IMPACT OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING ON CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR: A STUDY OF CLOTHING STORES

Paulina, Gajewska
Katarzyna, Piskrzyńska
University of Bielsko-Biala, Poland, Department of Management, Faculty of
Management and Transport
Email: pgajewska@ath.bielsko.pl; kpiskrzynska@ath.bielsko.pl

Abstract:
The modern consumer as a result of globalization and technological progress needs additional
incentives to make purchasing decisions. One of the tools of marketing communication is visual
merchandising, so that the consumer is more motivated to buy. The article focuses on the concept and
essence of visual merchandising and its impact on consumer’s behaviour. It is contained in the analysis
of the impact of merchandising purchasing decisions of buyers selected network of clothing stores.

Key words:
visual merchandising, merchandising, marketing communication, consumer’s behaviour.

JEL: M310

1 Merchandising - review of literature

The term merchandising comes from the Latin word mercari or trade. In English it is a source of
merchandise, or goods intended for sales- goods, but also to sell. In Polish the term merchandising
does not have a proper counterpart, and therefore the original concept is used (Binsztok, Zuzański,
2013: 11). Merchandising is granting point marketing characteristics so that it becomes a commodity.
This means that the functions of merchandising is to interpret and process information about the needs
of consumers to create the most favourable conditions to satisfy them (Szulce, 1998: 227).
Merchandising can also be understood as "actions related to the commodity, which is a function of
management mass goods at the point of sale, and includes: purchasing, inventory management, pricing
policy and exposure“ (Borusiak, 2009: 165). Visual merchandising is a narrower concept than
merchandising. The impetus for the development of merchandising was the rise of self-service stores,
but as a watershed for visual merchandising 1840 is to be accepted when technology that enables the
production of glass panes of very large sizes was introduced. Thanks to such glass panes department
stores could "amount to the art of arranging sites to the next level. From now on the big display windows
took on a theatrical character, reminiscent of a scene straight from Broadway" (Morgan, 2008: 11).
Visual merchandising is a set of activities whose job it is to cause visual impressions with purchasers
(Witek, 2007: 12).

"Visual merchandising is a presentation of the store and its goods sold in such a way as to attract the
attention of potential customers and motivate them to purchase" (Diamond J., Diamond E., 2007: 33).
The actions of visual merchandising are based on the implementation of the communication model
AIDA. AIDA model is a basic movement of the marketing and advertisement resulted from the
perception of customers. It was first developed by E.St. Elmo Lewis in 1898. The AIDA Model is in fact
an acronym for attention, interest, desire and action and describes a cognitive journey of a consumer
that travels through four main stages (Strong, 1925). Visual merchandising should be received as a
physical form of presenting goods at sales point in a manner so attractive to effectively encourage
customers to buy them (Gębarowski, 2007: 74). It includes promotional activities relating to the visual
aspect of arranging the sales. Well thought-out use of visual merchandising tools is to elicit buyers
sensory experience. The main areas are (Gębarowski, 2007: 74; Witek, 2007: 13)
 interior commercial buildings,
 products exposure on the shelves,
 development of the retail outlet,
 graphic materials at the sales point, the so-called POS materials,
 display window arrangement,
 communication system inside the store,
 the system impacting a customer’s senses.

Convenience of shopping, physical facilities (French, et al, 1972: 3) or attributes, etc may influence
buying decision of consumers. Environmental dimensions such as air quality, lighting, layout, carpeting,
etc are also important (Engel, et al, 1995; Seock, 2013: 174 - 187). Quality of merchandise, price,
assortment, atmosphere, location, parking facility and sales people are important dimensions for a store
(Bearden, 1978). Layout as a dimension of visual merchandising is also important because it consists of
space utilization, aisle planning and area arrangement (Banot, Wandebori, 2012: 84-89).

2 Research methodology
The study used the following research tools: an observation questionnaire, a survey questionnaire and
interview. The aim of the study was to assess the level of implementation of the instruments of visual
merchandising in selected clothing networks and assess their impact on the purchasing decisions of
customers. The authors put forward the following research hypothesis:
H1: Customer's purchases are influenced by the visual merchandising.

