The Impact of Sensory Branding and Technology on Consumer Behavior in Physical Retail Experience Design: A Multi-generational Experimental Study

Abstract

© 2025 Common Ground Research Networks. All rights reserved.The COVID-19 pandemic transformed shopping habits and led to the need to rethink the experience offered in physical stores, incorporating solutions that involve, for instance, sensory branding and technology. How can these solutions influence cognitive processes and responses, leading to positive results for brands and their customers? The research seeks to answer the question through a qualitative experimental research, bringing together participants from different generations in order to provide an inclusive overview of user behavior when faced with these solutions. The sample of twenty-five volunteers was distributed equally into five different groups or generations: Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. With the aim of understanding and tracing experience through the users’ perspective, the experiments included a questionnaire and focus group session, which included the application of complementary techniques, as the Experience Compelling Map, to ensure greater reliability in results. Through this study, a general and inclusive overlook of consumer behavior was obtained as well as an integrated overview of the topic, providing a better understanding for both non-specialists and specialists and contributing to Design practice. The results were compared and generated fourteen guidelines that can become alternatives to enhance physical retail experience.