Psychological Impact of Retail Space on Purchasing Behavior - Essay Example

Introduction
The idea of a retail store plays an integral part in influencing the mood of the customer to make salient decisions related to the buying activities. Designing the image of the store is a composite set of various sub-factors like the merchandise presentation styles, the pattern of service rendered, location of the store, activities related to in-store promotions, price ranges of the different products, and above all the store ‘atmospherics’. Store ‘atmospherics’ is a managerial activity that centers on setting the design of the store interior in a fashion as would draw the interest of the customer in visiting it and making some essential purchases. To create an emotional effect on the customers the interior of the stores is dressed with particular colors and musical effects are given to excite customers’ attention to the store. Moreover, the fixtures used for displaying the products can be arranged in such a fashion to present a neat and powerful look to the outsiders visiting the store.

The floor and the ceiling of the storage space can be given the same or different colors and thematic effects to produce different types of customer emotions. Retailers through the use of definite store imagery can manipulate the decisions of the customers by altering their moods in making buying decisions (Smith & Sherman). The focus on creating differential designs for retail stores has gathered a great impetus from the previous days. Owing to the rise in cut-throat competition the retail firms operating in the same category have started producing products that act as substitutes to each other in terms of design and quality. Thus the potential of retail differentiation has shifted from product designs to store designs to reflect a differential pattern to the customer’s eyes. Retail design in the modern context encompasses the needs of two principal stakeholders to retail firm-the retailers and the consumers.

The choice of the design elements for a particular retail outlet depends on many factors pertaining to aesthetics, specific use of the store, and the concept behind producing the stated design. Further, the design of the store is created keeping in mind the social and cultural dynamics of the particular region and is made based on a particular budget. The retail designers must also endeavor to forecast the effects on consumer purchases and retail sales which would add commercial value to their design ventures. Thus, the subject concerned with designing the interior of a retail firm encompasses a whole lot of factors pertaining to sociology, psychology, ergonomics, demand, and sales forecasting techniques, and an eye for supreme aesthetics.