Store atmosphere and purchasing behavior

This study extends the Donovan and Rossiter (1982) study which introduced the Mehrabian-Russell (M-R) environmental psychology model into the store atmosphere literature. Donovan and Rossiter's study was exploratory in that student subjects were used and intentions rather than shopping behavior were measured. The present study uses a broader sample of shoppers, measures emotions during the shopping experience rather than before or after, and records the effects on actual shopping behavior. The 1982 study found that experienced pleasantness of the in-store environment was a significant predictor of willingness to spend time in the store and intentions to spend more money than originally planned. This finding was extended behaviorally in the new study: pleasure, as rated five minutes into the shopping duration was a significant predictor of extra time spent in the store and actual incremental spending. Arousal was found to vary in its effects across the two studies and bears further investigation. The effects of the emotional factors of pleasure and arousal were shown to be additional to cognitive factors such as variety and quality of merchandise, price specialing and value for money. The practical significance for retailers is that emotional responses induced by the store environment can affect the time and money that consumers spend in the store.