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Keywords
In-store layout, Consumer behaviour, Customer profiling, Retail management
Abstract
Store layouts are important determinants of behaviour. A review of the academic and commercial literature suggests that the methodological and theoretical approaches have provided methods and approaches that are difficult for practitioners to adopt. This paper offers a robust theoretical approach (the behavioural perspective model) and new innovative methodology that significantly advances the way retailers can plan and measure store layouts, with a view to optimising store performance. Using computer-aided observation, customers may be tracked and their behaviour analysed in the context of consumer situations and contingencies. Implications for retail management, theory and practice are discussed within the context of fashion shopper situations.
1.Background
Driven by the need to maximise profit and compete in a volatile marketplace, UK fashion retailers gather critical information about target consumers and the interiors of stores are laid out to attract and successfully target these groups. In reality, however, competitive forces often compel retailers to bombard customers with numerous cues in an attempt to reinforce the image and positively influence in-store behaviour (Harrison, 1992; Smith and Burns, 1996; McKenna, 2000). Notwithstanding the commercial and academic research that has taken place, there are still many uncertainties about the behaviours and rituals of customers in-store (Knee, 2002). For example, consumer situations and profile characteristics can have a major influence on the customer's method or style of shopping. Hence, the market is characterised by unstable demand for merchandise and high impulse buying with many decisions made at point of purchase (Christopher and Peck, 1999).
In the context of the store layout, time-poor and highly mobile shoppers require different spaces than, for example, consumers who leisure shop at discounts and selectively during sale periods at various stages in the business cycle (Newman and Cullen, 2001; Herrington and Capellan, 1995). Gender differences in shopping styles can also justify quite specific changes to fashion store formats and space allocation. For economic reasons, however, retailers typically adopt a standardised approach to interior layouts and format designs, with the involvement of professional designers and shop fitters. In general, the basis for these schema stem from the branding strategy of an individual retailer; formats and layout of merchandise are typically defined internally as a function...