| dc.identifier.publicationfirstpage | 1. Introduction This study is focused on the analysis of consumer behavior and how it is affected by the activation of the brain through brand-created stimuli in retail. Consumer behavior is important because it refers to the actions of a person or organization from the origination of a need to the moment they purchase and subsequently use a product or service (Kotler, 2006). The study of such behavior also includes analysis of all factors that influence these actions. Seeking, buying, using, and disposing of goods or services to satisfy needs and desires are steps that entail both mental and emotional processes, as well as physical actions (Grunert, 2016). Consumer behavior within a society can affect social norms (Gelfand et al., 2017). Studies have examined the attraction of items available while waiting (Mobach, 2007), the effects of the position of products on store shelves (Sigurdsson et al., 2009), and age-based behavior (Moschis, 2012). Three factors are critical: behavior as a result of experience, significant events that occurred during life, and circumstances experienced in a group. Four main aspects influence the decision-making process (Kotler, 2006). First, cultural aspects as a whole affect the decision-making process. They include knowledge, beliefs, art, rituals, moral norms, customs, and any other capacity or habit acquired by humans as members of a society and through which values are acquired (Madni, 2013). Second, social factors also play a role. They are characterized by reference groups, which influence a person’s attitudes or behavior. If the influence is direct, groups to which they belong are considered, along with the aspirational groups they want to join. The family is the most important consumer purchasing organization in society (Khooshabeh & Lucas, 2018). Third, the personal situation is important because people’s stage of life influences the products and services they choose for their needs (Bollich et al., 2016). Other factors are occupation and economic circumstances, lifestyle (expressed through activities, interests, and opinions), and personality and self-concept. Finally, psychological factors play a role. These factors are based on motivation (an internal factor that drives behavior, gives it orientation, and directs it), perception (a process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret the information they receive to create a picture of the world), learning (a relatively permanent change in behavior or memory that results from practice or experience), attitudes (favorable or unfavorable evaluations of people, their emotional states, and the way they tend to act toward an object), and beliefs, which are descriptive ideas that a person has about something (Han, 2022). Experiences in real or virtual spaces, based on stimuli designed by brands, activate emotions that create memory markers, extending consumers’ memories of experiences (Ahn et al., 2009). Previous studies of consumer experiences have focused on observing virtual environments (Li et al., 2003), the visualization of products in 3D (Daugherty et al., 2008), emotional activation in virtual points of sale or e-commerce (Reina Paz & Jimenez Delgado, 2020), touching products in the store (Balconi et al., 2020), the influence of color (Stillman et al., 2020), live music (Calder et al., 2016), the price of the product in different environments (Zong & Guo, 2022), and content marketing and its link to brand loyalty (Lou & Xie, 2021). The originality of this research lies in the study of the key stimuli in the consumer experience in a standard store because consumers do not expect stimulating experiences in these environments. Such experiences are usually only found in restaurants or malls (not only in traditional places where entertainment is offered such as cinemas or theme parks). | es |
