The Role of Store Environment Cues on Store Personality and Store Image

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to explain the effects of color, lighting, and music as store environment cues on the perceptions among consumers of store personality, store image, and on their own store preferences. Design/Methodology/Approach – An experimental approach was employed to determine these effects, using a between-subjects factorial design including two levels of color, lighting, and music. The data were collected from 600 participants through face-to-face surveys. A video design of a fictional store environment was shown to the subjects and survey questions were applied to eight different experimental groups by providing manipulation control. Results and implications – The results demonstrate that consumer perceptions of store image, store personality, and store preferences differ with changing color, lighting, and music variables. Additionally, these variables differ in their interactions with each other and in their total interactions. Limitations – While the present study sheds light on the influence of color, lighting, and music cues of the fashion store environment on consumer perceptions of store personality and image, as well as their store preferences, interactions between store environment cues and other attributes in stores should also be explored. Originality – This study examines the impact of store environment variables in their different aspects on consumer perceptions of store image and store personality, as well as consumer store preferences, by focusing on Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model as its theoretical background.

Keywords

• store environment
• store personality
• store image
• store preference
• Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model