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Retail Design: Lighting as a Design Tool for the Retail Environment
Abstract
There are three main parts in this thesis: Retailing, Retailology, and Experimental Research. The first part tackles the complexity of retail design and tries to understand why shops are what they are. Now and in the past, some of the most innovative developments and interiors can be seen in the retail sector. Therefore a closer look at the history and development of shops and shopping is made, with a focus on two aspects: the retail architecture (i.e. the building and interior design) and the managerial aspects. Three types of stores are described: the department store; the chain store and its derivative the boutique chain store; and the supermarket. A graphical timeline is designed to visualise the trends and innovations, and the influences of all three types on each other and other retail environments. Next, a clear set of definitions of related terms to the retail design discipline is provided, together with an explanation of the added value retail design can provide.
Retail design is a multidisciplinary field of study, which includes scientific research. However, interior design in general and retail design in particular only recently started to develop a proper body of knowledge. The second part of this thesis focuses on this emerging development. Two important challenges are explained: first, communication to the field of designers (from all related design disciplines) and other stakeholders involved. The second challenge is of a more methodological nature: how to find a harmonious reference framework that combines three different research disciplines that study spatial features – design, environmental psychology, marketing and communication. Therefore, a theoretical framework is introduced as the basis for our research set-up for experiments discussed in the last part. Important for discussion here is the designer’s perspective to be considered when conducting experimental research. Next, within this framework, lighting is outlined as a case study and its empirical possibilities are explored by focusing on atmospherics. A brief historical contextualisation of lighting retail spaces is sketched, followed by a list of lighting related terms and concepts. The justification for such research is provided by interviews with experts and a literature review concerning lighting spaces.
The final and third part of this thesis focuses on describing the experiments conducted regarding lighting food. Five experiments are set up that deal with questions on the impact of lighting on the appearance of products, product preference and sales – from the product point of view -, and the way lighting influences the perception of atmosphere, and customers’ affect – from the spatial point of view. A gradual shift from a photograph of products over a controlled lab-supermarket towards a real supermarket is made. It is argued that there is a correlation between affect and perceived atmosphere, and the resulting behaviours. To conclude, the results of the experiments are set back to the context of this thesis. Due to the contrast and duality of the results only an attempt to come to guiding principles could be made. Finally, the limitations and implications are discussed.
... Apple, as a product belonging to the category of fruits and vegetables, was chosen because of the intention to avoid the potential connection of the respondents to the brand, and thus giving biased answers to questions regarding the perception of quality and price. Nevertheless, according to the review of the relevant literature, it can be concluded that the authors use a wide range of products from different product categories as the subject of observation (Quartier, 2011). Therefore, due to the greater possibility of generalizing the results, the recommendation for any future research would be to continue with the similar methodology, using more products from different categories as the subjects of evaluation. ...
... Finally, as one of the limitations of the research comes the possibility that the screen characteristics of the device, through which the respondent accesses the questionnaire, produce a different product image and lighting colour O N L I N E F I R S T temperature, due to different screen resolution. Although some authors claim that there is no difference in colour representation on different screens (Quartier, 2011), this limitation is relativized by sample size, which was created with the help of a reputable market research agency, hired for the purpose of greater representativeness. In addition, in order to relativize this limitation, the study involved respondents who accessed the questionnaire exclusively through a desktop computer, thus excluding the possibility of using other devices, such as a mobile phone. ...
The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether lighting in a retail facility affects the behaviour of shoppers on the Serbian market. The subject of the paper is lighting, which represents one of the instruments of shopper marketing. Review of the relevant literature suggests that lighting can have a significant impact on the appearance of the observed product. Data for testing hypotheses were collected from the samples on the markets of Serbia. In order to collect data, an online experiment was conducted. Data were processed using repeated measures one-factor analysis of variance. Based on the research results the conclusion is that different treatments of lighting colour and temperature affect the shoppers' perception of the quality of the observed product, but do not affect shoppers' price perception of the observed product on the Serbian market.
... Retail design is still quite new as an academic discipline (Quartier 2011;Petermans and Kent 2017). Thus, the amount of field-specific academic "Experiential Retail Environments" in the Fashion Sector literature remains scarce. ...
This article examines the phenomenon of “Experiential Retail Environments” (EREs) in the fashion sector in view of being useful to retail design practice. A discovery-oriented research approach was applied to understand: (i) what an ERE is; (ii) how in-store experience is triggered; and (iii) how the experiential dimension is integrated in the retail designer’s processes. Data were collected through the combination of a literature review and interviews conducted with representatives of the stakeholder groups most concerned with fashion retail design projects: retailers, retail designers, and customers. The research provided valuable clarifications. First, it helped to propose two definitions for the term ERE, one more specifically suited to a retail professional audience and the other accounting for the customer perspective. Second, it showed in-store experience to be created at two levels: through the combination of tangible aspects that generates varying customer perceptions, representing a more conceptual level for the experience. Finally, it surfaced that though there is a call for more experience integration in the fashion retail sector, currently, there is no systematic approach for this in the physical retail design process. In most cases, experiential considerations are left to the retailer and dealt with after the store concept has been designed.
