Chapter 7: Consumer behavior
7.1 The Physical environment
Retail/leisure environment design
● 2 ways of shopper response to atmosphere:
○ Approach: positive response, such as:
■ Desire to stay in store for longer + explore
○ Avoidance: negative
■ Want to leave the store quicker + no desire to explore
● Turley n Milliman: (retail store architecture)
○ Reviewed 60 studies → found it’s possible to create atmosphere that influence
consumer spending
○ Likelihood of consumer purchase depends on:
■ External variables:
● Store exterior, window display, location
■ General interior variables:
● Color schemes, lighting, music, scent
■ Layout + design variables:
● Allocation of space, waiting space, changing room
■ Point of purchase + decoration variables:
● Wall decoration, certificates, point of purchase displays
■ Human variables:
● Employee characteristics, uniform, crowding
○ Unfamiliar store layout → more unplanned purchases
■ Explains why large supermarkets rearrange items frequently
○ Perceived crowding → negative influence on shopper satisfaction
■ Less browsing, fewer purchases, lower ratings of enjoyment
○ Professionally dressed staff → positive effect on satisfaction
● Finlay et al (2006): (Leisure environment)
○ Investigated how different casino designs affect emotion + gambling behavior
■ Playground model:
● High ceiling, spacious layout, nature elements
■ Gaming model:
● Low ceiling, maze layout of machines, limited decor
○ Sample: 48 from casinos in Las Vegas
■ Collected measures of emotional reactions from ppl who gambled all 6
casinos
○ Result: playground design → higher ratings on both pleasure n restoration
■ Restoration: relief from environmental stress
○ EVALUATE:
■ Quasi-experiment; has independent variable (type of design)
● May have extraneous variables that was not taken into account
○ Eg. crowding situation in each casino on the day
■ High ecological validity
, ● Vrechopolous et al (2004): (Store interior layout)
○ Investigated virtual grocery layouts:
■ Freeform, grid, racetrack
○ Sample: 120 p; laboratory experiment
■ Given planned shopping task w money to spend
■ Complete task in one of the layouts
■ Products ‘purchased’ during experiment was sent to their home
● Ensure task was taken seriously
○ Result: shows layout significantly affects consumer behavior
■ Freeform → useful for finding items on list
● Most entertaining
■ Grid → easier to use
■ Layout significantly affected length of time spent shopping
Evaluate [Retail/leisure environment]
● Self-report:
○ Finlay: use self-report to find out emotional reactions of p who gambled in casino
■ Asked to rate the casinos
■ Possible issue:
● Biased towards the middle score
● Direct comparison of scores is impossible
○ One’s 7 can be another’s 10
○ Vrechopoulos: self-report on how entertaining layout was to use
■ Possible issue:
● Difficulty analyzing qualitative results
● Usefulness:
○ All practical to improve physical layout + increase sales
○ Turley: identified large number of variables to improve + affect shopping behavior
■ If sales are low → can modify odour or music
○ Finlay: suggest useful modifications to casino layout
■ Based on the least preferred design
■ Can consider whether can only apply to casinos
○ Vrechopoulos: suggest that online retail stores should take care when applying
principles from traditional retail environment
● Ethics
○ Turley: no issue; it’s a review study
○ Vrechopoulos: laboratory;
■ Consent would've been gained, no harm
● Ecological validity
○ Finlay: conducted in real casinos
■ Lack of control
○ Vrechopolous: laboratory experiment
■ Increase eco-validity by using real shopping task
Sound and consumer behavior
, ● North et al (2003): (Music in restaurant)
○ Aim: investigate effect of musical style on amount of money consumers spent in
restaurant
○ Field study in UK restaurant
○ Classical, pop, no music → played over 18 evenings
■ Only 1 type of music played per night
■ No songs were repeated (no difference in music pace)
○ Independent subjects design: only exposed to 1 type of music
■ Kept other aspects the same (lighting, decor, temperature)
○ Sample: 393 customer
○ Measures:
■ Mean spend per table
■ Total time spent in restaurant
○ Found out people spend more + prepare to spend more when classical music
was played
● Gueguen et al (2007): (Music in open air markets)
○ Field study in France; open air market (selling toys)
■ Conditions: with joyful music | no music
○ Data collection:
■ 240 people selected from visitors to stall
■ 3 female stallholders acted as confederates
● If visitor is music consition, confederates would start the music as
soon as subject approached the stall
● 1st confederate: knew who’s subject + played music
● 2nd confederate: time length of stay + amount spent
○ Popular music → customer stayed longer at stall + higher spending
● Woods et al (2011): (Background noise n food perception)
○ Lab experiment
○ Investigated effect of background noise on perception of taste
■ Noise condition: no sound, quiet bg white noise, loud bg white noise
■ P gave ratings on:
● 1st experiment: Saltiness, sweetness, food liking
● 2nd experiment: overall flavor, crunchiness, food liking
○ 1st: 48 students from Manchester university (volunteer)
■ P sat at table with panel to hide food from view
■ P wore headphones
■ Closed eyes → eat → rate on saltiness sweetness liking
■ Sip of water between each trial
■ 25 trials / 30 mins
○ 2nd: 34 students
■ Rate flavor, cruchiness, food liking
■ Rate how much they like the background noise
○ Sweetness n saltiness rated lower in loud compared to quiet
○ Crunchiness was reported higher in loud
