Observation Of Sensorial Marketing

3.7.2 Qualitative primary research

3.7.2.1 Observation

The researcher has to realise an observation in fashion stores in order to fill in the objectives. The researcher’s intention was to interview the marketing directors and mangers of the most popular clothing brands on their marketing strategies but when he attempted to contact several clothing companies over the phone, his request for an interview was denied. Following the failed attempt at procuring an interview and no literature on this subject for these companies, his best approach to understand their marketing strategies was by observation.

The importance of selecting key brands in the fashion retail sector had to be considered in order to obtain the best outcomes. Therefore, he selected

The researcher has done this by interviewing sensorial marketing agencies (since an attempt at interviewing representatives of clothing brands was unsuccessful) in Ireland and France. Single-participant interviews were conducted with Mr. Richard Skelton, who represents the leader of the sector: the worldwide agency Mood Media in Dublin and with Mr. Arfi, Director of the Emosens agency, situated in France. As both agencies incorporate fashion retail in their references, they speak to an imperative source of valid and reliable data as they provide further insight to sensorial marketing in fashion retail. A limitation to this approach was the inability to conduct a face-to-face interview with the participants. This was because both interviewees could not devote the research the time required for this kind of interview. Rather, Mr. Skelton chose to answer by email while Mr. Arfi chose to be interviewed over the phone which was recorded and transcribed afterward. The objectives of the interviews were

They help the researcher to assemble solid, substantial and subjective information relevant to the objectives of the research and they are useful at explanatory and exploratory levels (Saunders et al, 2008). They also permit the researcher a degree of flexibility while directing the interview: he covers a specific subject yet can adjust a few questions to the interviewee and his organization. Without a doubt, Mood Media is an international sensorial marketing agency while Emosens is a French olfactory marketing agency, hence, as observed later on Chapter 4- Data analysis and findings, the answers differ, however, the outcomes remain efficient. The researcher utilised open-ended questions, enabling the participant to characterise and depict a circumstance or event and give a broad and formative answer (Saunders et al, 2008). Additionally, specific and closed-ended questions have been utilised to acquire specific data or fact