensory cues in interplay in a retail store atmosphere have a greater impact on consumer emotions and purchase behaviors than single visual, auditory and olfactory setting-congruent sensory cues. Among single sensory cues, those perceived as complementary in the atmosphere, specifically auditory and olfactory in an already visual dominated atmosphere, have the largest impact on consumer emotions and purchase behaviors. Overall, this research signifies that congruent multi-sensory cues in interplay emerge as reliable predictors for the influence on consumer arousal, valence, time spent, touching, browsing and purchasing Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Email marketing is not a new concept within marketing, it has been used by companies as a cost-effective way to incentives purchases for decades. However, during the past few years, there was a shift in the way email can be used. Today, it is also a way for companies to directly communicate with customers and through it create more long-term customer relationships. Previous research within the subject has had a focus on examining the effect of email marketing on purchases. However, with the new additional email practices, which have emerged in recent years, there is the need for studying email marketing from the perspective of the consumer. Since there are several conceptualizations of email marketing, this study adopts the definition where consumers’ consent to receiving the emails is a must, in other words permission-based email marketing. In addition, the study examines the influence of permission-based email marketing on consumers’ behaviors that go beyond purchases, namely the non-purchase behaviors. Thus, the purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how permission-based email marketing and relational factors influence consumers’ non-purchase behaviors. Moreover, the study aims to answer to the following research question: How does permission-based email marketing, aided by relational factors, influence consumers’ non-purchase behaviors? In order to answer the research question, a qualitative method was used, more specifically semi-structured interviews were conducted with young millennial consumers between the ages of 25 to 34. The results showed that different identified aspects of permission-based email marketing influence certain relational factors and ultimately the consumers’ engagement. However, a key factor is the consumer's own perception regarding what the emails from clothing retailers should contain in order to be relevant. Whether the email’s content is general or personalized, if the consumers perceive it as valuable and relevant, it will lead to increased customer satisfaction, perceived value, perceived brand competence, trust, commitment and loyalty. These relational factors can facilitate consumers’ non-purchase behaviors such as opening, reading, clicking on links and spreading positive word-of-mouth. However, the results also indicate factors, which contribute to less and more negative non-purchase behaviors. If consumers do not perceive to have given permission for receiving emails from a clothing retailer, they will respond by unsubscribing. Moreover, if consumers perceive to be receiving an excessive amount of emails, or if they deem the content irrelevant, they are more likely to delete, unsubscribe and spread negative word-of-mouth. The study resulted in a conceptual model, which illustrates the factors of both permission-based email marketing and relational factors and their influence on consumers’ non-purchase behaviors.