Effect of in-store atmosphere in malls on consumption emotions and buying behavior

Businesses experiencing intensive competition in today?s retail sector work to understand changing consumer behaviors and to find new ways to reach to consumer. In this sense, businesses prefer to use store atmosphere in order to stimulate consumption emotions known as effective on consumer purchasing behaviors. The aim of this dissertation is to examine whether in-store atmosphere triggers consumption emotions and whether there is a relation between consumption emotions and purchasing behaviors.In accordance with this purpose, a questionary study performed to test the designed model. The field study was applied to 521 customers on shopping for clothes at a shopping center in Bursa between May and September 2009. Subjects were chosen via simple sampling.This dissertation consists of two parts. In the first part, consumption emotions, store atmosphere and consumer buying behaviors are examined from conceptual perspective. In the second part, research model, hypotheses and research method are explained. Besides this part contains analysis of data obtained from field studies, test of the proposed model, evaluation of findings, limitation of the study, and suggestions.Research findings indicate that store atmosphere has a positive and statistically significant impact on consumption emotions. Although I get the expected signs for the impact of consumption emotions on impulse buying, shopping time and time perception during paying of consumers, they are not statistically significant. However, emotions felt during the shopping have positive and statistically significant effects on spending level of consumers in the store, level of contentment, possibility of revisiting the store, and possibility of recommending the store to others. In the light of these findings, it is concluded that components of in-store atmosphere stimulate emotions and whereby purchasing behaviors.