Studying The Stimulating Role of Visual Merchandising and Store Indoor Atmosphere on Customers Shopping Behavior: Case Of Clothing Stores

Visual merchandising is one of the essential strategic tools as an initial stimulant while getting the brand into the customer's mind. It is a crucial retail strategy that maximizes the aesthetics of a product and activates customers' shopping behaviour. Therefore, retail is where the brand interacts and connects with the customer whilst well visual merchandising creates awareness and draws customers into the shop. The engagement process starts before a customer sets foot in the store and this process is dependent upon the visual quality of a retail display. For this purpose, the principles of visual expression and interior design must be taken into account in a detailed perspective; including design of windows, interior layout, furniture and fixtures, fabric, texture, colour and lighting design and so far due to their significant influence on the customer's behaviour and satisfaction. This thesis focuses on the stimulating effect of visual merchandising and store indoor environments on various shopping behaviour. This perspective intends to quest the impact of the above-stated principles of visual expression as a stimulating factor on the shopping behaviour of customers by conducting a questionnaire survey. In addition, it attempts to quest and explore whether consistency and inconsistency between visual merchandising and retail indoor atmosphere features are effective on the satisfaction of various customers in mixed fashion clothing stores or not. In this thesis, a survey was conducted to determine the public spaces' evaluations and opinions, especially clothing stores window displays. According to the collective of the analysis's findings, certain design elements in fashion retail store interior and exterior design, display units, colour and texture, lighting, and store layout, all contribute to increased purchase behaviour. Furthermore, according to the results, there is a strong relationship between the customer and the retail atmosphere. Therefore, this research should be considered by many researchers and designers when it comes to stimulating customers and creating visually attractive stores and interior design, and how it triggers the shopping phenomenon on the user.