The subjects of research were included in the selected clothing chains. Participant observation was
selected as first. The following stores were first to attempt the research:
 Reserved,
 Cropp,
 House,
 Mohito,
 Sinsay.

The establishments were located in Sfera shopping mall in Bielsko-Biala. The observer carrying out the
survey answered the questions in the earlier prepared observation questionnaire. The questionnaire
included the observation of the following criteria:
 store layout,  information and products labelling,
 assortment and display of goods,  checkout area
 colours in the store,  staff,
 lighting in the store,  promotion at the sales point,
 music in the store,  fitting rooms,
 smell in the shop,  seasonal products,
 other factors (temperature, air  exhibition.
conditioning)

Each of the criteria for evaluation included several aspects - the questionnaire contained 47 points,
which were assessed by the authors. A total of 20 observations, taking into account the 5 shops in 4
terms, i.e. 8. 12. 2015., 18. 12. 2015., 30.12. 2015. And 15. 01. 2016.

The next stage was the research pilot study. The sample was comprised customers of clothing stores
network and they were 50 respondents. Electronic questionnaire survey was served by those
participating in the study indirectly by posting it on the website ankiety.interaktywanie.com. in the period
from 01/05/2016 to 12/05/2016. In the research an interview with an employee of a clothes shop Cropp
was also used. The interview was conducted on 13.05.2016. The studies were part of a broader
research through a dissertation Daria Gałuszka, in the Department of Management, University of
Technology and Humanities in Bielsko-Biala, under the guidance of engineer Paulina Gajewska, PhD.
2.1 Analysis and findings
The conclusions of the study are presented below. Surveys:
 The main role while shopping plays: the offered assortment, special offers and discounts, while
more than half of the surveyed after entering the store approached the “sale” area.
 All of the surveyed use fitting rooms while shopping. Important elements for them are: sufficient
space to move around, the opportunity to bring many products at the same time, the right
amount of hangers, chair or ottoman, and more than one mirror.
 When moving around the store, customers adhere to certain rules, which often they do not
realize, for example, trying to shorten one’s way, pay most attention to products that are within
range of their vision (the principle of eye level), or stop in front of a bookcase in its central
portion to have a view of the entire shelf (base agent).
 Customers feel monitored when there is a person behind them, which is conditioned by the
narrow alleys between the shelves ("brush ass effect").
 Customers:
 compare products assembled next to each other (the principle of contrast),
 seeing attractive exhibition, they attribute positive characteristics to individual
products (the imitation effect),
 buy products that give promise of implementing cherished values, qualities (the
rule of consequences),
 when donated their time to make the decision to purchase the product, they repeat
this step and buy the same product the next time the (rule of engagement),
 making purchases they want to get as much as possible at the lowest price (the
rule of maximizing their own profit).
 In a somewhat lesser extent, customers are under influence of:
 rule of reciprocity, associated with feeling liabilities to the person who has
previously endowed them with something, eg. in the form of tastings and special
offers,
 rule of liking and sympathy and authority, based on the tendency to yield to
people they know, like, respect,
 social rule the proof, based on the impact of the decisions of other consumers on
our decisions / behaviour,
 rule of unavailability where limited editions products are attributed higher values.
 Customers benefit from groups of related products and complementary substitution therapy.
  When making purchases, customers buy products on impulse which is usually due to pricing
reductions.
 More than half of those surveyed had happened to enter the store only because of the pretty
storefront.
 The vast majority of surveyed buys products found at area offices.
 Proper lighting in the store does not affect the decision to purchase the products.
 Pleasant odour in the store encourages to enter. Respondents can indicate shops with
noticeable smell, respondents indicated Mohito store as a place with a palpable, intense vanilla
scent.
 Music emitted in the store makes shopping more enjoyable, the kind of music is important as
well. Respondents overwhelmingly pointed Cropp, a shop with a louder and more dynamic
music.
 Reserved is frequently visited by buyers. The shop storefront has also been indicated as the
most interesting one.
 More than half of the surveyed said that they were familiar with the term visual merchandising,
but only 14% indicated the correct definitions. Most of the surveyed understand visual
merchandising as an art exhibition of goods and the impact on a customer through visual
experience. Thanks to this ignorance sellers can manipulate customers more easily during their
stay in the store.

