As real as it gets: What role does lighting have on consumer's perception of atmosphere, emotions and behaviour?

Abstract

To study the impact of lighting on atmosphere perception, emotions and behaviour of consumers in a realistic setting, an experiment was conducted in a three-dimensional simulated supermarket in which three different lighting settings, corresponding to the settings of three different supermarkets in Belgium, were implemented. Ninety-five participants performed a realistic shopping task. The participants were observed and they were questioned regarding their emotional responses to the retail space and their perception of atmosphere afterwards. The results indicate that although significant effects on behaviour were absent, realistic lighting settings can have subtle effects on the perceived atmosphere and experienced emotions and lighting in itself can be used to communicate a certain image.