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Of all aspects of the shopping situation, the physical aspects are perhaps the most widely researched, covering attributes of the physical surroundings spanning across geographical location, weather and climate effects, shopping centre design and store layout, which comprise of décor, music, lighting, aromas, configuration of merchandise, etc. As well as in content, physical surroundings, as a type of discriminative stimuli present in the consumer situation can be considered as much a part of the classical conditioning domain as they are of operant conditioning. While they are discussed in the context of a recent adaptation of an operant model, this model starts to bring together reinforcement with preceding stimuli, in a similar vein to classical conditioning. Many of the physical attributes specific to a given retail space, be it store or shopping centre, are amenable to manipulation by retailers, more so than other variables in the behaviour setting. Retailers use promotions, merchandising, store design and atmospherics to attract potential customers, and induce certain behaviour, such as browsing and buying (Babin, Darden et al. 1994).

Much of the research on the physical aspects of the shopping situation has focused on

‘atmospherics’, which is described by Kotler (Kotler 1973) as the purposeful design of shopping spaces to enhance the probability of consumer purchasing through the enhancing of specific emotional effects. Many studies have examined the overriding influence of atmospherics on consumer behaviour, though several have investigated individual atmospheric components.

While research in the wider field of environmental psychology has examined the impact of various individual ambient stimuli, such as lighting, colour, noise, temperature and scent on the physiological responses of humans in a variety of situations, several of these areas have received

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attention with respect to consumer behaviour under the banner of ‘atmospheric’ affects, describable in many ways by their affect on the senses, specifically, visual, aural, olfactory and haptic (tactile) stimulation.

The influence of aural stimuli on consumer behaviour, especially music, is perhaps one of the most researched areas in atmospheric study. The earliest studies focused mostly on attitudes and beliefs towards music, and how these influence purchase intent, perception of time passed, actual time passed (flow), and evaluations of product and store (Linsen 1975; Milliman 1982;

Dube and Morin 2001).

Fast tempo music in supermarkets seems to speed up flow in a store (time spent) and reduce number of purchases, while slow tempo music results in a significantly slowed flow, individuals taking longer to shop, and subsequently a higher sales volume (Milliman 1982).

Tempo also affects the behaviour of restaurant patrons, with faster tempo resulting in customer eating and leaving faster than in the slow tempo condition (Milliman 1982), which may be of benefit to restaurants wishing a fast turn-around during a busy lunch hour. However, slow tempo music was most likely to elicit purchase of alcoholic beverages, a substantial area of trade for restaurants, as the slow music acts as a signal to the customers that they are not being rushed.

Studies suggest that music volume appears to alter perceptions of waiting time in checkout queues, with louder volumes yielding overestimates of time passed, and softer music yielding underestimates (Kellaris and Altsech 1992). Modality, the configuration of the music scale in terms of the intervals between pitches, also seems to affect estimates of time passed, with modality associated with less pleasing music eliciting the shorted time estimates (Kellaris and Kent 1992).

Familiar music appears to reduce perceptions of time spent in store, by reducing attention to the environment, which unfamiliar music can elicit (Yalch and Spangenberg 1990). However, there appears to be little real relation between perceptions of shopping time and actual shopping time, a small relationship reported to be around 0.2 (Yalch and Spangenberg 2000). It appears that, in part, it is the influence of the various components of music; tempo, tonality, texture, etc., that

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affect a consumer’s behaviour indirectly, as discussed later in this chapter (Kellaris and Kent 1994).

Studies suggest that, besides the composition of the music, the music should be tailored to be congruent with the target market and the mood of the product (Yalch and Spangenberg 1990;

North, Hargreaves et al. 1999), and above all, palatable to the audience (Caldwell and Hibbert 2002). Music can in some situations affect product choice; German background music

increasing purchases of German wine, French wine outselling German wine when French music is played (North, Hargreaves et al. 1999). Music also appears to alter the amount customers are willing to spend on a product. Classical music for example, elicits more expensive purchases of wine than popular music (Areni and Kim 1993), many customers associate wine purchases with prestige and sophistication, which classical music is better able to communicate. While classical music leads to perceptions of the environment as upmarket and elegant, pop music promotes upbeat and assertive perceptions of an environment (North and Hargreaves 1998). Poorly fitting music can promote unbalance and discord for customers, distorting customers perceptions, attitudes and ultimately behaviour (Chebat, Chebat et al. 2001).