Because of the breadth of research results, the paper presents the results of observations of only one
of the chain stores - House. They are as follows:
 store is aimed at young people aged 13- 25,
 there are many possible routes, but the alleys are narrow, causing discomfort,
 arrangement of the shop refers to the principle of movement in the right direction,
 goods are arranged in sets and groups, also complementary and substitutionally.
Figure 1: Position of the range sets in the House store

Źródło: Source: own

 colours in the store, although they are diverse, they are well thought-out: masculine section is
dark, while the ladies section is in bright colours,
 adequate ventilation and air conditioning are advantages to this store,
 hardly visible male and female sign departments is a drawback - to reach the cash one needs to
go through the whole shopping area
 staff do not wear uniforms, identification of employees is possible by compulsory leashed
badges,
 exhibition concerns the winter period (observation date: December 8th 2015) during the
subsequent observation, the exhibition took the form of factory outlet
 broadcast music is characterized by a fast pace, it is modern and loud,
 store lacks seasonal products,
 fitting rooms hard to locate, and they have little space; the advantage, though, is their design:
youth-like and colourful wallpapers and adequate lighting,
 two types of lighting are used: different in the exposures section and different in the alleys
between the exposure sections:
Figure 2: Various lighting in House store

Source: own

 variety of the so-called POS materials as used, such as posters, stands for displaying goods,
topper - exchangeable advertising, promotional stands, signboard, T-sings - neon internal
LCD monitors.
Figure 3: POS materials, the LCD monitor in House store

Source: own
In contrast, based on an interview conducted, the following conclusions are put forward:
 Goods purchased are usually issued in the most visible places, while products sold least
frequently are exposed to special offers.
 Products with a potentially high sales are set under better lighting.
 Depending on the time of day manipulation of the volume of the background music takes place;
store has its own mix of music that is rarely changed.
 Factors such as temperature, ventilation, and air conditioning are subject to change during the
day. In the morning the temperature is lower, to discourage customers to buy and thus give
workers time to prepare the store.
 The LCD screens located above the cash registers broadcast music videos, in the compilation
video promoting clothes that are in the room sales is integrated.
 The individual collections are marked with special plaques, which depict different logos. Logos
are created by artists working with Cropp. Clothing signed with such logos are usually more
expensive and made of better materials than others.

3 Paper results
The results of the research show clearly that the visual merchandising tools have significant influence
on the purchasing decisions of customers. The customer is very often unknowingly subjected to
merchandising activities that affect the perception of the products and the desire to purchase. Due to
ignorance of buyers, stores have great leeway in applying tools of merchandising. The analysis of the
Company's facilities LPP allowed to get familiar with visual merchandising tools applied to effectively
attract customers. The interview, in turn, allowed for in-depth knowledge of the principles prevailing in
the store, the customer is not even aware of, such as e.g. temperature and music volume manipulation
or issuing products with the least demand as a special offer. Hypothesis thus placed in the article is
confirmed: Customer's purchases are influenced by the visual merchandising.

4 Discussion
In papers a lot of confusion regarding merchandising and visual merchandising can be found. For most
Poles, visual merchandising is perceived as mere merchandising, and this is only the narrow approach
(merchandising is a broader concept). This is due to the fact that in Poland, much more impressive
concept turned out to be a narrow approach, which surpassed the original version of merchandising.
Proper use of visual merchandising tools helps to improve the image of the company, increasing the
number of customers, and hence revenue growth retail outlet. At very high competition in the clothing
sector, the correct and thoughtful actions of visual merchandising applied can distinguish retail outlet
from the competition. Visual merchandising is one of the most important marketing tools used in chain
stores, not just clothes. Appropriate use of its tools makes it possible to manipulate the consciousness
of the customer when making his purchases. Findings that can summarize this part of the article:
 Visual merchandising starts with the store design to reflect the products - the store and window
display can act as a magnet and encourage the entrance or may be imperceptible to the
consumer. Windows dispaly is positively related to purchase intention.
 Through the various elements of visual merchandising, it is able to influence purchasing
decisions - with appropriate music, lighting, temperature, layout or other elements.
 It helps to understand human behavior, but it can also have a strong impact on this group of
consumers who make compulsive purchases.
 It is a useful and effective tool to support purchasing decisions.

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