After studying about Atmospherics in a communication studies course at The University of Georgia, Rhetoric and Pop Culture, the concept of atmospherics very much intrigued me. I consider myself to be a true bargain shopper who can always catch a good sale and never pay full price for anything. Little did I know, thinking myself to be oh so "shopper savvy" was not a correct assumption. Once I studied about the various techniques retailers use in shopping environments to increase purchase probability (atmospherics), I thought, "there's no way the average person can know about this, and that's exactly how retailers prefer it!" I certainly didn't know about atmospherics and how truly effective they can be in maximizing consumers' purchase probability.
I have researched a great deal on atmospherics, as seen in the literature review towards the bottom of this page. Then I completed a survey experiment seeking to answer the main questions I had when studying this subject. The purpose of this survey experiment was to prove that the general public is largely unaware of atmospherics at work in shopping environments, and, even if consumers were aware of these tactics, they would not have much effect on consumer spending. Specifically, consumers' knowledge of atmospherics would not be enough to prevent consumers from spending money and purchasing products. The survey results indeed illustrated this hypothesis, as most people listed strategies related to the sale of items (price reductions, buy one get one deals, etc.) as opposed to strategies that related to the environment (pitch and speed of music, store scent, large check-out counters, mannequins, etc.). Most people had not heard of the term "atmospherics" and they could not accurately define it either.
Keep scrolling below to see comprehensive survey results! Always remember, what's in your atmosphere?! At the very least, possess some time of consumer knowledge on what retailers are seeking from YOU, the entity with all the power!
Take my survey here, and help update research results!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-QyccV0t8NTLwUbWhqFzaA306jX1aYC79Lev-i0FXa0/viewform
The following reflects a summary of each respondents answers to the survey. These are unedited, and quoted exactly from the surveys.
Summary See complete responses
Do
you believe that retailers use special tactics and strategies to
persuade you to purchase products from their store or buying
environments? (1 = No, not at all and 5 = Yes, definitely) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Would
knowing that manipulated, strategic store environments exist be
sufficient to make you NOT purchase retail products (i.e. clothes,
shoes, furniture, supplies, a house, travel, etc.)? (1 = No, not at all and 5 = Yes, definitely) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Have you ever heard of the term "atmospherics"? | |||||||||
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If yes, what does the term "atmospherics" mean?
Kaya Grace Porter
COMM 2360
Final Project
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Atmospherics as a Marketing Tool
The first reviewed source, Atmospherics as a Marketing Tool by Philip Kotler, clearly and succinctly explains the concept of atmospherics, how it was developed, and prominent examples of atmospherics at work in our society. Philip Kotler first posits that “one of the most important recent advances in business thinking is the recognition that people, in their purchase decision-making, respond to more than simply the tangible product or service being offered… Buyers respond to the total product. It includes the services, warranties, packaging, advertising, financing, pleasantries, images, and other features that accompany the product.” Kotler goes on to explain that “one of the most significant features of the total product is the place where it is bought or consumed.” He even asserts that “in some cases, the atmosphere is the primary product.” Atmospherics as a Marketing Tool aims to “develop a systematic exposition of atmosphere as a buying influence” by examining historical antecedents of the concept of atmosphere, defining an atmosphere, determining in which marketing situations is atmospherics most relevant, investigating how atmospheres are supposed to affect behavior, as well as real life examples of the effective use of atmospheres.
From the historical perspective, Kotler says that “one of the mixed blessing of human history is that man increasingly lives, works, and plays in artificial environments… artificial environments – homes, stores, factories, churches, whole cities – need not be unattractive. The concept of designing attractive artificial environments goes back to ancient times.”
The definition of atmospherics provided in Kotler’s article has been widely quoted in subsequent literature concerning this phenomenon. He states, “We shall use the term atmospherics to describe the conscious designing of space to create certain effects in buyers. More specifically, atmospherics is the effort to design buying environments to produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase probability.” Kotler outlines the main visual dimensions of an atmosphere as color, brightness, size and shapes. He established the main aural dimensions of an atmosphere as volume and pitch. The main olfactory dimensions of an atmosphere are scent and freshness, and the main tactile dimensions are softness, smoothness and temperature.
Kotler gives five propositions to suggest where this marketing variable assumes the greatest importance. The first proposition is that “atmospherics is a relevant marketing tool mainly in situations (a) where the product is purchased or consumed; and (b) where the seller has design options.” Proposition two says that “atmospherics becomes a more relevant marketing tool as the number of competitive outlets increase.” Proposition three states that “atmospherics is a more relevant marketing tool in industries where product and/or price differences are small.” Proposition four asserts that “atmospherics is a more relevant marketing tool when product entries are aimed at distinct social classes or life style buyer groups.
