Empirical Study Of A Large Supermarket Retail Environment Affect Customer Perception And Shopping Behavior

Retail environment is influencing customer perception and shopping behavior in a more and more profound way. While theorists are universal in their recognition of the importance of environment, there is a dearth of empirical research into the phenomenon. As General Supermarket becoming a important part of people's daily life, how to manage its retail environment to attract cunstomers and increase sales becomes key task of this paper. The main purpose of the study is to examine the role of General Supermarket environment on customers' internal evaluations that constitute both cognitive and emotional evaluations, and how these evaluations lead to the customers' behavior.Data were collected using a questionnaire survey from 268 customers in 10 General Supermarkets in Hangzhou. Shoppers' perception of store environment was recorded after they had visited a particular supermarket. The empirical results supported most of our hypothesis. The findings of the research are showed as following:(1) Customers divide the store environment into three dimensions: design factors, ambiance (including non-visual and visual) and social factors (including service personnel, other customers and crowding)(2)Store environment affects customer behavior positively, and among all the environment dimensions, design factor weight the most. Store environment will also influence customer cognitive and emotional evaluations in a positive way.(3)Customers with different characteristics and shopping task will perceive and behavior differently on their shopping trip.Finally, based on the empirical research result, this paper put forward managerial implications for retail companies on how to establish a retail environment that will attract customers and influence their behavior. Due to the limitations of research experience, personal ability and resources, there are some deficiencies. For example, the selection of samples, the collection of data, and deeper elaboration of the empirical research are needed in future research.