Characteristics Of A Shopping Mall's Environment And Its Impact On Consumer Behavior

1 Introduction

Characteristics of a shopping mall’s environment have massive impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior. Following the literature from Mehrabian and Russell (1974) who focus on the relationship between environmental cues and consumer behavior, some further studies suggests that store atmospherics plays a prominent role in switching product evaluation and consumer satisfaction (Bitner, 1986). From the review of recent marketing scholar, store design, product display, lighting, background music, ambient scents, such combination of environmental elements potentially influence the willingness of consumers to buy and stay (Baker et al, 1992). Generally speaking, these physical settings are directly connected to our human beings

In other words, these five senses including visual, auditory, olfactory, gustative and tactile that originate from anatomical features drive consumer perception and judgment towards a product or a store to some degree, which is seen as an influencer of consumption experience (Peck and Childers, 2008). Hirschmann and Holbrook (1982) initiated the notion of consumption experience and concluded that all products should offer service including environmental stimulus, in-store communication and customer contacts as much as possible to create satisfactory experience. In this sense, sensory marketing acts as an irreplaceable role in the creation of consumer experience. In the context of retail, substantial organizations have implemented sensory marketing to enhance customer experience, distinguish from their competitors and build interactive relationship with consumers. A typical example is Abercrombie and Fitch’s application of multi-sensory branding, which manages to penetrate deeply into the hearts of consumers. Abercrombie and Fitch intends to make consumer perceive it as nightclub by surrounding with loud background music, strong ambient fragrance, dim lighting and half-naked male