Amaç: Mağaza atmosferi, tüketim duyguları, memnuniyeti ve satın alma sonrası eğilimler perakende mağazacılık sektöründeki temel kavramlar arasında yer almaktadır. Mağaza yöneticileri eşsiz mağaza atmosferi unsurları ve buna bağlı olarak sadık müşteriler yaratma eğilimindedir. Bu araştırmada, mağaza atmosferi, mağazaya duygusal yakınlık, müşteri memnuniyeti ve tavsiye etme davranışları arasındaki ilişkiyi araştırmak için nedensel bir model geliştirerek alan yazındaki boşluğu gidermek amaçlanmaktadır. Yöntem: Veriler anket yöntemi kullanılarak gönüllü 445 mağaza müşterisi tarafından sağlanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde, AMOS 20.0 paket programı kullanılarak hipotezleri test etmek için yapısal eşitlik modelinden yararlanılmıştır. Bulgular: Bulgular, mağaza atmosferi ve mağazaya yönelik duygusal yakınlığın müşteri memnuniyetini önemli derecede etkilediği belirlenmiştir. Mağazaya yönelik duygusal yakınlığın tavsiye etme davranışı üzerindeki etkisinin müşteri memnuniyetinin etkisinden görece daha yüksek olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca, müşteri memnuniyetinin, mağazaya yönelik duygusal yakınlığın tavsiye etme davranışı üzerindeki etkisini güçlendirdiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Sonuç: Sonuç olarak, mağaza atmosferi ve mağazaya yönelik duygusal yakınlığın, memnuniyet ve tavsiye etme davranışıyla ile ilişkili olduğu ve müşterilerin satın alma sonrası davranışlarının şekillenmesinde önemli ölçüde etkili olabileceği görülmektedir.

Economic and social changes in today's business world have an important role in shaping the retail sector. Turkey's organized retail market, with a share of about 67 percent in the retail market, continues its growth in the last 20 years (KPMG, 2018). This development has lead to increased competition in the retail sector and forced store managers to adopt strategies that will provide competitive advantage in the struggle to retain existing customers and/or win new customers.It is argued that buyer-seller relations are one of the most important issues in creating competitive advantage and that customer satisfaction is of vital importance in the development of buyer-seller relations (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993). Satisfaction, which is subjective in nature, is defined as an assessment of the extent to which the retailer's performance meets and/or exceeds customer expectations (Mittal et al., 1998; Szymanski and Henard (2001). In this study, in order to determine the real effects of the customer satisfaction resulting from the experience of the store visits to the consumer behaviors, we have focused on the recommendation behaviors of customers. With the help of technological advances, individuals are able to influence not only friends and family members but also other consumers through ranking stores in online platforms as an interpersonal source of communication. Murphy et al. (2007) argue that consumers tend to be influenced by their environments (family, work/school friendships, etc.) and their attitudes. Muhammad et al. (2014) stated that positive experiences in the store environment would increase the value of the offer of goods or services and this could be used as a differentiation strategy for stores. Emotional reactions (Machleit and Eroğlu, 2000), which are among the main reasons of consumer behavior, play an active role in the evaluation of store properties, interaction with salespeople and other customers and in product evaluation process in a customer's retail environment (Eroğlu et al., 2005). Kabadayi and Alan (2013) stated that the store atmosphere had an impact on customer emotions, and that both store atmosphere and customer feelings had positive effects on various customer reactions such as satisfaction, repurchase and loyalty. Positive emotional experiences acquired in the retail environment are expected to contribute to customer satisfaction, to create a positive attitude towards the store and to develop long-term buyer-seller relationships.This study was carried out to determine the effects of store atmosphere and store affect on customer satisfaction and customers’ recommendation behavior.The research was conducted on consumers inhabiting in Istanbul and Sakarya. The participants selected through a convenience sampling procedure, which is a non-probability sampling method. In this study, 480 questionnaires were distributed and 445 questionnaires were usable for the analysis. Of the participants, 55.7% of them were male and 44.3% were female. The majority of the participants were between the ages of 21-30 years (61.8%) and 31-40 years (24.7%) and 257 (57.8%) were single. In terms of education, 49.9% of the participants were university graduates and 40.4% had income between 1501-3000 TL.In order to measure the store atmosphere, we have used 26 statements adapted from Baker et al. (1994), Machleit et al. (2000), Singh (2006) and Hansen and Deutscher (1978) (store staff (4 statement), design (8 statement), environment (4 statement) and product characteristics (5 statement). Also, participants' satisfaction levels (4 statements) from Betten, (1997) and Bitner and Hubbert, (1994), store affect (4 statement) from Richins, (1997) and recommendation behavior (4 statements) from Ismail and Spinelli, (2012) and Gremler and Gwinner (200) were adapted from relevant literature. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed in AMOS 20.0 package program to analyze the measurement characteristics of the structures in the study. The index values ​​obtained from the analysis appear to be within acceptable range: Chi-Square/df = 2.393, GFI = .876, AGFI = 0.853, CFI = .939,  TLI = .932, RMSEA = .056.After evaluating the reliability and validity tests of the research variables, the proposed research model (structural) was tested.The effect of the store atmosphere on store affect (β = 0.587) and customer satisfaction (β = 0.662) towards the store is positive and significant and the effect on the recommendation behavior (β = 0.073) is statistically insignificant. Store affect was found to be positive and significant on customer satisfaction (β = 0.191) and recommendation behavior (β = 0.602). Finally, the effect of customer satisfaction on recommendation behavior (β = 0.217) is positive and significant. In addition, the 34% of the variance of store affect was explained by the store atmosphere, about 62% of the variance in customer satisfaction was explained by store atmosphere and store affect, and a 64% of the variance in the recommendation behavior was explained by store affect, store atmosphere and customer satisfaction. Various factors such as the availability of goods and services (e-commerce) at every moment due to the technological development has changed the level and sphere of competition in the retail sector. The message intensity that consumers are exposed to in their daily lives increases the levels of perceptual selectivity of consumers in messages directed towards products, and comments on family members, work/schoolmates, acquaintances and even goods and services through the social media network can affect consumer behavior more than ever. Therefore, retail store managers need to strive more to keep their existing customers, to win new customers and to continue their operations. In addition to traditional marketing communication efforts, the importance of the recommendations of existing customers to other consumers is increasing. In the structural model proposed in the research, it is expected that the shop atmosphere and the positive feelings that will arise in the shopping environment will increase customer satisfaction and tendency to recommend.The findings show that both the customer satisfaction and the store affect have a positive effect on the behavior of the customer. For retail stores, the emotions that people feel as a result of their subjective evaluations, rather than their satisfaction, can increase their tendency to recommend the store to their surroundings (family, friends). When the relationships between the variables are examined, it is determined that the customer satisfaction has a partial mediation effect between the store affect and the recommendation behavior. In other words, customer satisfaction strengthens the positive effect of store affect on the behavior of the shopper.The results of the research are equally important for the store managers to take into account the customers' satisfaction level of the store as well as the store affect. It can motivate customers to communicate positively to the store and services offered as a result of keeping unique experiences to customers through different applications that will enhance the store atmosphere elements and the customer's emotional set. In addition, the store's customer profile, personalized services, customer-centric placement and design with additional values ​​can be offered to customers. This is also important for maintaining lasting relationships with customers and supporting recurring purchases. As the effect of the store atmosphere and the store affect is strengthened through customer satisfaction, it means that the advice of the customer is provided by satisfaction. Also customer satisfaction arises with the atmosphere of the store and the emotional feelings towards the customer's store. As a result, it is possible to express that the store affect and the store atmosphere is closely intertwined with the behavior of satisfaction and recommendation, and that customers can greatly contribute to their post-purchase behavior.