VISUAL MERCHANDISING AND PURCHASING ... -...

Volume 4, Number 2, April – June’ 2015

ISSN (Print):2319-9032, (Online):2319-9040

PEZZOTTAITE JOURNALS SJIF (2012): 3.562, SJIF (2013): 5.074, SJIF (2014): 5.857

International Journal of Logistics & Supply Chain Management Perspectives © Pezzottaite Journals. 1643 |P a g e

VISUAL MERCHANDISING AND PURCHASING BEHAVIOR FOR

HIGH INVOLVEMENT PRODUCTS: A STUDY OF ELECTRONICS OUTLETS

Neha P. Mehta24 Dr. Pawan Kumar Chugan25

ABSTRACT

Electronics, a high involvement product (HIP), consists of 8 per cent in organized retail industry in India. This category is

growing at a rapid pace with many players entering into organized format of retail in this category. Recently many players

have also entered into online marketing of their products. Hence, competition in this category is increasing rapidly. This

product category is such that other than technological differentiation there can be little means to differentiate them from

competitors. In addition, customers think many factors before purchasing these products like price, brand, etc.

This study was undertaken to find out whether visual product display and other display criteria affect the purchase behavior of

customers of electronic product category, as it is a high involvement products (HIP). The dimensions of visual display that

were taken for study of this topic were window display, store front, merchandise presentation, store layout and organization,

shelf display, floor merchandise, wall mount display, experience, signages / graphics and store environment and it is found

that window display and store front have impact on purchase behavior of consumers.

KEYWORDS

Visual Merchandising, Window Display, Store Front, Merchandise Display, Store Layout, Shelf Display, Floor

Merchandise, Wall Mount Display, Experience, Signages / Graphics, Store Environment etc.

INTRODUCTION

Consumers do not always buy what they want. There are certain unconscious needs. Hence, there is always customers will buy

something that they do not necessarily need (35). Based on the consumer’s perception on needs, values and interests, product

involvement can be decided. This means that understanding consumer behavior & involvement and knowing them have and will

be never simple.

Consumer involvement affects the way to seek process and transmit information, purchase and post-purchase behavior. Level of

involvement displays interest of consumers in consuming the product and information they will seek for it. Their actions vary

from their words. Marketers can apply various stimuli and observe the conduct of consumers. There are numerous models

developed on the buying behavior of the consumers. A consumer is influenced by external factors like marketing mix and socio-

cultural environment, internal factors like psychological field (58). Consumer decisions for their purchases, therefore, are

influenced by the consumer’s interaction and exposure via these external and internal factors at the retail outlets and have a

significant impact on retail marketing.

Retailing Scenario in India

Retail has been one of the growth areas in the global economy from past one decade. India is one of the most attractive retail

destinations globally. The changing economic scenario of the country has made people to increase their purchasing power. Hence,

in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), India is ranked 4th largest economy after USA, China and Japan. In terms of

demographical dividend, India is a young country. It has large youth population, hence, has a conducive environment for growth

of this sector. Indian retail market is expected to grow with compounded annual growth rate of 18.8% by 2015 (23). The Indian

retail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors. Organized retail, which constitutes of 8% of total retail market,

will continue to grow much faster such that it will reach at the growth of 20% by 2020 (30). One of the major contributors is the

modernized retail format that is, “The Shopping Mall- the one stop destination”. In India, retail industry contributes 20% of the

GDP and 8% of the employment (30).

The Indian retail market is estimated at US$ 520 billion (27). However, organized retail is estimated at only US$ 8 billion. There

are many reforms happening in Indian retail due to permission of foreign direct investment (FDI) which has made Indian

consumers use products of international standards and live a high quality lifestyle (15). India’s overall retail sector is expected to

reach 1.3 trillion USD by 2020. India stands on 20th rank in Global Retail Development Index, which has slipped by nine ranks

comparing to previous year 2013 (40).

