Mapping consumers’ semi-conscious decisions with the use of ZMET in a retail market setup

The essence of marketing today for retail consumers is to produce a favorable sensory brand experience to gain competitive visibility. Experiential marketing is a phenomenon that is in the current trend of usage by marketing experts to ensure that consumers are more involved in the purchase decision-making process. Purchase decisions are the results of both conscious and semi-conscious consumer experiences. This paper explores the underlying consumer thoughts and emotions influenced by retail store attributes (fragrance, music, store layout, and temperature) which play a significant role in their purchase decision making affecting their mood and behavior. The study introduces Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) as a qualitative tool to elicitate hidden understanding of a consumer’s decision-making process by stimulating human senses and interpreting the attributes that ultimately contribute to consumer decision-making. The researcher selects a well-known retail brand to understand and identify the hidden metaphors contributing to consumer satisfaction through retail atmospherics. The study brought out prominent network retail clusters and their supporting elements which ultimately contribute to consumer satisfaction during the purchasing process inside a retail store. The study would enable store managers to identify the relevant core elements hidden in the subconscious consumer minds which would facilitate enhanced customer satisfaction during designing their retail stores.