A Study on atmosphere creation in department stores

Today modern retailers spend more money to create attractive store environment. However, retailers do not generally engage in systematic research that enables them to determine the appropriate mix of environmental factors that may influence the consumers' retail store choice. This study examines the existing literature on store atmosphere in department stores. Based on this literature, a field study is conducted to investigate: (1) the relative importance of atmosphere as a factor determining the store choice of various social classes; (2) the preferences of consumers belonging to various social classes from department store environment. In order to determine the relative importance placed by consumers on store atmosphere, the other key department store attributes as store choice factors held by consumers are identified. Because social class is a significant determinant of consumer behavior, this study uses several measures of social class to investigate the influence of this possible segmentation variable on consumer evaluation of the importance of the store atmosphere. Furthermore, the social class variable is used in determining the appropriate mix of three store atmospherics factors- ambient, design, and social factors- in a department store environment. Some important findings of this study can be listed as follows: (1) there are eight factors that can affect the consumers' store choice including store atmosphere; (2) consumers belonging to high social class place a high level of importance on store atmosphere; (3) the preferences of consumers in various social classes about in-store environment somewhat differ. Keywords: Department Store, Store Atmosphere, Social Class