IMPACT OF STORE ATMOSPHERE IN PURCHASE DECISION IN

CLOTHING STORES OF KATHMANDU

 1. Background of the study
In 1973, Kotler had introduced the concept of store atmosphere, that is, the effort to design a
physical store environment that provides specific emotional effects to the customers that
encourages customer behavior. The buying process in a retail atmosphere is triggered when the
customer recognize that they put high expectation towards a store (Bohl, 2011). Nowadays,
retailers and store managers are interested in how consumers get experience while they come to
the store. It has been recognized that consumers respond to store environment rather than just the
product and services. It is because; besides product and services, the atmosphere of a store also
one of the influential factors in the purchase experience.

Recognizing the significant impact of store environment on consumer behavior, retailers devote
considerable resources to store design and merchandise presentation activities. The influence of
the environment on behavior has long been acknowledged by retailers, architects and interior
designers. Store atmosphere can influence his behavioral component (upgrade his purchase,
expenditures, impulse buying, the desire to spend more time in the shop), it can also have an
impact on his affective component (pleasure, mood, emotion) and cognitive (perceived quality of
the service and the value of trade name. It is known that the service environment is made up of
both tangible (buildings and furniture) and intangible (temperature, color, scent and music)
elements which make up the service experience.

There are fierce competitions in clothing retail industry (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010; Dias,
2008). According to Djelic and Ainamo (1999), the boundaries of clothing industry are
significantly expanding. The fast changing dynamics of the clothing retail industry (Bhardwaj &
Fairhurst, 2010) forces retailers react as quickly as possible to meet those consumers‟ needs and
wants (Zeynep & Nilgun, 2011). Due to this contemporary market trend, retailers try to build up
attractive shopping experience (Baker et al., 1992) to entice and retain customers as well as beat
all their rivals. They believe that store atmosphere can create a fantastic and entertaining
customer experience which directly affects consumers‟ behavior.
 2. Statement of problem
Many companies found that the store atmosphere plays important roles in a store. Besides, it
becomes a critical issue since the customer being more alert, sensitive and also knowledgeable
because of the exposure of the information and news. From the previous studies, there are a lot
of issues can be highlight in this research such as the lighting problems, the incompatibility of
store’s color combination, the choice of background music are not appropriate, and the visual
merchandising arrangement are not suitable (Zeynep & Nilgun, 2011).
Due to the increasing purchasing power as well as cultural change in Nepal, people prefer to buy
their clothes in an attractive retail stores. Some of the clothing store in Nepal has gained a
reputation in the market because of their store atmospheres. As Kathmandu shoppers have easy
access to international trends so they are very much aware of everything going on. In
Kathmandu, since almost all the clothing stores looks alike, they have to change their strategy to
attract more consumers.

In this study, there are few questions have been generate to answer the following questions about
the factors that can influence the store atmosphere and the effect on the customer experience and
behavioral intention. The research study will be guided by the following research question for
the investigations as follows:

What is the overall relationship between store atmospheric stimuli and purchase decision towards
clothing stores in Kathmandu?
 3. Research Objective
This study is undertaken to investigate the relationship between the store atmosphere factors
and its impact on customer experience and their purchase decision. In some cases, the place,
more specifically, the atmosphere of the place is more influential than the product itself in the
purchase decision. The atmosphere factors of the store like color, ambience, music etc. play an
important role in buying behavior of the consumer. Given that the atmosphere is an
unverifiable factor, atmospherics store can contribute on the satisfaction or the dissatisfaction
of the client by affecting his perceptions.

The main objectives of the study are:

 To highlight the significant impact of display and layout on customer purchase

decision towards clothing stores in Kathmandu.
 To examine the effect of music on customer purchase decision towards clothing stores
in Kathmandu.
 To determine the influence of lighting on customer purchase decision towards clothing
stores in Kathmandu.
 To prove the significant relationship of cleanliness on customer purchase decision
towards clothing stores in Kathmandu.
 To determine the relationship between color and customer purchase decision towards
clothing stores in Kathmandu.
 To identify the impact of participant factors on customer purchase decision towards
clothing stores in Kathmandu.
5. Theoretical framework

Dependent Variable
 Music
 Lighting
Independent Variable
 Cleanliness
 Customer
 Participant Purchasing
Factors Behavior
 Color
 Product Display
and Layout

Moderating Variable
 Gender
 Location of the
store

Fig: Theoretical framework of relationship between the attributes of store atmosphere,

experience perceived by the customer and their purchase decision at various department
stores of Kathmandu.

Definition of Term

Lighting

Lighting can be defined as the kind of igniting or illuminating. The arrangement of lights
occurs usually by specific equipment in order to achieve various effects. Besides that, lighting
can be also used to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both
artificial supplies light such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by
capturing light from the sun.

Background Music

Background music is the art of sounds arrangement in a time so that it can produce a
continuous, unified behavior through its melody, harmony, rhythm, and tempo. It also refers to
various styles of music which is originally intended not to be actively listened to. Background
music is usually played at a low volume which can affect how consumer reacts to situation due
to the presence of it.

Color

Color and also known as hue is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an
object and it is reflected back to the eye. In other words, it is the property possessed by an
object of producing different effects on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits the
light.

Smell of the store

Research by Nobel Peace Prize winners Richard Axel and Linda Buck reveal that our sense of
smell is widely considered by scholars to be our "most emotional" sense. So, rather than
analyzing the information we receive from a particular scent, we immediately get a feeling
when we smell something. Though there's different ways scent is incorporated into retailer's
marketing efforts, the ambient scents in a retail environment affect people's purchasing habits
and determining whether they will return to a store or not.

Cleanliness

Since first impressions create customer loyalty, retail cleanliness is very important. When a
place is dirty, consumers may assume the rest of the location is dirty as well, resulting in poor
customer experiences. Cleanliness affects the entire shopping process. People will always
prefer a cleaner retail store over a dirty one, but sometimes the level of cleanliness can have an
affect they do not even realize. An overall tidy store can be the inviting element that gets the
shopping process moving. However, if the retail store has been properly cleaned and
maintained, visitors will more than likely continue browsing. The way one store area makes a
consumer feel can affect how he feels about the entire retailer. This is why retail cleaning
should not be taken for granted.

Display and Layout

Study of Baker et al. (2002) showed strong evidence that customer‟s perception towards
display and layout will influence the customers‟ value perception. The value perception has a
strong impact on customer purchasing behavior. Bitner, James, and Barnes (1992) argued that
movement of customers within a store is influenced by the arrangement in the store. Bost
(1987) mentioned that in order for a layout to be successful, four factors need to be considered
which start from the concept of store to the product position to the orientation of department
and lastly the sign in store. Several studies investigating customer‟s behavior in store proved
that some certain store layout patterns are preferred by customers.

Customer purchasing behavior

Customer behavioral intention can be defined as a course of action, aim and concern that a
consumer brings to deal on a current or future purchase activity. It is known as the theory of
reasoned action which is a model for the prediction of human behavior, feeling and attitude. It
is also a cognitive plan to perform a behavior that has created through a choice or decision
process that focuses on beliefs about the consequences of the action.
 5.2 Hypotheses of the Study

H1: There is a significant relationship between display and layout and customer purchase
behavior.
H2: There is a significant relationship between music and customer purchase behavior.
H3: There is a significant relationship between lighting and customer purchase behavior.
H4: There is a significant relationship between cleanliness and customer purchase behavior.
H5: There is a significant relationship between participant factors and customer purchase
behavior.
H6: There is a significant relationship between color and customer purchase behavior..