The impact of airport shopping environments and dwell time on consumer spending

This article provides new insight into how the ambience and design of shopping environments impact onspending behaviour. Environmental cues in a retail area influence emotional states of by-passers, which in turn influence spending levels. Past research suggested that this effect only applies to shops with moderate arousal level. Also, several studies failed to confirm a relationship between emotions and spending levels. This is surprising, since high arousal environments (e.g., amusement parks, sports stadiums and airports) often feature a wide range of retail outlets. Based on survey data collected in a live airport shopping area, this study finds a relationship between pleasure emotions associated with the retail area and recalled consumer spending, but also the time available for shopping (which in an airport is constrained). Also, visitors’ emotional state was influenced by the ambience (e.g., cleanliness, noise levels, lighting) as well as the design (e.g., easy wayfinding, seating areas) of the retail area. Shopper’s arousal levels did not explain variations in spending level. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed as well as suggestions for future research.

How to Transfer a Coupon-Based Event into a Hedonic Shopping Experience? Retail Branding Implications Based on the Glamour Shopping Days

The paper examines the motivational drivers behind the participation of Hungarian consumers on a special shopping event, also known as Glamour Days. The study encompasses a variety of related conceptualizations such as hedonic/utilitarian shopping values, self-gifting as well as impulsive buying practices. After the introduction of relevant consumer behaviour concepts and theoretical frameworks, the paper presents a qualitative research on adult and adolescent female consumers’ shopping experiences during Glamour Days. By building on phenomenological methodology, this study also portrays the ways this shopping event has changed consumer society within an originally strongly utilitarian attitude driven Hungarian culture. The phenomenological interview results highlight differences within the motivational drivers of pleasure-oriented shopping for the two age groups. For teenagers, the main motivation was related to the utilitarian aspect due to their financial dependence and the special opportunity to stand out of their peer group by joining an event that is exclusively held for adult women. On the other hand, adult women are motivated by combined hedonic and utilitarian values manifested in self gifting and impulse buying within an effectively planned and managed shopping trip. Based on the results, retail specific strategies are provided along with future research directions.