24Assistant Professor, L. J. Institute of Management Studies, Gujarat, India, [email protected] 25Professor, Institute of Management, Nirma University, Gujarat, India, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





The contribution of consumer durables in the Indian retail industry is 8%. Retailers of electronics product are setting up sections

in hypermarket, exclusive outlets and online too, as competition has increased. The sector is witnessing an influx of large

domestic conglomerates such as Reliance Group, Future Group, AV Birla Group and international conglomerates such as Wal-

Mart, Carrefour, and Tesco. In November 2011, Government of India announced retail reforms for both multi-brand stores and

single-brand stores (15).

These market reforms paved the way for retail innovation and competition with multi-brand retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour

and Tesco, as well as single brand majors such as IKEA, Nike and Apple. In January 2012, the Government approved reforms for

single-brand stores welcoming anyone in the world to innovate in Indian retail market with 100% ownership. This development in

retail creates fierce competition in the industry. Foreign retail chains entering India will aggravate the competition to different

level. Hence, the retailers have to ensure that store appeals to the customers. In such case, the retailers need to differentiate

themselves from others.

In the electronics product category, merchandise is almost similar amongst the competitors. Hence, the differentiation in terms of

product is not there. Because of this utilization of visual merchandising for electronics, product category becomes inevitable.

Merchandising can create differential advantage to the retailers (16).

Retail industry is changing rapidly. Since, the country is getting more competitive in terms of retail industry; visual merchandising

is the only effective way of differentiating in fashion industry (19). The innovation in store chain is weak. Indian consumers are

becoming more aware about the latest fashion and design and in the innovation of the store space. They also want state-of-art

products that have good quality and are of global standards and experience that also meets global standards. Visual merchandising

or highest visual appeal is the only technique to create euphoria in fashion industry by store presentation, which should be

successfully coordinated (25).

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Visual Merchandising

Visual merchandising is arrangement of the store in a way that attracts customer and motivates them to shop from it through

store’s advertising, display, special events, fashion coordination and merchandising departments in order to sell the goods and

services sold in the store (50, 25). It is whatever exterior or interior customer sees which creates positive image of the business

and converts into attention, interest, desire and action (54). It is the effective presentation of the store merchandise or offerings in

a manner that affects positively on the customer, creating a good image and leading to purchase. It is the science of shopping that

tells one ways to use those tools, ways to design signs that consumers will actually read and ways to make sure each message is in

the appropriate place. It also tells one how to arrange display that consumer can find comfortably and easily, so that they can reach

every part of the store easily (64).

Artistic display of the products plays an important role in creating ambience, which will encourage customers for shopping (25).

This may be the impact of various goods and services sold by the retailer, which increases importance of retailing in marketing

(22 & 54). Visual merchandising helps consumer to learn about store image and store products and to enhance multiple sales (32).

Shopping is a recreational activity and selecting store is perceived to be high on the values like pleasure, relaxation and

entertainment (67). Product display moderately influence store choice decision (33, 66 & 1).

It is said that 60 to 70 per cent of the information, which is collected by a consumer during shopping, happens through eyes,

hence, visual merchandising is very important in retailing (63 & 54). Communications that customers come across inside a retail

outlet impacts 80 per cent on the sensory organs and hence, it is an efficient and inexpensive way of marketing comparing to other

means of communication (63). Consumers are attracted to these entire stimuli, which are processed, and consumer in mind about

that store develops a perception for the store. Visual stimulus affects most when it comes to perception building. When a

consumer is exposed to these stimuli, they feel an irresistible urge to buy the product (57). In terms of retailing the stimulus

includes space related, product related and people related aspects (55).

The focus of visual merchandising is space related aspect, which includes visual stimulus. Space related category is divided into

functional, aesthetical and atmospheric aspect. Atmospheric cues consist of ambience, design and social factors (6). Hence, visual

merchandising is a key to encourage customers shop in modern retail. This idea has always triggered purchase decision as an

oldest merchandising strategy (34). Retailers gradually realized that selling the product wasn’t only important but the customers

should also have satisfaction and convenience of shopping. One has to sell the product by selling the ambience too. Visual

merchandising lures customers for shopping products with help of product display and shop’s ambience (37).

