Essay Sample on Consumer Behavior in Urban Outfitters

The retail atmosphere is made up of various environmental cues, also referred to as the atmospheric that can be purposely regulated and structured for the intention for the customer to demonstrate some particular behaviors and enhance the shopping experience. The retail atmosphere is known to illustrate the management of the elements including light, color, scent, sound and design within the store to stimulate the buying habits among the customers. The store atmosphere can make positive feelings of atmosphere, comfort and curiosity, and hence influence the shopper's behavior. This is known as environmental psychology. The elements of signage and checkouts play significant roles in the influence of the environment within the store.

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Signage

Signage is an essential tool used to communicate messages to customers. Signage communicates promotion, and pricing together with product information. For a signage to be effective in its purpose, there are some of factors that needs to be considered. The essence of signage is to set moods for you store using color, word and lighting and so on.

Position of the signage: it should be where it attracts the customers' attention, and not block the essential items at the store. Underhill (2008) mentions that the signage should be in a place that is often passed by the customers; this could be the entrance, the stairs within the store or the escalators, where the client walks slowly and hence they have the time to read 2-3 words on the vicinity. The signage should not be in a position that affect the traffic flow within the area, or affect the view of the store interior.

Color: depending on the customer segment that you are targeting, light will be important. After positioning the sign check how it will appear before the customer. If you are targeting ladies, the bright color will be essential, although it does not mean that all men prefer dark color only. The significance of it all is to reduce the visual clutter, and focus on getting the important message across the customer.

Lighting: With a clear target of the customers in mind the choice of light will determine the appealing environment Underhill (2008) argue that the lighting in store will make the signage to be bold, while the senior customer prefer more light in the store. Also, the poor lighting creates a weak atmosphere of the environment and makes things unbearable to see.

Clear message: the message should be precise and concise; the customer should not spend more time reading as it may be boring.

The Checkouts

The checkouts are expected to be accurate, efficient, and flexible. The choice of checkout in a retail store will determine how operative the business will be conducted. The customers have a lot of expectations on the checkout, especially with the invention of the new technology. The following are some of the elements that need to be considered in the checkout.

Consider an in-app checkout: The process I faster and is as frictionless as possible. This means of payment is advantageous as it never delays in the transactions and there are no delays and long queues.

Self-checkout: if the retail shop is on the move of minimizing the operating costs through labor, then this method is the answer. The machine provides a mechanism that allows the customer to process the payment of their purchases. They substitute the old cashier-staffed checkout.

Conclusion

To wind up, the customer's tastes and preferences are dynamic, and they are scaling for the trendier and more efficient retail system. That means that depending on the mood that is set within the retail store, the customers will develop a particular attitude that will influence their shopping experience. As a way of countering the high expectation of the customers' expectation and influencing their behavior, signage, and checkouts are involved to make the shopping experience exciting, easy, and also easy to manage without facing major challenges.

References

Grewal, D., Roggeveen, A. L., & Nordfalt, J. (2017). The future of retailing. Journal of Retailing, 93(1), 1-6.

Underhill, P. (2008). Why we buy. Singapore Books.