Store Atmosphere - Literature review Example

Store Atmosphere Introduction The store atmosphere plays a major role in influencing the consumer behaviour. It acts as a major determinant that determines how the customers will choose a particular store over the other. The internal environment or the internal atmosphere of the store encompasses several aspects of in-store ambience, starting from decorative nature to ease of access. This paper reviews the literature based on store atmosphere and how it has evolved over the past decade and how the perception of the consumers has also changed regarding the in-store ambience of the retail stores. It will also cover the store atmosphere of online retailing and how effective they are in attracting consumers and influencing their purchase decisions. Review of Literature Grewal et al (2003) have mentioned that the customers often find it repulsive to visit stores which have long queue and they have to wait for longer to make their purchase. This idea leads to the evolution of the store atmospherics which allows the customers to conduct their purchases at minimum possible time. The early initiative to improve the store atmosphere to attract the customers is to ensure that the stores are properly manned. “Undermanning” of a retail store indicates that there are less number of staff present in the store than what is required to handle the customer’s needs. If a customer finds a store to be undermanned, then he will naturally bear a perception of having a waste of time. Longer wait time has always created a negative impression among the consumers (Bava, Jaeger and Dawson, 2009). The author has also mentioned that if the internal environment of a retail store is appealing then the customers will not get much irritated to wait in a queue, thus they will perceive a positive attitude towards the store. Grewal et al (2003) have found in his study that the stores which have music playing in them have evidenced positive review in terms of in-store ambience and have successfully been able to attract more customers. The store environment and its atmospherics have evolved over time owing to the technological development which led to innovative marketing strategies. Keller (2010) has mentioned that the brand image of a store is largely reflected in the store atmosphere. The store atmosphere in several cases is used to communicate the brand image of a firm. It offers a visual cue to the customers on the grounds of building their perception of the product and service quality. The store atmosphere also allows the companies to provide a suggestive impression to the viewers as to who are its target customers. The brand equity of the firm has been defined by Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob (2011) as the perception of the customers regarding a particular company and its products or services. The brand management on the other hand has been defined as the ability of the firms to change the perception of the customers in favour of the company. Thus, the store environment which can effectively change the perception of the customers can in turn also help the firm in brand management. Ailawadi and Keller (2004) have mentioned that the in-store ambience acts as an effective tool for brand management. The companies which target at the niche customers with high disposable income have a different store environment than that of a local convenience store. The stores which cater to the high social group will clearly have expensive furnishing and improved lighting, whereas, the store that caters to the mass market will have average furnishing and only the bare essentials to run the store properly. This clearly indicates that the store aesthetics largely determines the brand proposition of the company. Bonnin and Goudey (2012) have offered an in-depth discussion of the store environment. They have mentioned that the store environment is largely dependent on the tangible aspects of the firm which makes direct interaction with the customers, these aspects includes in-store music, odours, colours and lighting. These aspects are responsible in influencing the emotional state of the customers during shopping (Groeppel-Klein, 2005). A customer who gains a positive attitude towards his shopping experience is most likely to visit again and spread positive word of mouth. The conceptual study on the impact of store environment is largely dependent on the reaction of the customers to the stimuli offered by the store. The authors have highlighted that the “kinetic quality” of the stores specifically indicates the store layout and structure that facilitates a specific set of gestures or movements that creates specific experience. Thus, it suggests that the store whose environment allows favourable free movement is more preferred by the customers. From the studies of Otterbring et al (2014), it can be mentioned that over the year, the utility of store atmosphere has evolved greatly. It has become more sophisticated in creating and adding value for the customers and increased competitive advantage for the companies. The authors have mentioned that the firms have managed to find out new ways to make the shopping experience of the customers easier and have helped to make the right purchase decision. The impact of in-store signage has proved to be quite helpful in improving the overall shopping experience of the customers. The in-store signage includes directional signs and signs that labels particular sections depending on the product category. Signage is particularly important in large departmental stores with huge floor area containing several sections. Signage helps the customers to easily browse through the store and find out their desirable products easily (Hsieh et al, 2014). It has been noticed that the store with better signage and directions have attracted more customers than the ones which do not. Groeppel-Klein (2005) have also mentioned that the customers who are visiting a particular store for the first time may not have the idea of the internal layout of the store and will voluntarily seek out for visual cues to find out his desirable products. Thus, in terms of value addition it has been mentioned that signage is particularly important for creating a positive brand perception among the new customers. The new customers who find their shopping