IMPACT OF EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: WITH REFERENCE TO RESTAURANT SECTOR IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Delivering valuable and unforgettable experience to customers is critical for an organization with the changing customer requirements. Experiential marketing can be recognized as an effective approach to satisfy such customer needs and retain them loyal to the organization. Although experience play an important role in restaurant sector, the use of experiential marketing is not well documented in previous research studies and also yet no research study has been conducted in Sri Lankan context. The purpose of this study is to fill that empirical and contextual gap by examining how experiential marketing affect to the customer satisfaction in Sri Lankan restaurant sector. To examine the customer experience researcher has used four experiential marketing dimensions; sense, feel, think and food quality. Sense, feel and think has derived from Strategic Experiential Modules (SEM) introduced by Schmitt. Apart from them, food quality has added to the theoretical framework based on the proven fact that food quality is an essential element in creating positive experience in restaurant customers. Overall results suggested that this study satisfactorily demonstrate the impact of experiential marketing towards customer satisfaction, proving the purpose of the study. Hospitality managers can use the outcome of this study to obtain insights about customers and to develop effective marketing strategies.