The mechanism by which the atmosphere of a place affects purchase behavior is a causal chain. First, the purchase object is “nested in a space characterized by certain sensory qualities.” Next, each buyer perceives only certain qualities of this space. Third, Kotler states that the perceived qualities of the atmosphere can affect the person’s information and affective state. And last, “the buyer’s modified information and affective state may increase his purchase probability.” Kotler distinguishes three ways that atmosphere can have an effect on purchase behavior: attention-creating mediums, message-creating mediums, and affect-creating mediums.
Kotler significantly outlines various examples of atmospherics used in a variety of industries and companies such as shoe retailing, furniture retailing, bargain basement retailing, antique retailing, new homes, restaurants, airports and airplanes, psychiatric offices and even advertising agency offices.
Atmospherics, Service Encounters and Consumer Decision Making: An Integrative Perspective
Authors Hoffman and Turley attempt to “broaden… understanding of the impact of the environment on the consumer’s experience” by exploring two separate, but related topics in their article Atmospherics, Service Encounters and Consumer Decision Making: An Integrative Perspective. First, a framework is established to allow the integration of two well-established literature streams, service encounters and atmospherics. An additional purpose of the article is “to specifically address the potential role of atmospherics throughout the service consumer decision process.”
The term “servicescape” is used here to describe the “built environment (i.e., the manmade, physical surroundings as opposed to the natural or social environment.” Hoffman and Turley also emphasize that “Bitner’s definition of servicescape is consistent with Kotler’s definition of atmospherics – the intentional control and manipulation of environmental cues.” Essentially, servicescapes refer to “the environments in which services are delivered and where the firm and customer interact.
Hoffman and Turley present the Servuction Model, which allows for the merging of the atmospheric and service literatures, and it “provides the theoretical framework that enables the integration of the atmospheric and service literature streams.” Further, it proposes that “service organizations are comprised of two central components: (1) backstage – those that are behind the scene and which are invisible to the consumer; and (2) front stage – those that are visible to the consumer.”
The authors also specifically propose that “atmospheric variables potentially play a very important role in service consumer decision processes.” They further examine the effects of atmospheric variables on the “three primary stages of the consumer decision processes – prepurchase, consumption, and postpurchase evaluations as they relate to service products.” The prepurchase stage of the consumer decision process “refers to all consumer activities occurring before the acquisition of the service.” In comparison to goods’ consumers, consumers of services tend to perceive a higher level of risk during the prepurchase stage. This can be attributed to the limited amount of information available before the purchase decision is made, according to Hoffman and Turley. The authors make three propositions related to the prepurchase stage. First, “atmospheric variables increase the number of search attributes available for service products; thereby, decrease the amount of risk generally associated with service purchases.” Second, “as the amount of prepurchase information decreases, consumers place a greater importance on atmospheric variables when forming service quality evaluations.” And finally, “as the pleasurable effects produced by atmospherics with the service environment increase, the amount of risk generally associated with service purchases decreases. The consumption of goods can be divided into “three distinct activities – buying, using, and disposing.” In illustrating this stage of the decision process, Hoffman and Turley introduce script theory which proposes that “rules, mostly determined by social and cultural variables, exist to facilitate interactions, including a variety of service encounters.” The key idea here is that, atmospherics provide “cues for customers that allow them to categorize the encounter and access the appropriate script.” The formal propositions associated with this stage of the decision-making process are “atmospherics facilitate the categorization of service encounters; thereby, facilitate the selection of appropriate script behaviors and enhance the likelihood of a successful service transaction,” “atmospheric variables facilitate the flow of the service delivery process (by reducing role ambiguity), thereby, enhancing the potential efficiency and effectiveness of the service encounter,” and lastly, “atmospheric variables can effectively manage consumers who share the same service experience simultaneously; thereby, effectively reducing the amount of interclient conflict commonly inherent in service encounters.” The postpurchase stage considerations reflect the idea that, “when effectively orchestrated, atmospheric variables convey expectations to customers.” The propositions associated with this stage posit, “the effective use of atmospheric variables enhances perceived service standardization; thereby, reduces the amount of perceived heterogeneity commonly associated with service transactions,” and, “atmospheric variables are commonly interpreted by consumers when forming expectations and perceptions of service; therefore, customer satisfaction evaluations can be effectively managed through the use of atmospheric variables.”