experience to be pleasing are most likely to return again and make repeated purchase. Thus, in store signage also plays an important role in increasing the customer retention of the firms. From the studies of Hsieh et al (2014), it can be stated that the customer interaction with the seller has evolved over the years. The advent of internet usage and the growing trend of internet marketing have changed the way the customers perceive store environment. Even though the purchase mode has changed over the years, but the underlying concept of customers’ perception build-up still remains the same. Online retail allows the customers to shop over the internet at his own convenience, which makes it more vital for the companies to ensure that the customers are offered the best shopping experience possible. The online shopping environment primarily involves an attractive website design and how it influences the customers’ purchase decision and attracts them to make repeated purchase (Manganari, Siomkos and Vrechopoulos, 2009). The online shopping experience is largely dependent on how easily the customers are being able to purchase their desirable products. The shopping websites makes it easier to list thousands of products under one roof. This in turn may become cumbersome for the customers to browse from thousands of products in the website. In order to overcome this issue, the companies have evolved innovative search processes to make searching easier (Constantinides, 2004). Moreover, the overall outlook of the website also determines the way the customers perceive the brand image of the company. It has been mentioned that the website which bears a simple and user friendly design, without any clutter of product descriptions tend to attract more customers. Krasonikolakis, Vrechopoulos and Pouloudi (2012) have highlighted that technological advancement is one of the major determinant in evolution of web environment. It has revolutionized the way the consumers interact with the web site, starting from simple ease of access to enriched value added features such as virtual fitting rooms and augmented mirrors have increased the value addition for the customers. The firms which are completely dependent on its online business operations always try to seek out new ways to add attractive features for the customers that will help them to achieve higher competitive advantage. Several e-commerce firms that deal with accessories such as spectacles or jewellery items have successfully adopted the technology of augmented reality mirrors. The augmented reality mirrors allow the customers to have a nearly identical experience of trying out the accessory items on a mirror. Although this may not work as effectively on all accessory items, but is it mostly popular in case of selling spectacles and jewellery worn of face. By using augmented reality mirrors the customers can have a clear idea of how the accessory will look on him thereby making their purchase decision easier. The entire idea behind evolving the online store environment is to make the online purchase easier (Kamani, Vasa and Srivastava, 2012). In has been found that in certain cases the customers are not comfortable with the amount of information offered in the e-commerce website. They prefer to have a trial of the product before purchasing. This as a result led to the development of virtual trial rooms. The virtual trial room allows the customers to try out clothes and garments within the e-commerce website. This as a result makes it easier for the companies to convince the customers to buy apparels online (Carpenter and Moore, 2006). It has been evident that several customers are sceptical about the right fitting of the clothes while purchasing them online. In order to solve this issue several firms have come up with the technology of online fitting room. In the online fitting rooms, the customers are needed to put their measurements as guided and then they can view a 3D model with the clothes on. This gives him a clear idea of how the garment will look on him. These technological advancements will allow the customers to have a good experience of online shopping. The technological advancement has also revolutionized the way which we conduct our retail shopping. The increasing population and store footfall has made it quite challenging for the staffs to take orders from the customers in a short time, this as a result increases the waiting time of the customers, thereby increasing their dissatisfaction level. In order to solve this issue, the retailers have taken the help of technology to introduce electronic kiosks (Kiosk, 2014). These kiosks allow the customers to place orders on their own by selecting the desired item from the interface. The customers also have the option of making payments in the kiosk through his credit or debit cards. Thus it can be stated that technology has largely improved the way in which the customers interact with a store outlet, whether be it brick and mortar or an online store. The marketers have developed new ways to make the purchasing experience of the customers better. This as a result have allowed them to achieve higher competitive advantage and increased customer preference. Conclusion The above literature review of the store environment and how it has improved over the years has made a clear indication that it plays a vital role for the companies in attracting customer footfall. The store atmosphere encompasses a series of advantages including brand building, creating favourable shopping experience and ensuring repeat purchase. The store environment has also been used by the retailer to change the perception of the customers. By offering a favourable shopping experience, the firms have been able to increase the spreading of the positive word of mouth. The store atmosphere includes all the tangible aspects of the store that are responsible in influencing the consumers’ behaviours; which are colour, odour, lighting, sufficient space, etc. However, over the year with the advent of online shopping the concept of store environment has largely evolved. The online shopping environment mostly includes the ease of browsing through thousands of products and the overall outlook of the website which gives a pleasing experience to the customers. 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