Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / Customers expect from a store that displays expensive products to make an effort to decorate the store with atmospheric elements to create a prestige atmosphere. The four stores that the participants visited target upper-class customers and display expensive products. One of the participants mentioned that the atmosphere in Hip Hop remind her of a take-away restaurant. Hip Hop was making no effort to decorate its stores to create a hedonic experience for its customers. They were relying on their well-known brand name to sell their products. In the long run, this strategy will not be effective as the competition gets tougher and more brands enter the market. High-class fashion stores focus more on hedonic customers. Customers do not need to buy expensive clothes as there are many discount stores that could fulfil their clothing needs. In order for high-class fashion stores to attract customers they need to create a hedonic experience for their customers in the store. The customers must want to enter the store and spend time in the store. Atmospheric elements can attract customers to the store and influence the time they spend in the store. It is important that new fashion stores have the right atmospheric design in their stores. New stores cannot rely on a name as this is not well known. The atmospheric design of a store tells customers what they can expect in the store. One of our main findings is that there is a difference between the atmospheric designs in shopping centres. The fashion stores in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town use atmospherics in their stores to create a prestige atmosphere for their upper-class customers. On the other hand, the atmospheric designs in the fashion stores in Canal Walk, which attracts middle-class customers, had a lower quality and were not regarded to be as prestige as those of the V&A Waterfront stores. The most expensive merchandise was also found in the fashion stores in the V&A Waterfront. Most of the stores in our sample use some atmospheric elements. However, the combination of the atmospheric elements in the stores did not always match. The participants viewed the atmospheric design as a whole and it was important to them that all the atmospheric elements fit together. The participants were noticeably disappointed with a store that did not make use of atmospherics to enhance its customers’ shopping experience. They found the store too plain as the storeowner did not make any effort to decorate the store. When they entered a store that did make use of atmospherics, the participants mentioned that they would like to spend more time in the store.

At last, this dissertation considers another marketing implication of this number-location association, namely the compatibility effect. In experiment 7, we find that people perceive a discount as more attractive when the two prices are actually posited in compatible locations (original price-right side; discounted price-left side) than in incompatible locations. Similarly, experiment 8 demonstrates that people are more likely to patronage a supermarket when the supermarket's slogan about low price is shown on the left side of a display than on the right side, and this effect is mediated by the subjective fluency feeling people felt at the time they process the advertisement. / Given a display, people usually think that large numbers should be located on the top or on the right hand side of the display, whereas small numbers should be posited at the bottom or on the left (Wood and Fischer 2008). / Given this number-location association, this dissertation secondly intends to apply it to the field of marketing, and to use three experiments to explore how and why location of product image can influence people's price judgment. The results of experiment 4 show that consumers think that the market price of a product is higher if the product's image is shown on the right side of a display than on the left side; experiment 5 and experiment 6 further indicate that the location of product image can only influence consumers' price judgment, but cannot influence quality judgment. / Key Words: Number-location association, Simulation, Perceptual Symbol Systems (PSS), Price perception. / This dissertation firstly aims to provide new evidence for this number-location association. Experiment 1 demonstrates that people incorrectly remember that large numbers appear to the right of the locations they actually were shown while small numbers appear to the left ofthe locations than they actually were presented; experiment 2 and experiment 3 show that people estimate there are more pieces in a pile of object when the pile of object is presented on the right side of a display than on the left side. / Cai, Fengyan. / Adviser: King Man Hui. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-144). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Thesis (M.Des.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Design. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-61). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38805

Thesis (M.A.)(Hons)--University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

"This study is limited to the organization and activities of display departments of six leading Texas department stores. It concerns the two main categories of display: window and interior display. Chapter I serves as an introduction to the study; Chapter II review briefly the history of display in the United States; Chapter III presents an analysis of the display departments of six leading Texas department stores; Chapter IV concludes the study with a summary and evaluation of the data presented in Chapter III." -- leaf 3.

This research study acquired a consumer response centred approach to visual merchandising stimuli, in an attempt to holistically consider this area of the retail industry. Consumers‟ perceptions towards visual merchandising displays and the effect these displays have on consumer behaviour were exposed. The primary research question that pended from the preliminary literature was to determine the effect of visual merchandising displays on consumer perceptions. Explorative research was performed and qualitative data were collected by means of focus groups and naïve sketches. The data was analysed by means of a thematic analysis process. Perceptions of visual merchandising displays that were identified were subliminal in creating an interest and desire to further peruse the merchandise and aesthetically to beautify the store. Consumers expressed that the impact that visual merchandising displays had on their buying decisions depended on their personal preferences. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

This research study acquired a consumer response centred approach to visual merchandising stimuli, in an attempt to holistically consider this area of the retail industry. Consumers‟ perceptions towards visual merchandising displays and the effect these displays have on consumer behaviour were exposed. The primary research question that pended from the preliminary literature was to determine the effect of visual merchandising displays on consumer perceptions. Explorative research was performed and qualitative data were collected by means of focus groups and naïve sketches. The data was analysed by means of a thematic analysis process. Perceptions of visual merchandising displays that were identified were subliminal in creating an interest and desire to further peruse the merchandise and aesthetically to beautify the store. Consumers expressed that the impact that visual merchandising displays had on their buying decisions depended on their personal preferences. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

This research study aims to obtain a holistic view of the area of store atmospherics, which forms part of the retail industry. A consumer-centred response approach was followed. Store atmospherics and its influence on consumers’ buying behaviour has received very little attention in the literature to date. Consumers’ views on in-store atmospheric elements and the influence of these elements on their buying behaviour were obtained. The primary research aim that was derived from the preliminary literature was therefore to explore the influence of store atmospherics on consumers’ buying behaviour in apparel retail stores in the Tshwane region. The type of research design used in this study was exploratory, making use of a qualitative approach and a communicative technique of interviews. The selected method was focus group interviews and naïve sketches. The data gathered was analysed by means of Tesch’s inductive descriptive coding technique, better known as thematic analysis. It was found that atmospheric elements have the ability to influence consumers in either a subconscious or a conscious way. This has a direct influence on the amount of time that consumers will spend in-store and ultimately influences their buying decisions and behaviour either positively or negatively. This had a direct influence on the amount of time that consumers will spend instore and ultimately influences their buying decisions and behaviours either positively or negatively, meaning that the consumers’ will display either an approach- or avoidance behaviour. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

This research study aims to obtain a holistic view of the area of store atmospherics, which forms part of the retail industry. A consumer-centred response approach was followed. Store atmospherics and its influence on consumers’ buying behaviour has received very little attention in the literature to date. Consumers’ views on in-store atmospheric elements and the influence of these elements on their buying behaviour were obtained. The primary research aim that was derived from the preliminary literature was therefore to explore the influence of store atmospherics on consumers’ buying behaviour in apparel retail stores in the Tshwane region. The type of research design used in this study was exploratory, making use of a qualitative approach and a communicative technique of interviews. The selected method was focus group interviews and naïve sketches. The data gathered was analysed by means of Tesch’s inductive descriptive coding technique, better known as thematic analysis. It was found that atmospheric elements have the ability to influence consumers in either a subconscious or a conscious way. This has a direct influence on the amount of time that consumers will spend in-store and ultimately influences their buying decisions and behaviour either positively or negatively. This had a direct influence on the amount of time that consumers will spend instore and ultimately influences their buying decisions and behaviours either positively or negatively, meaning that the consumers’ will display either an approach- or avoidance behaviour. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)