THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATMOSPHERIC ELEMENTS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: THE CASE OF RETAILING SECTOR

Buyer’s behavior is strongly influenced by members of their family. Personal factors can also affect the consumer behavior. Some of the important personal factors that influence the buying behavior are: lifestyle, economic situation, occupation, age, personality and self-concept. Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. The occupation of a person has significant impact on his buying behavior. Consumer economic situation has great influence on his buying behavior. If the income and savings of a customer is high then he will purchase more expensive products. On the other hand, a person with low income and savings will purchase inexpensive products. Lifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying behavior. There are four important psychological factors affecting the consumer buying behavior. These are: perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes. The level of motivation also affects the buying behavior of customers. Every person has different needs such as physiological needs, biological needs, and social needs. Customer possesses specific belief and attitude towards various products. Since such beliefs and attitudes make up brand image and affect consumer buying behavior; therefore, marketers are interested in them.

Retailers should spend a great deal of time and money on store environments to create images that offer them a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace (Joyce & Lambert, 1996 , pp.24-33). Thus, store needs to improve in this area so that it can give better environment and experience to the customers in order to differentiate from the competitors. As per Kerfoot et al (2003, pp.14352) as furniture being a part of visual merchandising, an attractive furniture has positive affect on customer’s psychology or behavior, which ultimately leads to purchase. By evaluating the

Many studies in consumer buying behavior have suggested that shopping orientation and store image was among the factors that influence the buying behavior of the consumer. In relation to furniture product, consumer‘s life style is the main factor influencing the shopping orientation of furniture as home indicates the identity of the person, reflecting his or her lifestyle and personal values.

A distinguished structure that is present in today’s retail environment is a shopping centre. A shopping centre is where multiple stores presenting different merchandisers are formed under a building and allocated through a leasing agency. Shopping centers are aimed towards middle income suburban residents who are mobile. A shopping centre has controlled walkways which enable consumers to walk from store to store. Plenty of effort is put into developing the design of a shopping centre, thus increasing the amount of time people spend shopping. The

The variables of atmospheric stimuli that will relate to customer experience was divided by Turley and Milliman into five categories: 1) external variables; 2) general interior variables; 3) layout and design variables; 4) point-of-purchase and decoration variables 5) human variables. All of variables can arouse cognitive effect and that affect on consumer behavior directly (Turley and Milliman, 2000). In recent years, the introductions of advanced technologies lead retailers to make traditional stores more appealing and attractive, with several benefits for the retail process (Pantano, Iazzolino and Migliano, 2013). This reason affects many retail stores to apply technology with store atmosphere in every variable.

To repot these behaviours, Myer can calculate the average time people spent in store, and where is the most visited areas in store. These can answer the questions of how to layout the store, where to put the products in order to get shoppers attention. Moreover, through the observation of customers’ emotion, Myer can understand how to service customer in a better, and how to make customers satisfied.

Nowadays, retail stores not only display products, but also have their own thematic decorations in relation to the brand identity. One example of such unique retail store would be the luxury store design in Hong Kong boutique of Chanel. The store concept is an emulation of Coco Chanel’s Parisian apartment, and its design displays include all the style elements associated with Coco Chanel during her lifetime, which have formed signature elements of the band. In this sense, consumers can experience and connect themselves to the founder of the brand, by visiting the store. Louis Vuitton could take this example of Chanel and come up with their own store design Such experience will allow the consumers to widen their perception on Louis Vuitton from a ‘simple luxury shop’ to a ‘place of entertaining experience’, enhancing the “sense of trill” as well as “belonging” within their

A review of relevant research reveals studies dating back to the early 1970s that focus on facility-based environmental cues, or atmospherics, and their effect on shopper attitude and decision modeling. However, inadequately explored is the

Over the years, retailers have become increasingly focused on the design and environment of their stores to influence customers’ perceptions and purchasing behaviour. However, with intense competition in the retail sector, it is imperative that retailers keep their stores up-to-date and ensure that they appeal to their target market (Baker, Grewal and Levy, 1992: 446). A combination of various design factors can be carefully implemented to create the ‘right’ atmosphere for the customer and reflect the appropriate image for the brand. Kotler first introduced the concept of store atmospherics to describe the conscious designing of retailing environments, in order to evoke emotional and behavioural responses in the buyer to encourage their purchase decisions (Kotler, 1973: 50). The correct execution of the store environment can impact the store patronage decisions and fundamentally develop customer relationships. This essay will explore the ways that retailers enhance the store environment in order to affect shopper purchases, by examining the ambience, design and social aspects used to impact shopper purchases. It will investigate the ways in which the atmospheric and design techniques have been both successful and unsuccessful and understand whether retailers can use the design to drive sales for the store.

Purchase intention is constructed from consumers’ attitudes and external factors, where attitudes are multiplex consisting of three elements which are cognitive component or knowledge, affective component or emotion, and conative component motivating consumers toward behaviour or response (Adcock et al., 2001). Purchase intention is a significant factor for predicting consumer behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Also, purchase it can measure the possibility of consumers’ purchases. The level of consumers’ willingness to buy products directly depends on their purchase intention (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). Thus, it is an important concept in marketing. Khan et al. (2012) stated that consumers consider many different criteria when they would like to buy products, such as price, quality, product features, brand and convenience. According to previous research, it is found that purchase intention has many different definitions.

This research analyzes the many different experiences of the customers at two popular clothing stores, Express and New York and Company. This study uses a questionnaire to dig into the customer mind for discover the reason for shopping at one store verses another. Based on age, customers are Express tend to be younger and trendier. Based on the questionnaire the purpose of shopping also plays a huge role in why consumers choose to shop at these two stores.

Designing an alluring store image that communicates to ones customer sector is important for retailers in order to attract customers (Peter and Olson, 2005). Attracting customers and distinguishing one from competitors have become increasingly important. The store design is something that frequently needs change as shopping behaviour and rivalry changes (Peter and Olson, 2005). The importance of knowing how the customer’s

Store environment could affect shoppers’ behaviors in several ways. Store environment also influences various stages of shoppers’ cognitive process inside a store, including attention, perception, categorization and information processing. For example, it has been shown that perceived waiting time varies with the valence of music and consumers’ categorization of a restaurant as a fast food outlet depends largely on the external appearance of the store .While the foregoing discussion is mainly concerned about the immediate effects of store environment, store environment may also have lagged or carryover effects on

Environment is an important aspect in shaping people and objects. The environment can contribute to the presentation of a signage of an establishment to sell merchandise or food. To make a place presentable, people usually focus on the environment that it’s in. Whether the environment is unkempt or upscale will determine if cliental will eat or shop there. For example, if someone were to go to a restaurant they’ve never been to, they’d be observant of the surroundings. They would question if the restaurant looked clean, if the food was safe to eat, if the people who make the food are clean, and if the restaurant itself was presentable. When people go to famous eateries, they expect the consistency in each restaurant. It’s good for the business itself to keep its consistency for travelers and returning customers.

What makes someone decide to buy ? Many consumers investigate to find the best deals, while others tend to impulse buy. There are four factors that influence consumers behavior. Cultural factors are from the different components related to culture or cultural environment that the consumer belongs. Social factors are the factors that influence consumer behavior significantly. Personal factors influenced by the characteristics of each consumer. Lastly is the psychological factors influenced by the consumers behavior.