Visual merchandising involves store window, store directories, in posters, unit top poster /visual, placement of products,

highlighting products in the store. The use of visual merchandising skills is to present the merchandise at its best, in order to

appeal to the customer. Good visual merchandising also becomes a factor of differentiation. Visual merchandising is critical in

store activity with the visual merchandising team deciding on the theme as well as the manner in which the merchandise is





proposed to be displayed across the stores nationwide. The whole point of visual merchandising is to help companies to

communicate the brand message, so that consumers can make better-informed choices. A good visual merchandising and store

planning will play an important part. The importance of visual merchandising is to provide right product available to the right

customers and at the right time (34).

Most of the buying decisions even the big decisions are made in the store itself and very few of them are made outside the store

(64). Hence, maintaining a store presentation of desirable products that are clean, orderly, easy to find, and easy to buy will

provide a great service to the people looking for something special. It is said that longer a customer remains in the store, more he

or she will purchase…also the amount of time customer will spend in store depends on how comfortable and enjoyable experience

customers has (64). Hence, it is important that the visual stimulus and ambience is soothing so that customer remains in the store

for longer time. The more the customer stays in the store/mall and longer they browse through the store, they will come across

more stimuli, which in turn will increase their buying behavior.

Visual merchandising is an important component in maintaining the ambience and customer satisfaction. It includes both interior

and exterior of the store. Both of them are equally important to enhance store image (43 & 2). There are three types of interior

display: Merchandising display, Point-of-sales display and Architectural display. These in-store cues influence customer’s

perception for store (49, 8, 29, & 36). Pleasing in-store atmosphere provides hedonic utility and helps in buying more (3).

The emphasis has moved away from in-store product displays, towards elements that excite the senses of shoppers such as flat

screen videos or graphics, music, smells, lighting and flooring that tend to capture the brand image or personality and help to

create an unique environment and shopping experience (45 & 44). Music directly influences store patronage (33). However, music

is not a part of visual merchandising but it is an important factor that enhances charm of visual merchandising. It produces

perception and preferences strongly (13). It also helps in slowing down the pace of customers in store (49). Good in-store signage

is the important final element of store presentation and promotions. Signages, shelf position, display space and special fixtures all

of these will make it more or less likely that a shopper will buy a particular product (64). Category signage that helps to guide the

customer through store is essential. In addition, creating a professional looking graphics package that displays price and features

and benefits messages clearly communicates the value of offer. Effective sign in a window or inside a doorway is one, which has

two or three words that customers can read in an instant (64).

In visual merchandising both interior and exterior of the store are important to enhance store image (43 & 2). Good exterior

invites customers; develops interest and attention (54). It is a silent sales person and within 10 seconds, good sign draws attention.

Almost 75% of the customers remember store entrance as it generates first impression (54). The store exterior includes signs or

logos, banners, exterior design, window display, retail premises and façade. Window display is a medium, which creates first

impression in customer’s mind to enter the store and promotes the idea of store image (54, 46, 47 & 48). It draws the passing by

customers in store. A well-designed and attractive window display will catch customer’s attention and force them to get inside (5).

Customers lose interest if same window display is kept for long time (54). If we assume that a shopper comes every two weeks,

then the windows and displays need to be changed that often, so they’ll always find it fresh and interesting (64). Store exterior

includes window display and storefront. Store interior includes floor display, lighting, music, space design, directional signage,

fixtures and hardware (52).

The physical in store environment has been examined in relation to various elements, for example: orienting factors (21); signage

(54 & 11); spatial factors and ambient conditions (21), which was termed as “atmospherics” (41). Store atmospherics is one of the

important criteria to predict consumer behavior and helps in increasing sales effectively by product positioning (19) and for store

choice (56 & 51). The key facets within merchandising display are identified within the literature, which makes customer

comfortable and creates a shopping experience, as: Layout, (42, 9, 66 & 48), fixturing (42, 26 & 54), merchandise (21),

presentation techniques (14), light (33, 66 & 54), packaging (12 & 18) and hygiene (33 & 66).

