Leveraging digital sensory marketing in online wine sales – a moderated serial mediation model

Purpose Despite the importance of visual and auditory cues in marketing communications, multisensory experiences, such as visual-auditory integration, remain underexplored in sensory marketing. This research aims to fill this gap by investigating how visual cues and their interaction with auditory cues on webpages affect consumers’ responses to online wine sales. Design/methodology/approach This research conducted two experimental studies, revealing the crucial role of multiple visual cues in shaping consumers’ responses to online wine sales and the moderating effect of auditory cues on these relationships. Findings Compared with the single visual cue of text only, multiple visual cues with both text and pictures lead to enhanced customer responses in perceptions and behavioral intentions, including purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. This enhanced effect is explained by the serial mediation effect through perceived website entertainment to mental imagery vividness. However, adding the auditory cues of interactive music attenuates the enhanced effect induced by multiple visual cues. Research limitations/implications By examining effective multisensory integration in webpage design, this study highlights the critical role of various visual cues in communication, while cautioning industry practitioners that “more is better” may not always hold in online marketing for food and beverage products. Originality/value Drawing on Grounded Cognition Theory, this research extends multisensory integration into the food and beverage context by demonstrating how digitally available sensory cues can be strategically leveraged to shape consumer responses in online wine sales.