How Digital Signage Affects Shoppers’ In-Store Behavior: The Role of the Evoked Experience

Abstract

Since shopping is not just about obtaining tangible products but also enjoyment and pleasure (Martineau 1958), a practical and theoretical concern is then to examine how specific design features of retail outlets stimulate consumers’ enjoyment and pleasure. According to Schmitt (1999), retail environments can provide consumers with compelling experiences, which can positively affect consumer shopping behavior, reflected by the time and money spent in the store. To enrich the understanding of the processes that mediate the relationship between shoppers’ experiences evoked by specific atmospheric design cues, and their in-store behavior, this study proposes an in-store response model which uses the construct of brand experience (Brakus, Schmitt and Zarantonello 2009). In particular, this paper investigates how in-store screen network—also known as Digital Signage (DS)—can be used as a provider of compelling experiences for shoppers which affect subsequent consumer behavior. DS content may include advertisements, community information, entertainment and news. This study focuses on the DS messages that are designed to provide shoppers with either sensory-affective or intellectual experiences (Brakus et al. 2009) and examines DS as an effective, marketer-manipulable retail atmospheric stimulus.