India

Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India
Piyush Sharma
Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to explore the process by which four store environment (
music, light,
employee, and layout) and two individual characteristics (shopping enjoyment ten
dency (SET) and
impulse buying tendency (IBT)) influence impulse buying behavior through positiv
e and negative
affect, and urge to buy impulsively.
Design/methodology/approach The data were obtained using a structured questionna
ire from
733 respondents in a mall survey conducted in Chennai, South India.
Findings In the structural model tested with AMOS, the authors found that store
environment
drove impulse buying (IB) through positive affect and urge. Results also showed
that the personality
variables (SET and IBT) influenced IB through positive affect and urge. This pap
er did not find
support for the relationship between negative affect and urge.
Research limitations/implications Theoretically, the authors add to the list of
antecedents of
impulse buying, and to the outcomes of store environment. From a managerial view
point, the authors
suggest that retail managers invest in improving the store environment to increa
se the level of impulse
buying in their stores. Specifically, they need to focus on enhancing friendline
ss of store employees,
playing appropriate music, designing proper layouts and having well-lit stores t
o encourage impulse
buying.
Originality/value Prior research studied the elements of the store independently
and also its
long-term impact. To the best of the authors knowledge, their research is the fir
st to study the impact
of store environment (in conjunction with trait variables) on impulse buying.
Keywords Impulse buying, Positive/negative affect, Retail shoppers, Store enviro
nment,Urge, Retailing,
Retailers, Shopping
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Impulse buying is a widely prevalent phenomenon around the world. According to
Coca Cola s CEO Muhtar Kent, more than 70 percent of Coke s sales are due to impulse
purchases (Karmali, 2007). Similarly, a Canadian grocery chain observed that its
profitability would increase by more than 40 percent if each customer purchased
an
additional item on impulse (Babin and Attaway, 2000). Prior research on impulse
buying found its many antecedents, including individual characteristics such as
impulse buying tendency (Weun et al., 1998) and optimum stimulation level (Sharm
a
et al., 2010a), product category variables such as involvement (Jones et al., 20
03), and
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Impact of store
environment
1711
Received 4 March 2011
Revised 22 June 2011
24 November 2011
3 February 2012
5 April 2012
Accepted 7 April 2012
European Journal of Marketing
Vol. 47 No. 10, 2013
pp. 1711-1732
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0309-0566
DOI 10.1108/EJM-03-2011-0110
situational factors such as time and money availability (Beatty and Ferrell, 199
8),
in-store advertisements (Zhou and Wong, 2003), in-store signage (Peck and Childe
rs,
2006), in-store slack (Stilley et al., 2010), display (Ghani and Kamal, 2010) an
d type of
food consumed (Mishra et al., 2012).
On the other hand, there is a growing stream of research on store environment,
which explores the influence of its various elements on consumer behavior. For
example, it shows that the perceptions about store employees may influence custo
mers
attitudes towards merchandise and service quality (Hu and Jasper, 2006). Similar
ly,
convenience, quality, variety and value lead to positive attitudes towards priva
te labels
(Collins-Dodd and Lindley, 2003; Vahie and Paswan, 2006) and store brands (Semei
jn
et al., 2004).
Store environment may also influence the number of items purchased, store liking
,
time and money spent (Sherman et al., 1997), perceived quality of merchandise an
d
patronage (Baker et al., 1994); sales (Milliman, 1982), product evaluation (Whea
tley and
Chiu, 1977), satisfaction (Bitner, 1990), and store choice (Darden et al., 1983)
. However,
there is little attention paid to the influence of store environment on impulse
buying
despite its increasing importance in making the retail experience a key differenti
ator
(Hu and Jasper, 2006).
While Sherman et al. (1997) explore the influence of store layout, ambience, and
sales personnel on unplanned buying they do not consider impulse buying which is
different from unplanned buying (Stern, 1962). Beatty and Ferrell (1998) propose
d a
model of impulse buying including some consumer traits (impulse buying tendency,
shopping enjoyment tendency) and situational variables (time and money available
)
but do not include store-level factors. They even ask are impulse buyers more
vulnerable to store atmospherics? . Similarly, Baker et al.(2002) study the impact
of
store environment on patronage, but not on impulse buying.
Donovan et al. (1994) show that store atmosphere drove pleasure, time and money
spent. Spies et al. (1997) found that a good layout reduces the information rate ,
i.e. a
good layout helps the consumers find products and information easily, unlike a p
oor
layout; however, it is not clear to what extent store layout may encourage or in
hibit
impulse buying.
Recent research in the domain straddling retail store environment (and its
correlates) and consumer behavior finds that store environment is positively rel
ated to
store trust and leads to more positive evaluations of merchandise (Guenzi et al.
, 2009).
A store perceived high on hedonic attributes provided excitement to shoppers (As
hley
et al., 2010). Customers look for fast and efficient billing systems, visual
merchandizing, and informative signage within the store and prompt staff (Ghosh
et al., 2010). Arousal induced by music and aroma results in increased pleasure
levels,
which in turn positively influences approach behavior, and satisfaction with the
shopping experience (Morrison et al., 2011