The Importance of Store Atmosphere: Retailer’s Perspective
Most surveys and studies done on consumer shopping behavior are done from the consumer’s point of view. It makes sense. Ask consumers what they want, what’s important to them, so the retailer can provide it. It’s valuable, even vital, information since not paying attention will almost certainly result in a failed business. But what about the retailer’s point of view? There is great insight to be gleaned from this as well.
It is well understood that a store’s atmosphere is important to business. A pleasant, enjoyable environment attracts customers, keeps them shopping longer, and increased sales result. The reverse is equally true. An atmosphere that does not cater directly to the demographic the retailer is targeting will send potential customers walking. Even with mountains of demographic and atmospheric studies, it is still as much of an art as it is science to create that “perfect” atmosphere that balances the needs of the customer with the needs of the retailer.
As professionals, retailers watch their store traffic, observe their customers, and see the result of their atmospherics on their sales. In a 2004 study done by Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, an independent agency, both consumers and retailers were asked to rate the importance of atmospheric elements on shopping behavior. Interestingly, the ranking order of the individual elements were almost identical, though the retailers placed a significantly higher value on them than did the consumers overall when asked to rate them on importance on a scale of 1 to 9.
In order of importance, the retailers noted the following atmospherics as important to their stores sales and brand: Lighting, Signs, Promotional Events, Fixtures, Wall Designs, Music, Flooring, Message Marketing, Visual Imaging, and Mannequins. Consumers ordered those elements almost identically, with the only difference being that the elements of Wall Designs and Flooring were reversed.
The study showed that the larger the chain, the greater importance it placed on music, video and audio messaging though there were only slight disparities between the smallest and largest companies. For example, retailers with 1-9 stores rated the importance of music as 5.92, 10-49 stores as 6.37 and retail chains with 50+ stores gave it a 6.36 importance on the scale of 1 to 9, only a .44 difference. There was only a .35 disparity between all sizes of store chains on the importance of audio messaging.
Video saw the greatest disparity on its rating by retailers. The small chains of 1-9 stores, rated video in importance at 4.05, 10-49 stores at 4.52, and the largest chains of 50+ stores placed significantly more importance on in-store video at 5.28. Only the largest chains placed greater importance on video than audio messaging with 5.28 and 4.91 respectively . Music was agreed by all to be the most important of these three elements.
Related posts:
- The Importance of Store Atmospherics
- Impact of Store Atmosphere
- In-Store Video: The Retailer’s Perspective
- The Impact of In-Store Video and Audio Messaging
- What Are “Atmospherics?”
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