This in-store cue affects impulse buying behavior of the customers (38). “Store layout refers to ways that stores use store space to

facilitate and promote sales and serve customers” (59). Store layout includes selling space, storage space, personnel space and

customer space. Signages are cost effective and efficient tool to pass on the message retailers want to the customer (37). It help

customers locate specific product in the store and gives information related to it. In-store display also includes floor display,

which includes focal point, nesting, gondolas, island display, high point, etc. It is also said that apparels displayed on racks seems

uncluttered and neat arrangement compared to apparels, which are on hangers (9, 26 & 20). However, the consumers at times feel

that such display were unattractive and disorganized (42). This is also integral part of visual merchandising which affects the

impulse buying behavior of the customers (38). The work regarding physicality of in-store environment focuses on the

“communication” of elements through cues and stimuli that the consumer digests through a number of sensory modalities (visual ,

aural, olfactory, haptic and taste).

The whole point of visual merchandising is to help companies to communicate the brand message, so that consumers can make

better-informed choices. Consumers increasingly shop by what attracts their eye, whether it is perfume, a sandwich, electronic

gadgets or chocolates. Consumer expectation regarding in-store design have increased (14) and there is also a heightened desire

for shopping excitement, which can in part be delivered through innovative design of the physical environment (25 & 42).





Therefore, all literature commonly recognized as in-store environment depends on visual merchandising and other in store

promotions. This interest in the visual has – at one level within the retail context – coalesced to from the practices of “visual

merchandising”. This is defined as the activity, which coordinates effective merchandising selection with effective merchandising

display (65).

Visual merchandising is therefore concerned with both how the product and/ or brand are visually communicated to the customer

and whether this message is decoded “appropriately”. Brands have long understood the importance of point-of-purchase

merchandising. Brands must compete for shelf-space and square footage, and then must try to dominate the sections of the stores,

allotted to them (39). In this context, it will be affecting to a positive psychological or behavioral outcome, ultimately leading to

purchase. To sum up, visual merchandising helps in maintaining overall image of the retail store in the mind of customer (53).

High Involvement Products

Buying decisions are also based on involvement level. In high involvement state, decision-making is done according to entire

process of decision making in its order right through information search to post purchase. While in the low involvement, state

consumers do not take much pain for information processing (17). The products that are not purchased frequently are expensive,

for which customers have to spend lot of time and put in lot of efforts are known as high involvement products…While, low

involvement products are frequently purchased with minimum time and efforts (31 & 62). As the level of risk increases, a

customer’s search for information also increases with more engagement. In the high involvement products, level of post purchase

dissonance is also high if the consumer is unsure about the purchase or confused between two alternatives. Hence, the

involvement of consumer will also increase. The consumer then has to make a decision, which will directly be influenced by their

personal characteristics. However, for marketers the result should be that a consumer makes purchase.

In terms of visual merchandising of electronics products, there are certain dimensions that are different from apparels and

furniture products. The products like air conditioner, television (LCDs and LEDs) are displayed on wall, which is known as wall-

mount display (61). These products are put up on the wall to display so that it catches eyes of customers. Certain products of

electronics are displayed on the shelf display (39).

Centre racks and floor display are also important in terms of electronics products (10). For electronics products, impulse purchase

is strong if consumer’s experience of the product in the store is good (4). For the products like television (plasma, LCDs and

LEDs), music players, refrigerators etc., experience of customers works better for purchase.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

To study the impact of visual merchandising on consumer attitudes and consumer response for retail outlets in electronics

categories.

METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH

The research design is divided into two parts, the first part is exploratory in nature and the second part is descriptive. In the

exploratory study the marketing manager of the store were interviewed to understand and find the dimensions of visual

merchandising. The study was intended to focus on the impact of visual merchandising in terms of electronics segment as a

product category.

The sample size of the research was 385. The sampling technique was mall intercept method, customer who walk out of the store

were surveyed with the help of structured questionnaire. Thus, sampling procedure is purposive sampling. The survey was

conducted in five electronics outlets viz. Sales India, Vijay Sales, NEXT, Reliance Digital and Croma, located in Ahmedabad city

of Gujarat state in India. The dependent variable of study is purchase behavior (Table 1).

