Consumers' perception on the use of innovative technologies in creating store atmosphere

The increase of competitiveness in retail sales generates the diversification of purchase options, increase of consumers' demands and, implicitly, the change of their purchasing behaviour. In this context, the selection made by consumers regarding the stores where to purchase from represents a complex decision-making process, conditioned upon the functional and psychological characteristics, among which store atmosphere plays a special part. Moreover, in order to obtain some competitive advantages within an environment that generates specific emotional effects on the buyers, the sellers allocate significant investment resources aimed at implementing some innovative technologies to create store atmosphere. Starting from these considerations, our research aims to identify consumers' perception of the use of innovative technologies in creating store atmosphere. This paper was performed on the basis of an original questionnaire and, for the specialty literature in Romania, it represents the first research elaborated on this subject. The direct research has been conducted by means of a questionnaire-based survey to which 492 persons answered during September-November 2014. The research intended to establish the criteria for stores selection and the role atmosphere plays in this choice, as well as the identification of interest and level of knowledge of some innovative technologies in this field. The research results emphasise the fact that over 75% of respondents have a positive perception on the use of innovative technologies in order to generate a pleasant atmosphere and they are interested in the advantages they bring to the purchasing process.