| Nowadays, one of the major development areas of merchandising is focused on the store atmosphere. The study of the influence of store atmosphere on consumers' affective state and behavioural responses is of a great interest for retail industry. In fact, the number of retailers has increased and, consequently, shopping options available for consumer are also being amplified. Within this environment, creating a differential advantage on the basis of merchandise, price, promotion and location ("traditional marketing") are becoming troublesome for many retailers. Because of that increasing competition, retailers must be certain that their stores are up-to-date and reflect an image that is appealing to their target markets (Baker et al., 1992). In fact, one of the most significant features of the total product is the place where it is bought or consumed. In some cases, the place, or more specifically the place atmosphere, is more influential than the product itself in the purchase decision (Kotler, 1973).; A considerable body of literature has been accumulated on atmospheric effects in traditional stores; however, the impact of these factors in online retail environments has not yet been well documented (Eroglu et al., 2003). Some studies posit that although the instrumental qualities or utilitarian elements of online shopping (e.g. ease and convenience) are important predictors of consumers' attitudes and purchase behaviours, the hedonic aspects of the web medium could play an equally important role in shaping these behaviours (Childers et al., 2001). In fact, the physical environment has typically been conceptualized as a set of in-store variables such as music, lighting, colour, smell, and store layout, but the Internet has created a new type of electronic physical environment (Koernig, 2003).; The physical environment of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers plays an important role in influencing consumer attitudes and behaviours. However, not much systematic research attention has been given to the nature and effectiveness of online retailing, and specifically, to the role of the online environment characteristics in shaping consumer responses. Some work can be found related to the nature and the features of the medium (e.g. Hoffman et al., 1996) and users' processing of information in the virtual world (Schlosser, 2003), neglecting the study of the influence atmosphere cues on consumer responses. Moreover, given both the increasing number of online stores and shoppers and the importance of the study of atmospheric cues in brick-and-mortar retail, retailers must pay a special attention to online stores design.; Our main objective in this thesis is to analyze the influence of three different atmospheric cues on shoppers' cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses in an online apparel shopping environment. Specifically, we will consider the music and animations of products as hedonic variables; and the navigational structure as utilitarian variable of webmosphere (Eroglu et al., 2003; Dailey, 2002; Childers et al., 2001). A between-subjects experimental design is used to test our hypotheses manipulating these dimensions of web atmospherics. In addition we developed an integrated methodology that allows the simulation, tracking and recording of subjects' behaviour within an online shopping environment under different atmospheric conditions. Finally, with this research we also expect to derive practical implications from these relationships and comparisons in order to provide retailers with more information about their consumers' preferences in an online shopping environment. |