7.1 The Physical environment
Retail/leisure environment design
● 2 ways of shopper response to atmosphere:
○ Approach: positive response, such as:
■ Desire to stay in store for longer + explore
○ Avoidance: negative
■ Want to leave the store quicker + no desire to explore
● Turley n Milliman: (retail store architecture)
○ Reviewed 60 studies → found it’s possible to create atmosphere that influence
consumer spending
○ Likelihood of consumer purchase depends on:
■ External variables:
● Store exterior, window display, location
■ General interior variables:
● Color schemes, lighting, music, scent
■ Layout + design variables:
● Allocation of space, waiting space, changing room
■ Point of purchase + decoration variables:
● Wall decoration, certificates, point of purchase displays
■ Human variables:
● Employee characteristics, uniform, crowding
○ Unfamiliar store layout → more unplanned purchases
■ Explains why large supermarkets rearrange items frequently
○ Perceived crowding → negative influence on shopper satisfaction
■ Less browsing, fewer purchases, lower ratings of enjoyment
○ Professionally dressed staff → positive effect on satisfaction
● Finlay et al (2006): (Leisure environment)
○ Investigated how different casino designs affect emotion + gambling behavior
■ Playground model:
● High ceiling, spacious layout, nature elements
■ Gaming model:
● Low ceiling, maze layout of machines, limited decor
○ Sample: 48 from casinos in Las Vegas
■ Collected measures of emotional reactions from ppl who gambled all 6
casinos
○ Result: playground design → higher ratings on both pleasure n restoration
■ Restoration: relief from environmental stress
○ EVALUATE:
■ Quasi-experiment; has independent variable (type of design)
● May have extraneous variables that was not taken into account
○ Eg. crowding situation in each casino on the day
■ High ecological validity
, ● Vrechopolous et al (2004): (Store interior layout)
○ Investigated virtual grocery layouts:
■ Freeform, grid, racetrack
○ Sample: 120 p; laboratory experiment
■ Given planned shopping task w money to spend
■ Complete task in one of the layouts
■ Products ‘purchased’ during experiment was sent to their home
● Ensure task was taken seriously
○ Result: shows layout significantly affects consumer behavior
■ Freeform → useful for finding items on list
● Most entertaining
■ Grid → easier to use
■ Layout significantly affected length of time spent shopping
Evaluate [Retail/leisure environment]
● Self-report:
○ Finlay: use self-report to find out emotional reactions of p who gambled in casino
■ Asked to rate the casinos
■ Possible issue:
● Biased towards the middle score
● Direct comparison of scores is impossible
○ One’s 7 can be another’s 10
○ Vrechopoulos: self-report on how entertaining layout was to use
■ Possible issue:
● Difficulty analyzing qualitative results
● Usefulness:
○ All practical to improve physical layout + increase sales
○ Turley: identified large number of variables to improve + affect shopping behavior
■ If sales are low → can modify odour or music
○ Finlay: suggest useful modifications to casino layout
■ Based on the least preferred design
■ Can consider whether can only apply to casinos
○ Vrechopoulos: suggest that online retail stores should take care when applying
principles from traditional retail environment
● Ethics
○ Turley: no issue; it’s a review study
○ Vrechopoulos: laboratory;
■ Consent would've been gained, no harm
● Ecological validity
○ Finlay: conducted in real casinos
■ Lack of control
○ Vrechopolous: laboratory experiment
■ Increase eco-validity by using real shopping task
Sound and consumer behavior
, ● North et al (2003): (Music in restaurant)
○ Aim: investigate effect of musical style on amount of money consumers spent in
restaurant
○ Field study in UK restaurant
○ Classical, pop, no music → played over 18 evenings
■ Only 1 type of music played per night
■ No songs were repeated (no difference in music pace)
○ Independent subjects design: only exposed to 1 type of music
■ Kept other aspects the same (lighting, decor, temperature)
○ Sample: 393 customer
○ Measures:
■ Mean spend per table
■ Total time spent in restaurant
○ Found out people spend more + prepare to spend more when classical music
was played
● Gueguen et al (2007): (Music in open air markets)
○ Field study in France; open air market (selling toys)
■ Conditions: with joyful music | no music
○ Data collection:
■ 240 people selected from visitors to stall
■ 3 female stallholders acted as confederates
● If visitor is music consition, confederates would start the music as
soon as subject approached the stall
● 1st confederate: knew who’s subject + played music
● 2nd confederate: time length of stay + amount spent
○ Popular music → customer stayed longer at stall + higher spending
● Woods et al (2011): (Background noise n food perception)
○ Lab experiment
○ Investigated effect of background noise on perception of taste
■ Noise condition: no sound, quiet bg white noise, loud bg white noise
■ P gave ratings on:
● 1st experiment: Saltiness, sweetness, food liking
● 2nd experiment: overall flavor, crunchiness, food liking
○ 1st: 48 students from Manchester university (volunteer)
■ P sat at table with panel to hide food from view
■ P wore headphones
■ Closed eyes → eat → rate on saltiness sweetness liking
■ Sip of water between each trial
■ 25 trials / 30 mins
○ 2nd: 34 students
■ Rate flavor, cruchiness, food liking
■ Rate how much they like the background noise
○ Sweetness n saltiness rated lower in loud compared to quiet
○ Crunchiness was reported higher in loud