Independent variables for the study are window display, storefront, merchandise display, store layout and organization, shelf

display, floor merchandise, wall mount display, experience, signage’s / graphics and store environment (Table 1). These variables

have individual constructs which are tested on five point Likert scale which ranged from 1 = never, 2 = hardly, 3 = occasionally 4

= sometimes and 5 = frequently. Since, Likert scale is a continuous scale, reliability test, factor analysis, correlation and step-wise

linear regression have been run on the data for the study using SPSS.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H1: Customer’s purchases are influenced by window displays.

H2: Customer’s purchases are influenced by storefront.

H3: Customer’s purchases are influenced by merchandising display.

H4: Customer’s purchases are influenced by store layout and organization.

H5: Customer’s purchases are influenced by shelf display.





H6: Customer’s purchases are influenced by floor merchandising.

H7: Customer’s purchases are influenced by wall mount display.

H8: Customer’s purchases are influenced by experience.

H9: Customer’s purchases are influenced by signage’s / graphics.

H10: Customer’s purchases are influenced by store environment.

Table-1: Variables of Various Dimensions with References

Sections

[1]

Questions

[2]

References to

questions: As given

in parenthesis [3]

1. Purchase Behavior 1. I made a purchase from the store. Self-Developed

2. Window Display 2. Window display is so attractive that it leads customer into the

store.

(5)

3. Store Front 3. Store front is attractive. 3, 4 (59)

4. Store front motivates customers to enter the store.

4. Merchandise

Display

5. Merchandise arrangement is attractive. 5, 6 (21), 7,

8 (65) 6. New items are presented noticeably to draw the customers'

attention.

7. Merchandise is neatly arranged.

8. The store offers good variety of merchandise.

5. Store Layout

& Organization

9. Walking space in the store is not crowded. 9, 10 (7),

11 (42) 10. The way through the store is well structured so that

consumers have no difficulty finding their way.

11. The store makes me feel like exploring it.

6. Shelf Display 12. Shelf space is appropriately occupied (proportionately

arranged).

12, 13 (39)

13. Shelf display or display racks are attractive.

7. Floor Merchandising

(Center Racks &

Counter Top)

14. Electronics centre rack (Gondolas) are properly arranged. 14, 15 (10)

15. Counter top display is attractive.

8. Wall Mount

Display

16. Wall mount display for TV, ACs, etc. are eye-catching 16, 17 (61)

17. The brands arranged on wall mount display are arranged in a

sequence

9. Experience 18. Experience (Touch, hear and try) of the store is so good that it

attracts the customer

18, 19 (4)

19. Experience (Touch, hear and try) provokes the customer to

purchase the product

10. Signage’s /

Graphics

20. Signage’s of directions are so good that it does not require

help of salesperson.

20, 21, 22 (60),

23 (57)

21. Price tags are so good that it does not require help of

salesperson.

22. Signage’s are clearly visible.

23. Signs clearly identify items on sale.

11. Store Environment 24. The store offers comfortable shopping environment. 24 (60), 25,

26(41) 25. The store offers an enjoyable shopping environment.

26. The store offers shopping ease.

Sources: Authors Compilation

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Before conducting analysis, normality of the data was checked in SPSS. There were 92 outliers in the data, which were removed,

and the sample size of 385 became 293. To check if the questionnaire was reliable or not, a reliability test was run on the data. If

the value of Cronbach alpha is higher than 0.5, the questionnaire is considered reliable. In the study, value of Cronbach alpha is

found to be 0.838, which means questionnaire is reliable. For factor analysis, sections one and two of table 1 are omitted, as there

is only one question for each section. From section 3 to section 11, the KMO and Bartlett’s Test ranges from 0.5 to 0.835, hence

factor analysis test can be applied on this data.