The effects of visual stimuli on consumer behaviour have received some attention, focusing primarily on the effects of colour and lighting, and to a lesser extent, the arrangement of merchandise displays. Colour can create a specific atmosphere or project a store’s image (Bellizzi, Crowley et al. 1983).

Certain colours (blues) elicit more favourable responses towards purchase intention than others (reds), with customers perceiving greater purchase associated benefits with items in the blue condition (Middlestadt 1990). On average, consumers spend more by selecting more expensive items in the blue condition (Bellizzi and Hite 1992), and react more favourably to low prices (Babin, Hardesty et al. 2003). Bright colourful, tense environments were most likely to

encourage impulse purchases, but result in customers putting off decisions for high involvement products (Bellizzi, Crowley et al. 1983; Bellizzi and Hite 1992).

Retailers manipulate lighting to communicate store image, attract visitors, persuade browsing and interaction with items, and increase purchase intention (Summers and Hebert 2001). Stores with inappropriate or inadequate lighting tend to suffer, as customers are reluctant to enter such

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environments. Supplementing displays with additional lighting has a positive effect on consumer approach, exploration and interaction behaviour.

Displays are used partly to create in-store excitement (Chevalier 1975), and focus customers’

attention on certain products to increase sales. The amount of space devoted to a single display affects sales considerably, with increases in display size resulting in inordinately increased sales (East, Eftichiadou et al. 2003). Space devoted to each product tends to be allocated on the basis of the proportion of sales that product obtains, with those items making up the larger

proportions of sales given larger spaces (Davies and Tilley 2004). The height at which items are placed also seems to impact on sales, with items around head high selling best. Placement of different products with relation to each other also has a significant impact on sales, with high-profit impulse items placed next to everyday goods to increase sales volume (Davies and Tilley 2004).

Olfaction has received some attention in studies into the influence of discriminative stimuli on consumer behaviour. For many years, scent has been used in retail settings as a means of eliciting purchases, the natural scent of products sold in bakeries, coffee bars and tobacconists used to attract customers (Spangenberg, Crowley et al. 1996). Later, retailers and academics realised that scent could even influence the purchase of scentless products, and a new wave of research emerged to examine the influence of ‘ambient scent’, odours present in the setting not directly related to the products there. By 1996, it was estimated that the artificial environmental fragrance industry, responsible for introducing ambient scents into retail atmospheres, was worth around $1 billion (Morrin and Ratneshwar 2000).

Early studies associate the smell sense to emotional recall, via scent receptors linked to the emotional centre (amygdala) and memory centre (hippocampus) of the brain (Aggleton and Waskett 1999; Halloway 1999). Such studies believe that scent has the potential role in

marketing to elicit specific moods in customers (Baron 1990; Mitchell, Kahn et al. 1995), on the basis that positive moods are more likely to result in favourable consumption (i.e. browsing, purchase and loyalty) behaviour, and ultimately a means of securing competitive advantage (Spangenberg, Crowley et al. 1996; Davies, Kooijman et al. 2003).

Though many studies suggest that scent impacts on consumer behaviour through moods, other theories on the impact of scent on behaviour suggest that scent can increase customer attention,

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and that, over time, individuals learn to recognise cues to behave in a particular manner (Morrin and Ratneshwar 2000). With experience, individuals learn to associate pleasant smells with positive outcomes, for example, pleasant smelling food usually results in pleasant taste, so the individual is more likely to eat (respond) pleasant smelling food to achieve this outcome (reinforcement).

