Title: Does visual merchandising affect response behaviour? Role of atmospheric cues in online retailing

Authors: Farah S. Choudhary; Alka Sharma

Addresses: The Business School, University of Jammu, India ' The Business School, University of Jammu, India

Abstract: The retail sector has revolutionised with all the major national and international brands going online giving the customers an option to visit a website and purchase online. However, the decision to visit a particular website needs to be analysed to identify the underlying online visual merchandising (OVM) cues affecting their behaviour and suggest strategies to promote growth of e-commerce. The study has applied the S-O-R paradigm in online context for investigating the role of atmospherics in eliciting emotional state that leads to favourable response behaviour from the consumers. The study has focused on examining the impact of four OVM cues (colour, product presentation, website design and layout, and website navigation) on emotional state and the approach-avoidance behaviour. The data for the present research was collected from shoppers of two top leading websites, viz., Flipkart and Amazon India. The results suggest that out of all the elements, colour stimulates the emotional state most in the Indian context. The study presents a strategic model of OVM elements and customers' response behaviour, mediated by the affective state that can be applied in the Indian context and help create positive behaviour among online consumers.

Keywords: online visual merchandising; OVM; emotional state; S-O-R model; customer approach-avoidance behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2022.125591

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2022 Vol.13 No.4, pp.466 - 489

Received: 08 Jan 2021
Accepted: 20 May 2021
Published online: 16 Sep 2022 *

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