... There are three principal rationales in adapting Mehrabian and Russell affect model: firstly, it provides a perfect theoretical framework to investigate the effect of any environment on human behaviour through the mediating variables of emotions; secondly, it benefits in measuring the possible emotional responses; and thirdly, this affect model empirically claims that it can measure the effect of any built environment on human behaviour [18], [42], [43], [55], [57]. On the bases of these three stated rationales it is believed that the Mehrabian and Russell's affect model would be appropriate to measure the effect of music, in 3D VRR stores, on shoppers' behaviour. ...
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of music, as an atmospheric cue of 3D virtual reality retail (VRR) stores, on shoppers' emotions and behaviour. To complete this research, a major empirical study was conducted in Second Life (SL) which is one of the most mature virtual worlds (VWs). The effect of the music on shoppers' emotions was experimentally tested in computer labs. Pre-test and post-test were conducted to evaluate the emotion levels before and after experiencing 3D VRR stores. Detailed mediation analysis was done with the PROCESS tool at the later stage of the analysis. This research confirmed 'music' as an atmospheric cue of 3D Servicescape. Results of this research determined the effect of music on shoppers' arousal, pleasure and consequent shopping behaviour. Further, this research could not identify the direct effect of arousal on shoppers' behaviour, however, it was a major source of inducing pleasure and increasing shoppers' positive approach behaviour. This paper contribute to better understanding the 3D VRR store atmospheric, role of music in it, shoppers' emotions and behaviour.
... Retail design could be considered as a design discipline which concerns the design of virtual or physical spaces, serving to merchandise products and/or services (Quartier, 2011).Today, however, the discipline is still largely seen as a subfield of interior design: in literature on retail design many authors consider the design of the physical environment as the default starting point (Claes, 2016). Due this narrow view on retail design as a part of interior design, the discipline is limited in its development towards a mature discipline in its own right. ...
It has been our hypothesis that designing for retail in the future would strongly benefit from more specialized education and training programs, truly integrating social sciences and design disciplines. To this end, we are currently aiming to launch a postgraduate certificate program on retail design. In preparing this program, we have critically reviewed the three different educational programs that we already organize on retail design.To have a first indication of the validity of this approach, we were able to use interviews with senior and junior designers of 10 retail design agencies. The results suggest that there seems to be both a demand and an opportunity for a retail design program for (young) professionals who will work together in group on a (preferably realistic) design assignment, which offers a sufficiently deep handling of issues, an integration of theory and practice via a work-shop set-up and should most likely be offered in English.
A evolução do consumo possibilitou o surgimento do retail design tornando as experiências no ponto de venda (PDV), um fator central para compreensão do comportamento do cliente. Por meio de avaliações de humor, entrevistas com usuários, workshop com projetistas e avaliações com psicólogos, o artigo propõe a criação de um conjunto de 41 estratégias de retail design para se projetar PDV´s gastronômicos sensíveis ao humor do usuário. Ademais das estratégias, o estudo traz a importância do papel do design e do humor nas experiências do varejo gastronômico.
These proceedings were created by compiling the papers presented at the first colloquium of the Special Interest Group (SIG) Designing Retail & Service Futures from the Design Research Society (DRS). The SIG was established in 2021. The SIG strives to gain a better understanding of the value of design in the commercial sector, including disciplines, such as interior design, architecture, retail and hospitality, branding, marketing, strategic design, design management and consumer psychology. Design and its value have been a subject of study for many years and from many different disciplinary perspectives (ranging from product design to marketing, business economics, service design, management, environmental psychology, (interior)architecture, etc.). However, these perspectives have been developed in a fragmented way with discrete research methods and results that present limitations to practically applying these findings holistically across the inter-related fields of design, retail, and services
For many people, coffee shops are a familiar part of everyday life—they are a pit-stop on the way to work or school, a pause in the middle of a busy workday, or a place to meet for social or business transactions. While normally considered to be an urban phenomenon, a tendency to locate coffee shops outside of commercial districts has been identified in recent research. In European cities such as Copenhagen, coffee shops have begun appearing in abandoned buildings in remote, formerly industrial areas. A similar, though not identical trend exists in Hong Kong, where coffee shops have been established in retail spaces in older neighborhoods formerly dominated by suppliers of industrial hardware and commercial goods. These shops seem to offer patrons a desirable escape from more well-known commercial districts. To better understand this tendency, and the significance of the location in such projects, this study has carried out participant observation activities and interviews in a selection of coffee shops located in outlying areas, where there have not previously been coffee shops. The following themes were identified and discussed: 1: Individual businesses; 2. Added Activities; 3: Repurposed Buildings; 4: Appealing Neighborhoods; 5: Light and Spaciousness; 6. Quiet; 7: Outdoor Seating; 8: Storytelling. Findings suggest, first of all, that repurposed buildings and the neighborhoods that surround them can create significant value for consumers, who, in return, are willing to spend extra time and energy to visit them, and, secondly, that the preservation of existing structures and neighborhoods is a step in the direction of responsible and sustainable store design.
