How do customers respond to external store environment? Analyzing the new luxury segment

This study applies an environmental psychology approach to understand the impact on consumer emotional reactions and shopping outcomes of store environmental perceptions, within a new luxury retail setting. Within this mass-market, highly hedonistic retail context, the study here proposes an extended stimulus-organism-response model. The study examines linkages between consumers’ perceptions of retail cues and their emotions and behavioural intentions. Further, the study considers such relationships in different retail settings – shopping malls and urban centres. Results suggest that, in diverse retail settings, consumer emotional reactions to environmental cues may vary, suggesting, in turn, that consumer selection of store settings is likely to be driven by diverse consumer expectations and needs. The study closes with theoretical and managerial implications.