Retail Shoppability: The Impact Of Store Atmospherics & Store Layout On Consumer Buying Patterns

ABSTRACT: Retail shoppability, defined as the ability of the retail environment to translate consumer demand into purchase. It is making consumers ’ needs salient in specific retail settings & turning shoppers into buyers. The primary motivation to study store image has been to investigate the store atmospherics & store layout as a predictor of consumer behaviour and store performance..This paper enhances previous conceptualizations of store image by introducing the concept referred to as retail shoppability. The quantitative research focused on identifying those store image attributes perceived as important by a selected group of consumers. The goals of this paper are (1) to argue that store image, as it has been previously developed by marketing academics, is a necessary but insufficient construct to understand store performance and consumer behavior and (2) to discuss the enhanced conceptual and operational benefits of store equity as compared with store image. To accomplish these goals, the paper discusses the conceptualization and operationalization of customer-based store equity by explicitly comparing the concept of store atmospherics & store layout and discusses the implications for marketing practitioners by identifying the considerations for building and managing customer-based store equity