Table-2: Factor Analysis

Section-3: Store Front

KMO and Bartlett’s Test 0.500

COMPONENT 1

Store front is attractive .985

Store front motivates customer to enter the store .985

Component Eigen value 1.940

% of Variance Explained 96.999%

Section 4: Merchandise Display


Merchandise arrangement is attractive .952

New items presented noticeable to draw customers attention .856

Merchandise is neatly arranged .958

The store offers good variety of merchandise .891



Section 5: Store Layout & Organization


Walking space in the store is not crowded .878

The way through store is well structured .689

The store makes me feel like exploring it .869



Section 6: Shelf Display


Shelf space is appropriately occupied .956

Shelf display or display racks are attractive .956



Section 7: Floor Merchandising (Center Racks & Counter Top)


Electronics centre rack are properly arranged .795

Counter top display is attractive .795



Section 8: Wall Mount Display


Wall mount display for TV ACs are eye-catching .927

The brands arranged on wall mount display are arranged in a sequence .927



Section 9: Experience


Experience of the store is so good that it attracts the customer .979

Experience provokes the customer to purchase the product .979



Section 10: Signage’s


Signage’s of directions are good does not require help of salesperson .784

Price tags are so good that it does not require help of salesperson .850





Signage’s are clearly visible .854

Signs clearly identify items on sale .918



Section 11: Store Environment


The store offers comfortable shopping environment .965

The store offers an enjoyable shopping environment .931

The store offers shopping ease .893



Note: Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis with varimax extraction


In factor analysis, the principal component analysis with varimax extraction shows that, for all sections are reduced in one

component, as the Eigen value and percentage variance is maximum explained in one component. This result suggests that all the

variables in the sections were closely related and represented the same concept. For sections three to eleven the Eigen values are

1.940, 3.350, 1.999, 1.829, 1.265, 1.720, 1.918, 2.910 and 2.596 respectively with percentage of variance explained for each

section being respectively 96.999, 83.738, 66.648, 91.470, 63.238, 86.007, 95.921, 72.759 and 86.537 in table 2. Since, all the

variables are reduced in one component; the variables, which have highest value, are taken for further analysis.

Following variables out of all are taken for correlation and regression analysis: store front is attractive, merchandise is neatly

arranged, walking space in the store is not crowded, shelf space is appropriately occupied, electronics centre rack are properly

arranged, wall mount display for TV ACs are eye-catching, experience of the store is so good that it attracts the customer, signs

clearly identify items on sale and the store offers comfortable shopping environment

Hypothesis 1 to 11 were designed to find out if there is a significant relation of purchase behavior with window display, store

front, merchandise display, store layout and organization, shelf display, floor merchandising, wall mount display, store

experience, signage’s / graphics and store environment. To test the hypothesis correlation and step wise linear regression is

applied on the variables.

Table-3: Correlation with Purchase Behavior

Variables Pearson Coefficient Significance (p)

Window Display (WD) 0.401 0.000

Store Front (SF) 0.285 0.000

Merchandise Display (Merchandise are neatly arranged) 0.019 0.766

Store Layout and Organization -0.059 0.357

Shelf Display 0.030 0.633

Floor Merchandising 0.181 0.004

Wall Mount Display 0.118 0.062

Store Experience 0.178 0.005

Signage’s / Graphics (Signage’s of Price Tags) 0.171 0.007

Store Environment (Shopping Ease) 0.116 0.067


From correlation analysis, it is found that the result is significant for window display and storefront with value 0.000 respectively,

for floor merchandising, store experience and signage’s / graphics it is significant with value 0.004, 0.005 and 0.007 respectively.

While for dimensions like merchandise display, store layout and organization, shelf display, wall mount display and store

environment it is not significant as p value is greater than 0.05. However, for the dimensions that are found significant from

correlation analysis except for window display and storefront, the result of step wise regression analysis do not show the same

pattern. Hence, in stepwise linear regression only two dimensions window display and storefront are found to have relation with

purchase behavior, forming two models (table 4). Rests of the dimensions are excluded and they do not have relation with

purchase behavior (table 6).





Table-4: Step-wise Linear Regression Model Summary (Electronics)

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .401 .161 .158 1.61030

2 .467 .218 .212 1.55787


Table-5: Coefficients (Electronics)

Model Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.

