Three quarters of the Dutch prefer a physical store with a good atmosphere to a web shop'.

17 January 2019

Despite the many conveniences of online shopping, over three-quarters of the Dutch population still prefers to make purchases in a physical store. A pleasant atmosphere in the store, through the right combination of music, the use of images and smells, is a decisive factor for 76 percent of Dutch consumers. This was revealed in an international study commissioned by Mood Media, the global leader in in-store media solutions for enhancing the customer experience.

The report, “Enhancing the Customer Experience: The Impact of Sensory Marketing,” released today, provides insights into what consumers think about the customer experience and shopping behavior. This follow-up study to the 2017 study “The State of the Brick-and-Mortar Store” was conducted by Walnut Unlimited, an independent market research firm specializing in neuroscience, behavioral psychology and economics. Walnut conducted a survey of more than 10,000 consumers in ten countries worldwide: Australia, China, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Benelux.

In addition to the recent shift in appreciation of physical stores, the study examines the effect of a store’s atmosphere on the overall shopping experience, what drives consumers to prefer a physical store over an online store, what customers like and dislike about a store visit, what motivates them to return and why they make a particular purchase. Respondents were asked about their experiences in six different sectors: banking, beauty-retail, fashion-retail, supermarkets, drugstores and fast-food restaurants.

Here are the main conclusions from the survey:

The battle with e-commerce: worldwide, 78 percent of consumers indicate that a pleasant atmosphere in the store is the main reason for choosing a physical store over an online shop.
The influence of music: music is the most important factor in improving the mood of consumers in stores. It has a positive impact on 85 percent of shoppers worldwide. However, the quality of the music played is of great importance. More than half of shoppers (57 percent) say they will leave if stores make poor music choices.
Promoting behavioral change: a good combination of music, image, touch and smell can cause consumers to stay in a store longer. 75 percent say they spend longer in stores when these sensory elements are present.
Building customer loyalty: nine out of ten respondents say they regularly return to a store when they have liked the combination of music, image, touch and scent.
Scent psychology: scent has a clear influence on shopping behavior. One third of consumers stay longer in a store if the smell is pleasant.
The power of visual content: more than half of consumers worldwide indicate that interesting video content has a positive influence on their purchases.
The value of interaction and personalization: ‘The opportunity to try and experience different products and services’ is cited by consumers as the most important reason for wanting to buy something in a physical store. More than a third of consumers worldwide say, ‘the feeling that the experience is customized for me makes me more likely to buy something in the store’.

The report ‘Improving the Customer Experience’ further reveals the different ways in which consumers from around the world respond to the atmosphere in stores. It turns out that shoppers in China and Spain enjoy a pleasant store ambience the most. While as many as 90 percent of consumers worldwide return to a store where the atmosphere is pleasing, the figure is as high as 93 percent in China and 95 percent in Spain. In all the countries surveyed, scent appears to have a strong influence on customers (65 percent clearly notice it), but in Spain it is by far the most important: 85 percent of consumers there say they remember a store where the smell was pleasant. In China and the U.S., consumers respond most strongly to music in stores, with 65 percent of respondents there saying they recently enjoyed store music.

Looking at the figures for the Netherlands, the following stands out:

Dutch people value the tangible aspect of offline shopping: 39 percent of consumers in the Netherlands say that the ability to take a product directly home is the most important reason for going to a physical store. Worldwide, this is true for 23 percent of consumers. In second place in the Netherlands is the possibility to touch and try on a product with 30 percent, against 46 percent worldwide.
A pleasant ambiance with an eye for detail is important: if music, images, touch and smell are combined in a good way to create a pleasant atmosphere, 76 percent of Dutch people say they would rather buy in a physical store than online (worldwide this is 78 percent). French and Belgians are significantly less amenable to this with 54 and 63 percent. Spain, China and the US are at the other end of the spectrum with 89, 88 and 84 percent respectively.
Touch and smell are decisive for good atmosphere: being able to touch, feel and smell products is very important for the Dutch. 27 percent of Dutch consumers say this is the most important factor for a pleasant shopping experience, compared to 21 percent of consumers worldwide. France and the U.S. are just slightly below, with 17 percent. For the Chinese, the tangible aspect is the most valuable at 32 percent.
The impact of music: when the Dutch hear music in a store they like, 51 percent of them say it improves their mood. Good music also ensures that almost a quarter of Dutch consumers stay longer in the store and like to come back.
The success of a pleasant fragrance: scent makes a big impression on Dutch consumers. 64 percent of Dutch consumers say that they have recently noticed certain stores where the smell was pleasant and inviting. Within Europe, only in Spain (85 percent) does this stand out more. In France, the UK and Germany, consumers place somewhat less value on scent, with 49, 57 and 62 percent respectively.
Social media behavior: regarding the use of social media in stores, the Dutch bivouac with the French and Germans in the lower regions. 17 percent say they have recently shared a shopping experience on one of the digital platforms. Worldwide, 27 percent of consumers do this. Belgians and Spaniards are just slightly below. Leading the way are the U.S. (31 percent) and China (56 percent). Not surprisingly, younger generations are a lot more active than older ones on social media during a shopping trip.

“Following on from our 2017 study ‘The State of the Brick-and-Mortar Store’, we again find that the physical store remains important to the majority of consumers worldwide,” said Wim van der Stelt, sales director Benelux at Mood Media. “In particular, the physical and tangible experience plays a big role in their decision to prefer the physical store over the online store. The ‘Enhancing the Customer Experience’ study underlines that brands with physical stores need to give consumers a good reason to get off the couch. Especially by offering them a sensory experience. Brands can use this report to discover what tools are available to turn occasional shoppers into loyal repeat customers.”

The publication with more detailed research findings and explanations can be downloaded at: https://moodmedia.nl/2019study/.