Stores can be effectively designed for different kinds of shoppers

Thomas van Rompay and Karin Tanja-Kijkstra and Joost Verhoeven and Annemiek van Es, "On Store Design and Consumer Motivation: Spatial Control and Arousal in the Retail Context," Environment and Behavior 44 (2012): 6

The take-away: This study identifies two kinds of shoppers—“task oriented” and “recreationally oriented” shoppers. The former group is shown to prefer spacious store layouts and the latter group responds positively to “arousing” environmental factors such as certain colors. With this in mind, store managers can strategically appeal to one group or both. 

Abstract

Research testifies to the influence of environmental factors in shopping environments. However, few studies examine effects of store design in interaction with shoppers’ motivations. The authors propose that task-oriented shoppers prefer stores that are spacious, whereas recreational shoppers enjoy and prefer the arousing properties of color. To provide controlled tests of these hypotheses, we created visual simulations of stores that varied by color (arousing red vs. less arousing blue) and layout (spacious vs. cluttered), and induced either task-oriented or recreational shopping motivations. Customers at a clothing store responded to one of these four store video displays. Results showed that motivations interact with environmental factors. Task- oriented shoppers preferred shopping in spacious stores, whereas recreational shoppers preferred high-arousing store environments. These findings suggest that store managers could increase arousal levels using ambient design elements, such as colored lights, when shoppers are likely recreationally oriented and provide spacious environments to appeal to task-oriented shoppers. 

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