Received: 2025-05-11  |  Accepted: 2025-07-18  |  Published: 2025-09-30

Title

Experiential marketing and its effects on customer e-satisfaction and customer happiness with online purchases in Mthatha


Abstract

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the rise of electronic commerce as Internet access became more widespread, leading to the emergence of new online business models. Today, customers can access a wide range of brands offering similar products or services at comparable prices and quality levels, making e-satisfaction a crucial factor in customer happiness. However, other factors also affect overall satisfaction, with e-satisfaction closely linked to these elements. This research aims to investigate the influence of experiential marketing on customer e-satisfaction and happiness with online purchases in Mthatha. Following a positivist research paradigm, the study employs a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design, distributing a fully structured self-administered questionnaire to 314 fashion industry customers in Mthatha. The methodology allows for the systematic collection of numerical data to analyse the relationship between experiential marketing and online purchase behaviour, to provide measurable insights into the impact of experiential marketing on consumers' purchasing decisions and inform business strategies within the fashion sector.


Keywords

sense experience, think experience, feel experience, act experience, relate experience, customer e-satisfaction, customer happiness, South Africa


JEL classifications

M30 , M31


URI

http://jssidoi.org/ird/article/206


DOI


Pages

69-82


Funding


This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Vukethwele, Lucas
Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa https://www.wsu.ac.za
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Fihla, Siphenathi
Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa https://www.wsu.ac.za
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Chinomona, Richard
Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa https://www.wsu.ac.za
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Journal title

Insights into Regional Development

Volume

7


Number

3


Issue date

September 2025


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 481  |  PDF downloads: 337

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