Studies of olfactory stimuli on consumer behaviour suggest that scent influences many aspects of behaviour, including perceptions of time passed in store (Spangenberg, Crowley et al. 1996) actual time spend in store (Knasko 1989), consumers’ perceptions of a store and evaluations of a store’s environment and products (Morrin and Ratneshwar 2000). Pleasant ambient scent

appears to improve recall of unfamiliar brands, but not of familiar brands (Morrin and

Ratneshwar 2000). It is perhaps through a scent’s ability to increase attention to a product, that consumers become more likely to recall it. Scent congruence appears to be a main controlling factor on consumer behaviour. Pleasant scents seem to have a great potential to positively influence consumer behaviours such as purchase, store and product evaluation (price, quality, selection), etc., but congruency of scent with the setting or product must be ensured, as incongruent scents, pleasant though they may be, can confuse and inhibit decision making (Mitchell, Kahn et al. 1995). Evidence suggests stores with a single sex as its target market will do best by ensuring the scents used are congruent with that market; masculine scents for masculine audiences, and feminine scents for feminine audiences (Spangenberg, Sprott et al.

2006).

The influence of haptic (tactile) stimuli on consumer behaviour is a less explored area, and tends to focus on sales person interactions with individuals, exposing a possible overlap between physical discriminative stimuli and social discriminative stimuli. Touch appears to improve mood and heighten attentional arousal (Hornik 1992). The use of touch in a service encounter can build rapport, and affect consumer evaluations of sales staff and the retailer (Fisher, Rytting et al. 1976; Hornik 1992), as well as increase customer compliance to retail requests (Smith, Gier et al. 1982; Hornik 1992), in several studies reported to increase acquiescence to try a free sample, and also to purchase the item being sampled (Smith, Gier et al. 1982; Gueguen and Jacob 2006). In pubs, touch by female waitresses leads to increased purchases of alcoholic drinks (Kaufman and Mahoney 1999), and in restaurants, touch by female waitresses is reported to result in significantly larger tips (Stephen and Zweigenhaft 1985). Several studies have

reported gender differences in responses to touch, with females generally responding more

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favourably (Crusco and Wetzel 1984; Stephen and Zweigenhaft 1985; Gueguen and Jacob 2006), though some have made no such observations (Smith, Gier et al. 1982). Touch must be used cautiously however, as touch that is incongruent with the setting or culture might have a negative impact on customer responses (Gueguen and Jacob 2006), with some customers potentially being put off by over-eager sales staff.

The discriminative cues described above do no work in tandem. Several studies have examined the interaction of ambient cues, and reported their impact on consumer behaviour.

Combinations of colour and lighting stimuli seem to impact on perceptions of a store (Babin, Hardesty et al. 2003), with considerable customer preference and subsequent increased shopping and purchase intention associated with blue environments over orange environments in bright fluorescent lighting conditions, reducing to marginal preferences in soft lighting conditions. So do combinations of lighting and music, with stores having soft incandescent lighting and classical music combinations perceived as classy and prestigious, and stores with bright fluorescent lighting and pop music perceived as discount outlets (Baker, Grewal et al. 1994).

The influence of the combined effect of display (visual) and scent (olfactory) was found to influence the price customers are willing to pay for items on a display as well as their purchase intention, with pleasant congruent scents increasing these behaviours compared with

incongruent pleasant odours (Fiore, Yah et al. 2000). Displays alone only increased the price customers were willing to pay for products, not purchase intention.

In a study on the combined influence of music and fragrance on customer behaviour, Spangenberg found that consistency between ambient scent and music lead to higher evaluations of products and store environment, along with willingness to return to the store again in the future (Spangenberg, Grohmann et al. 2003), while bad combinations of aural and olfactory stimuli can ultimately lead to confusion in the decision making process.

Both Foxall and Belk agree that physical aspects of the behaviour setting can have a sizable impact on consumer behaviour. Attributes of the physical surroundings include geographical location, weather and climate, shopping centre design and tore layout, which comprise of décor, music, lighting, aromas, configuration of merchandise, etc. Many of the physical attributes specific to a given retail space, be it store or shopping centre, are amenable to manipulation by retailers, more so than other environmental variables. Retailers use promotions, merchandising,

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store design and atmospherics to attract potential customers, and induce certain behaviour, such as browsing and buying (Babin, Darden et al. 1994). The physical attributes of the shopping centre are important to the pleasure a consumer can derive from a shopping trip, and can be manipulated by retailers to build up customer perceptions of shopping value and loyalty (Babin and Attaway 2000).