Abstract
This study aims at exploring the theme of creating and managing store atmosphere of chain store supermarket from customer’s point of view. The findings from the study indicate: (1) The customer-perceived factors of store atmosphere of supermarket include 6 factors in 3 categories, that is, design factors, ambient factors (including intangible factors and visual stimulus) and social factors (including image of service personnel, image of other customers and environmental crowding); (2) Store atmospheric factors have significant positive correlation with customer approach behaviors, design factors being the most significant impact among all factors. Store atmospheric factors will influence not only customer emotions but also customer cognitive valuations of commodities and services. Customer cognitive valuations and emotional responses will affect customer approach behaviors significantly; meanwhile, customers’ cognitions and emotional responses will moderator the impact of store atmosphere on customer behaviors partially; (3) Customers with various characteristics (including different shopping planning, time urgency, environmental familiarity etc.) have significant differences in customer perceptions and behaviors in general. Finally, this study proposes specific suggestions and measures of how to create a pleasant store atmosphere in chain store supermarket according to results of empirical analyses. Key words: Chain store supermarket, store atmosphere, customer perception, approach-avoidance behaviors.
Highlights
Along with the trends toward brand internationalization, retail industrialization, and diversification of consumption behaviors come changes in how people shop
Additional adjustments were performed with reference to the comprehensive study of Turley and Milliman (2000) along with the conclusions from on-site observations and interviews in supermarkets; The third part was the measurement of customer cognitive valuation; this study took the two fundamental cognitive valuations proposed by Baker et al (2002) as basis, mainly including the customer perceptions of commodity value and service quality; adding the valuation items on commodity quality and price proposed by Dodds et al (1991) and receiving eight total items; The forth part was the measurement of customer emotional responses
Ordering from high to low according to the extent of impact, the factors are design factors, intangible factors, image of service personnel, visual stimulus and image of other customers
Summary
Along with the trends toward brand internationalization, retail industrialization, and diversification of consumption behaviors come changes in how people shop. One of the ways in which the shopping experience is changing is that more consumers are turning their attention to the question of whether shopping itself is a pleasant experience or just a chore. It is no surprise that brand loyalty is important in the retail industry (Kau and Ehrenberg, 1984); retailers are working toward strengthening the environment in their stores in order to create a store atmosphere that can make consumers more loyal. Store environmental factors can influence the subjective feelings experienced by consumers in the store and influence the shopping intention, consumption amount, perceived quality, satisfaction, and shopping value (Babin and Attaway, 2000). A pleasant store atmosphere can prolong the time consumers spend in the store, increasing the likelihood that the consumer will find something he or she needs, as well as increasing impulse buying
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