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Visual aesthetics in store

Presented By: Nitish Taneja 191038 Rahul Singh 191047 Amit Gandhi 191068 Anirban Sammadar 191070

Objectives

Our aim to look at where the visual aesthetics of a store will affect the buying behavior of any consumer.
The stores will be restricted to clothes store, accessory, shoes and restaurants.

Buying behavior means how customers react to the visual cues outside and inside the store.
It includes the perception of customers towards the visual cues.

Also the change in buying pattern regarding the same.

Literature Review

We have looked at the following research paper for guidance for our project.

Journal of Consumer Behavior Sep/Oct 2010 Published online in Wiley Online Library www.wileyonlinelibrary.com

Doi:10.1002/cb.324

Hypothesis 1

Null Hypothesis::Visual aesthetics, level of discount, location and service and locality are all equal in selecting a store.

Result :: Null hypothesis rejected. We have used Chi-Square to prove the hypothesis. The mean for visual aesthetic comes out as 0.6163. The mean for visual aesthetic comes out as 0.5233.

The mean for visual aesthetic comes out as 0.3605.

The mean for visual aesthetic comes out as 0.6628.

Hypothesis 2

Hi-Street or malls have same level of visual aesthetics.

Hypothesis rejected. We have used Anova to prove the hypothesis. The value is significant at 0.03. The F-value is 33.45. Important Observation:

People perceive the stores at malls to be more decorated. This can be explained by the fact that there is more competition for stores at malls.

Hypothesis 3

People who are sure about which brand to buy are not affected by visual aesthetics.

We could not reject the null hypothesis. We performed Cross-Tabulation for the same. Observation: It was clear that if we are sure which brand we have to buy, then the visual cues of the store will not attract the customer towards the store.

Hypothesis 4

Shoppers who shop frequently are not attracted by the visual cues.

We performed Anova to test the hypothesis. The hypothesis was rejected.( significant value of .04 and F-value of 3.825 ) Important Marketing Implication: Shoppers who shop frequently are likely to be attracted by the visual cues.

Hypothesis 5

Customers who spend more on shopping will not notice the visual cues at store.

The hypothesis could not be rejected.(F-value of 0.246 and significant value of 0.782).

Important marketing implication:

Heavy shoppers are likely to go to the preferable brands only(money is an not a constraint) and may fail to notice visual cues until they are getting what they want.

Hypothesis 6

Visual aesthetics is directly related to the following six factors:

1. Presentation of mannequins at clothes store, picture and ingredients in menu at food- joints etc. 2. Lighting 3. Decoration for special occasions like Diwali 4. Hygiene, odor, etc. 5. Use of art form like modern arts, abstract art etc. 6. Themes for new year,

Hypothesis 6 contd.

We performed factor analysis.

Rotated Component matrix result were:

5(0.749) and 6(0.758), 2 (0.851) and 4 (0.832) and 1(.829) and 3(0.816) Together the new model still explained 79.870 of the total effect.

Hypothesis 6 contd.

Then we used the factors(using the eigen values) to develop three new variable.

For each respondent, new variable becomes,0.829*(response of variable 1)+0.816*(response of variable 3). Similarly for the remaining two factors.

Results:
The new three variable were able to explain 63.275% of change in the dependent variable, the importance of aesthetics in impromptu selection of store.

Also, only factor 1 and 3 were significant.

Hypothesis 6 contd.

Marketing implication:

Mannequins and decorations draw customers towards stores. Theming stores and modern Arts are also a big draw.

But, lighting and hygiene are not that important. Maybe because these things are noticed once you are already in the stores.

Other important finding:

We used cluster sampling on the six dimensions of visual aesthetics for customers who go to malls(55 out of the 86 sample).
We divided them on to three clusters, which came out of size 36, 14 and 5. Since cluster 1 is the biggest, we look at it. Cluster 1 people favored Mannequins, lighting and artwork.

Marketing implication: Most customers give high importance to mannequins, lighting and art work. So shopkeepers must focus on the three aspects while adding visual cues to the store, especially in malls.

Conclusion

Visual aesthetics along with discounts are the major draw towards any store impromptu.
Generally, the visual cues in a store located in malls are more visible than the stores in hi-streets.

Generally, people who are brand loyal are not easily swayed by the visual cues.
Customers who are frequent shoppers are likely to pay more attention to the visual cues.

Conclusion contd.

The heavy spenders are most likely to not notice the visual cues.
The most important elements of visual cues are how stores cloth their mannequin, the in house decoration and theming for special occasions like new year.

Recommendations

Stores must spend well in giving their stores a distinctive and good look and feel.
It becomes more important for malls to improve on its look since they face more competition than other hi street stores.

Stores must give schemes for regular customers so that the frequent customers do not go for other attractions.
The lighting and mannequin arrangements are important since they are visible from outside and help attract customers.