Collinearity

Statistics

B Std.

Error

Beta Tolerance VIF

1

(Constant) .924 .395 2.338 .020

Window display is attractive leads into

the store (WD) .650 .094 .401 6.888 .000 1.000 1.000

2

(Constant) -1.121 .616 -1.819 .070

Window display is attractive leads into

the store (WD) .603 .092 .372 6.558 .000 .985 1.015

Store front are attractive (SF) .613 .145 .240 4.232 .000 .985 1.015


Table-6: Excluded Variables

Model Beta In t Sig.

1 Store front is attractive .240 4.232 .000

Merchandise is neatly arranged -.073 -1.225 .222

Walking space in the store is not crowded .052 .865 .388

Shelf space is appropriately occupied .054 .932 .352

Electronics centre rack are properly arranged .069 1.133 .258

Wall mount display for TV ACs are eye-catching .042 .708 .480

Experience of the store is so good that it attracts the customer .121 2.064 .040

Signs clearly identify items on sale .122 2.091 .038

The store offers comfortable shopping environment .091 1.559 .120

2 Merchandise is neatly arranged -.102 -1.756 .080

Walking space in the store is not crowded .026 .444 .657

Shelf space is appropriately occupied -.043 -.700 .485

Electronics centre rack are properly arranged -.002 -.030 .976

Wall mount display for TV ACs are eye-catching .061 1.050 .295

Experience of the store is so good that it attracts the customer -.001 -.015 .988

Signs clearly identify items on sale .031 .505 .614

The store offers comfortable shopping environment .034 .583 .560


Predicted purchase behavior for Model 1 = 0.924 + 0.650*WD. This shows that window display is related to purchase behavior.

However, the value of R square is 0.158 it has a weak relation (table 4). Predicted purchase behavior for Model 2 = -1.121 + 0.603

WD + 0.613* SF. This shows that window display is related to purchase behavior. However, the value of R square is 0.212;

therefore, it has a weak relation (table 4). Hence, hypothesis 1 and 2 are tested with window display and storefront having weak

relations.

CONCLUSION

Organized retail as mentioned above contributes 8 % to total Indian retail industry, which is fourth largest after apparel, food &

grocery and mobile, & telecom. Out of this consumer electronics products accounts for 8 %. Organized market is growing with

several individual sectors adding to the growth of it. Electronics is a product category, which is a high involvement product (HIP).

In addition, differentiation in terms of product in this category is most difficult task. Hence, it becomes important for the retailers

to differentiate their offerings with help of some innovative display technique.





Visual merchandising impacts being high involvement products (HIP), purchase behavior of consumer for this category, which

was the reason to undertake the research. The findings show that window display and storefront are related to purchase behavior.

The R2 value of both above-mentioned variables are 0.161 and 0.218, though shows correlation but it is weak relations with

purchase behavior. The variables like merchandise display, store layout and organization, shelf display, floor merchandising, wall

mount display, store experience, signage’s / graphics and store environment did not show relationship with purchase behavior.

Hence, consumers do not find these variables affecting their behavior to purchase any electronics product. Since, these are

expensive high valued products, it appears that consumer behavior is more influenced by brand, promotion, price, features,

discounts, etc. rather than display of the products.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

The two impacting variables like window display and storefront can be made stronger by innovative arrangement of products. In

terms of electronics product, the window display of stores can be made interactive so that a customer experience it and attracts

them inside the store. The variables that are not affecting purchase can also be made strong. Merchandise display, floor display,

store layout and organization, shelf display and wall mount display should be such that customers can easily locate and see the

product and check its functions. Electronics product category purchase more depends on what is the customer’s experience

regarding the products. Hence, the products should be arranged in such a way that the display of TVs, LED, LCD, Music system,

etc. should give great hedonic pleasure and experience, which leads to purchase immediately. Signages / graphics should be clear

with all details which results in minimal interference of sales person in purchase decision. Also the store environment should be

comfortable and soothing so that customer stays in the store for longer time and explores more things, which again generate sales.

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