Town and city centre fashion retail: The sensory systems of atmosphere and design perception in gendered, cosmopolitan space
Authors: McIntyre, C., Dennis, C. and Budnarowska, C.
Conference: EIRASS, 21st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Recent Advances in Retailing and Consumer Services Science
Dates: 7-10 July 2014
Abstract:The changing face of town and city centres in response to virtual alternatives of supply suggests a renewed need for retail spaces to be increasingly relevant to consumer needs in order to continue to attract physical visitation. The effective use of physical store spatial design for consumer targeting poses questions concerning the potential integration or differentiation of male and female fashion store environments that link to the unisex boutique movement of the 1960’s. In this study UK High Street fashion store ambiences were tested in their experiential appeal effects – good and bad, approach and avoidance – amongst international groups of young fashion consumers. Several distinct range gendered spatial fashion store spatial preferences, corresponding to literature sources of gender preferences, arose from the discourse analysis of in-store experiences. Female store appeals were largely framed within foregrounded, sensory, bottom-up, and holistically perceived overall atmosphere effects relative to their socially immersed fashion purchasing trip needs. Male store appeals more related to top-down, abstract spatial design elements denoting brand image that provided a more background effect either to their functional fashion purchasing event needs, based upon speed, efficiency and availability of brands at the right prices (which could just as easily be obtained online in many cases), or to their entirely separate casual flâneur fashion store roaming needs. This bipartite nature of males within fashion store locales contrasts with females who tend more towards a single role of a constant potential buyer when within fashion stores. Linguistic dichotomies, consumer psychology and aspects of spatial theory can be used to classify gendered spatial descriptors suitable for considering optimally gendered fashion shop design.
Source: Manual
Town and city centre fashion retail: The sensory systems of atmosphere and design perception in gendered, cosmopolitan space
Authors: McIntyre, C., Dennis, C. and Budnarowska, C.
Conference: EIRASS, 21st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Recent Advances in Retailing and Consumer Services Science
Dates: 7-10 July 2014
Abstract:The changing face of town and city centres in response to virtual alternatives of supply suggests a renewed need for retail spaces to be increasingly relevant to consumer needs in order to continue to attract physical visitation. The effective use of physical store spatial design for consumer targeting poses questions concerning the potential integration or differentiation of male and female fashion store environments that link to the unisex boutique movement of the 1960’s. In this study UK High Street fashion store ambiences were tested in their experiential appeal effects – good and bad, approach and avoidance – amongst international groups of young fashion consumers. Several distinct range gendered spatial fashion store spatial preferences, corresponding to literature sources of gender preferences, arose from the discourse analysis of in-store experiences. Female store appeals were largely framed within foregrounded, sensory, bottom-up, and holistically perceived overall atmosphere effects relative to their socially immersed fashion purchasing trip needs. Male store appeals more related to top-down, abstract spatial design elements denoting brand image that provided a more background effect either to their functional fashion purchasing event needs, based upon speed, efficiency and availability of brands at the right prices (which could just as easily be obtained online in many cases), or to their entirely separate casual flâneur fashion store roaming needs. This bipartite nature of males within fashion store locales contrasts with females who tend more towards a single role of a constant potential buyer when within fashion stores. Linguistic dichotomies, consumer psychology and aspects of spatial theory can be used to classify gendered spatial descriptors suitable for considering optimally gendered fashion shop design.
Source: Manual