Retail design authenticity has seen global brands expressing a growing interest in unique as opposed to standardised expressions of store design. To express authenticity, global brands may opt for localised retail store design (retail stores that express the place in which the store is designed) as a form of unique retail design that offers an experience that is rooted in a time and place. Localised retail design differs from conventional modes of retail design in that designers source inspiration from both brand and place (as opposed to brand only). This poses risks to brand recognition as the resultant retail store is not standardised nor aligned exclusively to the reflection of brand identity. This necessitates consideration in the mediation of global brand and local authenticity when localising retail design. This study asks: What are the areas for mediating global brand and local authenticity when localising retail design? Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted eighteen interviews with retail designers based worldwide. The interviews are augmented with a theoretical sampling of twenty artefacts of localised retail design for four global brands. It was found that global brand and local authenticity can be mediated in three main areas when localising retail design. These are in the authorship, informants, and inhabitation of retail design. In the authorship of the retail store, authenticity can be attained by appointing both brand and local designers who work collaboratively on localised retail design. In sourcing informants to the retail design, designers should derive inspiration from both brand and local essence to enhance authentic representation. In inhabitation, the retail store should communicate the brand to local consumers while platforming experiences on local consumer culture. The contribution of the study is a novel conceptual model founded on these three areas for mediating brand and local authenticity in localised retail. This model has implications for both retail designers and brand managers in the development of localised retail experiences of global brands.
Lighting design has direct relations on space perception, visual stimulus, spatial cognition and user behaviour in retail environments. Quantitative and qualitative perspectives in retail lighting design help to attract the customers, play a role on the time spent in the retail environments, experience the built environment and displayed merchandise and create a suitable corporate identity. This study seeks to broaden the body of research on relationships between human preferences and retail lighting design and aims to investigate the impact of human factors in retail lighting design by means of an experimental subjective approach for sales areas, establishing a connection between luminous environment perception, price perception and quality perception of displayed products. This research emphasizes the necessity of an appropriate lighting design strategy for retail environments and its impact on customer’s space perception.
A growing body of consumer research studies emotions evoked by marketing stimuli, products and brands. Yet, there has been a wide divergence in the content and structure of emotions used in these studies. In this paper, we will show that the seemingly diverging research streams can be integrated in a hierarchical consumer emotions model. The superordinate level consists of the frequently encountered general dimensions positive and negative affect. The subordinate level consists of specific emotions, based on Richins' (Richins, Marsha L. Measuring Emotions in the Consumption Experience. J. Consum. Res. 24 (2) (1997) 127–146) Consumption Emotion Set (CES), and as an intermediate level, we propose four negative and four positive basic emotions. We successfully conducted a preliminary test of this second-order model, and compare the superordinate and basic level emotion means for different types of food. The results suggest that basic emotions provide more information about the feelings of the consumer over and above positive and negative affect. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The author examines consumer affective responses to product/consumption experiences and their relationship to selected aspects of postpurchase processes. In separate field studies of automobile owners and CATV subscribers, subjects reported the nature and frequency of emotional experiences in connection with product ownership and usage. Analysis confirms hypotheses about the existence of independent dimensions of positive and negative affect. Both dimensions of affective response are found directly related to the favorability of consumer satisfaction judgments, extent of seller-directed complaint behavior, and extent of word-of-mouth transmission.
This article presents a large-scale cross-sectional field study of the effect of store environment on consumer emotions and the resulting influence on aspects of consumer behavior with actual shopping behavior used as an example. Cast into a stimulus–organism–response framework, the results suggest that a consumer's emotions can be a mediating factor in the purchase process. In this study, we identify and explore how store environment and emotional states may influence various dimensions of purchase behavior. This research confirms that although cognitive factors may largely account for store selection and for most planned purchases within the store, the environment in the store and the emotional state of consumers may be important determinants of purchase behavior. This research has many pragmatic applications, because pleasure was associated with the amount of money spent and affinity for the store, whereas arousal was associated with money spent in the store, time spent in the store, and the number of items purchased in the store. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. Nevertheless, the topic of product design is rarely, if ever, encountered in marketing journals. To bring needed attention to the subject of product design and enable researchers to better investigate design issues, the author introduces a conceptual model and several propositions that describe how the form of a product relates to consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. After presenting this model, the author describes numerous strategic implications and research directions.