by Retail atmospherics refers to store factors such as display design and fixtures, flooring, smell, store lighting and temperature, music, wall coverings, and other elements of store’s ambience, which can be controlled by a retailer to influence the consumer’s buying mood. It is the environment inside the store that ultimately influences buyer behavior that is why it is very strategic to retailers. The associations due to environmental dispositions in and around the retail store will facilitate the process of positioning and communicating value in terms of Points of Parity and Points of Difference in the consumer memory. The retail store atmospherics is an array of tangible and intangible dispositions interwoven into a web of meaning that touches the social, cultural, economic, psychological and religious life style of consumers, due to current fad, fashion and trends. Retail atmospherics intends to engage all of the customers’ senses into making a purchase. Retail atmospherics are based upon the fundamentals of consumer psychology in terms of using triggers to tell people to make a purchase or to stay more in the store.
The store environment consistently delivers consumer experiences throughout the shopping effort. The environment of a store is designed in order to communicate brand personality and image of the store. The intention is to create a kind of environment which can differentiate the store from competitors and is capable of stimulating purchasing activity by attacking customer’s senses in a very pleasure full manner. Atmosphere is a factor which is present in every buying situation. Atmospherics however, is a conscious planning of atmospheres to contribute to buyer’s propensity to consume. It’s perfect planning is capable of enhancing retailers’ revenues.
For example, a fine dining restaurant play slower paced music to draw in their target crowd and people to stay more and eat more. Similarly, a grocery shop might use the colours red and yellow to trigger the appetite and make people more likely to stop in and make a purchase. Most customers do not consciously notice these subtleties, but they create impact. It focuses on all the environmental elements such as dim or bright light, music which is classical, instrumental, fast, slow or hit number, attractive window dressing, layouts, freshness and fragrance, appropriate temperature to make it comfortable, soothing and trendy, vibrant colours, attractive logos and well managed traffic are ideal conditions that can affect the current and future behavior of consumers.
Features of Atmospherics include:
- A layout of the space including the location of clerks and checkout counters.
- Scents or aromas designed to excite and entice the shopper.
- The overall temperature of the retail space.
- The location of pricing information or other signage.
- Decorations which represent the brand.
- Music to inspire, sooth, or stimulate.
Many retail giants will use elements of atmospherics to help identify their retail brand and set it apart from competitors. One drawback can be an overly aggressive use of atmospherics, which can have the opposite effect, intimidating or driving potential customers away.
Aesthetics in a retail store
The trend of Indian market has changed a lot in the past few decades. Earlier there were a few retail stores and the competition was not very tough amongst them, but the past couple of years were revolutionary for the Indian retail market and now there are hundreds of names involved in retail marketing. Many established brands and new names are trying their luck in retail marketing and companies are trying their best to capture the attention of potential clients and increase the sales.
One of the best ways to connect to your customers is to catch their attention. Provide perfect visual delight to your customers and convince them to at least check your store and products once. Retail stores are spending a good amount of money on visual merchandising; the better you project yourself the more desired attention you will get in return.
Atmospheric and aesthetic are two important elements of store interiors and almost all retail stores try to excel in these two elements. The concept of beauty and aesthetic sense is not only restricted to the display window, but the whole store is designed and organized in such a way that it meets the customers’ expectations and motivates them to explore more and find suitable products for themselves ending in sales. The mantra of success in retail marketing is largely decided by the aesthetic element of a store.
It is human nature to explore things that please the visual sense and retail stores are fully exploring this fact for improving their performance and sales. The atmospheric element includes light, colour, music and scent of the retail store that will stimulate the customer’s response and will influence their buying behavior. Aesthetic element includes factors like size, colour and texture within the store. If you are wondering how to give a perfect look to your retail store follow a few simple steps and make your retail outlet an interesting place for customers.
The mantra of success in retail marketing is to connect to your customers instantly and the window display is your first step to connect to your customers. While working on appearance and design of your retail store remember that if something catches your attention, it will surely catch a passer-by’s attention too. Think from the buyer’s point of view and display items suiting the buyer’s interest. Improve your storefront; it should look appealing, promising and user-friendly. Make sure that inner section of your store’s interior is the extension of your storefront and it fulfils customer’s expectations.
Once your customer enters into the store make sure that you made the best use of the opportunity and show your best to allure the customer and inspire them to buy from the store. Create the right ambiance with perfect color, size, shape and design, it is very important to display the products at its best. Customers should get a full view of the store, leave enough space between two racks and utilize the connecting path from one section to other to display the best of both sections. Make sure that the products are displayed at appropriate height, there should be enough light so that the customers can get a better view of the product before buying it. For clothing and accessory store it is essential to have enough number of trial rooms with proper light & air and an attendant to help the customers in choosing the items.
- Be innovative in your approach. While working on the interior of your store make sure that aesthetics and atmosphere of the store is user-friendly and it does not hinder the movement and activities in the store.
- Display your merchandise aesthetically and increase your sales, remember the more interestingly you present your product, the more attention it will gain. It is human tendency to appreciate beauty and attractiveness.
- Being off the indent is good care to be different to gain more footsteps to your store. Ask your employees to suggest innovative and witty ways to promote products in your store. That way you not only get a free creative team, you also keep your employees engaged. Many will pick up cues from what customers say about a product.
- Know what’s in and highlight them. It’s easy to keep a record of what the customers ask for “Where’s the”. These cues are important to know what’s selling these days and once the customer is hooked, he/she will possibly buy more variety of products.