Linking Retail Strategy, Atmospheric Design and Shopping Behavior
Authors L.W. Turley and Jean-Charles Chebat seek to prove in Linking Retail Strategy, Atmospheric Design and Shopping Behavior that consumers are sensitive to even minute changes in the retail atmosphere. Moreover, they propose that “even those changes to environmental stimuli that are not noticed, or consciously perceived by the consumer, are capable of causing shoppers to change behaviors while inside the store.” Turley and Chebat present the strategic view of the retail environment as having three separate components. In the first stage, “general retail strategies are developed which would encompass a number of controllable variables including the retail atmosphere.” In the second stage, “a specific atmospheric outcome is designed and eventually implemented through store redesigns and in newly constructed stores.” Finally, “the model recognizes that these designs will have some very specific effects on shopping behavior and may raise some issues which impact on these consumer behavior effects.” The “feedback loop from the outcome issues and shopping behaviors section back to the retail strategy stage recognizes that the outcomes from the store’s atmosphere may influence the strategies which are set after the design has been implemented.” The vital point associated with Turley and Chabet’s model is that “retail executives implement strategy for how they want consumers to respond to an atmosphere through the designs that they shape through blending the various atmospheric stimuli into a meaningful environment.”
Turley and Charley go on to explain in greater detail the three components of store environment as a strategic retail tool. First, the concept of retail strategies encompasses three elements: choosing a retail format, targeting a specific group of consumers, and arriving at a defensible competitive advantage. As it relates to the second component, atmospheric design, the authors distinguish five categories of atmospheric cues. They are exterior, general interior, layout and design, point-of-purchase and decorations, and human factors. They central argument here is that the retail environment is “exceedingly complex and is composed of a wide variety of variables and elements.” The final stage in this strategic view of the retail environment “focuses on the outcome issues and shopping behaviors.” Turley and Charley illustrate that, “the atmosphere can influences a wide variety of attitudes and behaviors in consumers, which, in turn, raises several managerial issues which should be recognized.” These outcome issues and shopping behaviors include “sales effects, approach-avoidance behavior, impact on store image, a differentiation tool, atmospherics as a segmentation tool, uniformity issues, implementation problems, the impact of environment on employees, the ‘retainment’ aspect of the atmosphere, and the environment as a strategic weapon against e-tailers.”
Atmospherics as an Emerging Influence in the Design of Exchange Environments
Authors Ronald E. Milliman and Douglas L. Fugate present “a conceptual article,” Atmospherics as an Emerging Influence in the Design of Exchange Environments, with a “discussion of the historical underpinnings and concepts related to atmospherics, i.e. situational variables, image, and environmental psychology.” The article presents a summary of current thought and then develops a paradigm “under which this phenomenon can be studied and implemented.” The model that Milliman and Fugate present reflects a process in which “consumers selectively utilize physical stimuli from the exchange environment in order to make consumption decisions. Additionally, there are six components of this six stage model. They are anticipated atmosphere, an approach/avoidance decision, a matching process, atmosphere confirmation, evaluation, and feedback.
Milliman and Fugate posit that “both sociological forces (e.g., culture, social class, or reference groups) and psychological forces (e.g., self concept, personality, and values) interact to produce a set of salient atmospheric criteria.” To the extent that physical dimensions of a consuming situation are believed to be satisfying or unsatisfying, the expected atmosphere can increase the probability of an “Approach” decision or of an “Avoidance” decision. Depending on whether consumers take “Approach” behavior, and whether the matching of expected to actual physical stimuli encountered occurs, consumers complete a “confirmation/disconfirmation” process. Evaluation of prior learning is likely to take place unless actual anticipated sensory experiences are sufficiently dissimilar. In such case, the “probability of a shift in perception and cognitive elaboration is increased. Milliman and Fugate finally suggest that “once the customer has actually entered a purchase situation, selected, interpreted, and placed appropriate emphasis on the physical dimensions of the situation, it is likely that this processes information becomes part of long term memory.”
Works Cited
Hoffman, K. Douglas, and L. W. Turley. "Atmospherics, Service Encounters And Consumer Decision Making: An Integrative Perspective." Journal Of Marketing Theory & Practice 10.3 (2002): 33. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.
Kotler, Philip. "Atmospherics As A Marketing Tool." Journal Of Retailing 49.4 (1973): 48. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.
Milliman, Ronald E.Fugate, Douglas L. "Atmospherics As An Emerging Influence In The Design Of Exchange Environments." Journal Of Marketing Management (10711988) 3.1 (1993): 66. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.
Turley, L. W., and Jean-Charles Chebat. "Linking Retail Strategy, Atmospheric Design And Shopping Behaviour." Journal Of Marketing Management 18.1/2 (2002): 125-144. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.