The Power of Aesthetics in Retailing

What is it about?

Many incumbent retailers face increasing levels of competition from new retailers, some with advanced online and multi-channel offerings. How retailers compete on the basis of offering improved customer experiences to consumers is therefore increasingly important to the survival of different retailers. Research by John Murray (Massey University, New Zealand), Christoph Teller (Surrey University, UK) and Jonathan Elms (Massey University) in the Journal of Marketing Management examines how consumers perceive store designs and the effectiveness of retailers’ efforts to create attractive store atmospheres. Consumers visiting two stores of the same retailer were surveyed to establish some of the ways that consumers perceive the introductions of new store designs across a store network. Our results show some of the processes that consumers use to incorporate new designs in their appraisals of store atmosphere and that some consumers who place a greater value on the importance of design in their lives evaluate store designs differently from consumers with a lower design value orientation.

Featured Image

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Out theoretical discussion and empirical findings reveal: - the role of design variables in consumers’ in-store behaviours; and - consumers appraisals of new store designs and atmospheres.

Perspectives