اثرات ویژگی های خرده فروشی مغازه بر تجربه خرید تفریحی The effects of retail store characteristics on in-store leisure shopping experience

Introduction In-store shopping has long been regarded as an entertaining ( Jones, 1999) and a social experience (Borges et al., 2010) during which feelings of escapism and adventure are evoked in consumers (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003). Moreover, total immersion in the process of shopping (Wang and Hsiao, 2012) and the acquisition of new knowledge (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003) are other important facets of the in-store shopping experience. In this paper, shopping experiences are examined from the perspective of “leisure shopping” – in contrast to utilitarian shopping – that extends beyond the entertaining aspects of shopping to include more experiential elements (Tsai, 2010; McCarville et al., 2013) and that have to-date received little attention by researchers (Bäckström, 2006). Moreover, in-store leisure experiences are defined as the “sum total of cognitive, emotional, sensorial, and behavioural responses produced during the entire process, involving an integrated series of interactions with people, objects, processes, and environment in retailing” (Bagdare and Jain, 2013, p. 792). Although most researchers until now have acknowledged the multi-dimensional nature of leisure shopping experience (Bäckström, 2006; Rajagopal, 2007; Tsai, 2010; McCarville et al., 2013), there is little consensus regarding the nature of those dimensions. Moreover, most of the studies on in-store experience have taken into consideration a limited set of experiential elements. For example, Tsai (2010) identified four dimensions of shopping experiences: exhilaration – experiencing excitement and joy; exploration – discovering and acquiring educational information; relaxation – obtaining relief from stress; and socialising – being in the company of friends and interacting with others. Bäckström (2011) suggested shopping experiences can be divided into three main types: hunting (e.g. finding a desired object), scouting (e.g. stimulation, reconnaissance, escapism), and socialising (e.g. enjoying shared experiences with friends/family). Gilboa and Vilnai-Yavetz (2013) identified three experiential types of shopping: seductive – impulse-buying and pursuing pleasant emotions; interactive museum – exploration and the acquisition of new knowledge; and social shopping – interaction with friends and family and familiar strangers.