Store Ambience on Young Apparel Consumers’ Impulsive Buying Behaviour

ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
The retail landscape in Sri Lanka has transformed into a highly effi cient and swiftly advancing industry, primarily driven by the entry of numerous signifi cant enterprises into retail operations.The Sri Lankan economy heavily relies on the apparel and textile industry, serving as a key contributor to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).In 2023, the Apparel market in Sri Lanka is valued at US$1.66 billion, and it is projected to experience an annual growth rate of 2.08% (CAGR 2023(CAGR -2028)).The largest segment within the market is Women's Apparel, accounting for a market volume of US$0.83 billion in 2023.(Amos et al., 2014) stated marketing researchers had observed a positive trend in impulsive shopping and have utilized various strategies to promote impulsive purchases among apparel consumers.They have elucidated how the presentation of a product in a retail setting enhances its appeal and allure to customers.Crucial elements for attracting customers to engage in impulsive buying include the exterior and interior design of the apparel store, pricing strategies, promotional approaches, service orientation, assistance on the shop fl oor, product variety, quality, store navigation, and operational execution (Mandolfo & Lamberti, 2021).Retailers must recognize the signifi cance of implementing a successful strategy to enhance the ambiance of their stores, given the heightened competition in the retail sector over recent years (Han et al., 1991).By adopting the above empirical evidence, the problem statement can be formulated as, "To investigate the impact of store ambience factors namely window display, promotional offers, store layout, background music, and fragrance of the store on impulsive buying behaviour among young apparel consumers."

Research Objectives
The following Objectives were to be intended to achieve: 1. To identify the level of window display, promotional offers, store layout, background music, fragrance of the store and impulsive buying behaviour among young apparel consumers.
2. To explore the relationship among window display, promotional offers, store layout, background music, fragrance of the store and impulsive buying behaviour among young apparel consumers.
3. To investigate the impact of window display, promotional offers, store layout, background music, and fragrance of the store on impulsive buying behaviour among young apparel consumers.

LITERATURE REVIEW
External elements of impulsive buying are marketing strategies that retailers manage and control to encourage customers to impulse buy (Pallikkara et al., 2020).When consumers see visual cues such as promotional signage, they may want to buy apparel impulsively (Mehta & Chugan, 2012).According to the fi ndings by Rhee (2017), consumers' perceptions regarding a store's visual appeal showed a stronger link with the store selection than apparel product quality, overall price level and variety.This gives credibility to the view that the store atmosphere infl uences the consumers' choice of a store, with window displays of apparel stores playing an important part.This shows that the retail setting of apparel stores infl uences consumer buying behaviour.Direct sensory stimuli in a retail ambience include visual components and physical amenities, while general design aspects include colour, shelf space and store layout (Baker et al., 2002).A window display is a presentation of items that impacts an individual's purchasing intentions.Merchants want Am.J. Interdiscip.Res.Innov.3(1) 30-35 2024 to provide consumers with an appropriate product at the right moment through a correct display (Baker et al., 1992).Retail layout may stimulate a customer's interest in the store's ambience, increasing shopper attention (Bloch et al., 1989).

Impulse Buying Behaviour (IBB)
For many years, numerous researchers have shown a keen interest in impulsive purchasing (Amos et al., 2014).In the case of clothes shopping, impulse purchasing plays an important role.Apparel shoppers may profi t more from impulse purchases when retailers provide promotional offers, which is signifi cant for the apparel retail business.According to Abratt & Goodey (1990), IB at a retail store may greatly interest both the manufacturer and the retailer.Impulse shopping implies instant buying, which is an advance shopping intention either to buy a particular product category or to satisfy a desire (Beatty & Ferrell, 1998).Impulsive buying tendency (IBT) is defi ned as the proclivity to make unexpected purchases and to buy immediately, with little or no thought to the implications.Rook (1987) suggested that impulse purchasing is an unplanned, cognitive process that comes from affective reactions, which happen after the exposure to retail environment cues inside a physical store.Thus, store attributes play a critical role during apparel impulse buying.The following hypotheses were formulated to explore the relationships between IBB of apparel consumers and these fi ve store ambience factors.

Research Hypotheses Window display
Window displays are used in the facade of the store through which retailers use to draw the customers into the store and provide messages about the products offered inside the store (Levy & Weitz, 2002).According to Britta et al., (2010), well-designed storefront window displays are regarded as a useful technique to attract the attention of new customers and motivate them to visit the store.Findings of the research conducted by Mehta & Chugan, (2014) suggested that there is a positive relationship between window display and impulse buying.Therefore, this research proposed following hypothesis: H1: There is a positive impact of window display on impulsive buying behaviour.

Promotional Offers
According to Levy and Weitz (2002) promotional signage gives information about special offers and price discounts offered in the store.Consumers can experience an urge to buy impulsively when visually encountering cues such as promotional incentives (Dholakia, 2000).Therefore, it was hypothesised: H2: There is a positive impact of promotional offers on impulsive buying behaviour.

Store Layout
According to Bitner (1992) & Spies et al (1997) good store layout enables customers' to fi nd the product that they need in a quick manner.Moreover, Baker et al (1994) stated that well organised store layout enhances the process of shopping by creating convenience for customers.Therefore, this research proposed following hypothesis: H3: There is a positive impact of store layout on impulsive buying behaviour.

Background Music
Music is considered as an important element of store atmosphere which directly infl uences consumer buying behaviour (Levy & Weitz, 2002).According to the fi ndings of Mattila & Wirtz (2001) consumers are more likely to stay longer in stores due to the presence of good background music and browse through the store looking at the merchandise.As a result, good background music triggers the senses of consumers by stimulating the process of impulse buying.Thus, below mentioned hypothesis was proposed: H4: There is a positive impact of background music on impulsive buying behaviour.

Fragrance of Stores
Pleasant aroma of the store makes customers spend more time looking through merchandise, which will result in impulse buying.The impact of store smell on impulse buying behaviour was identifi ed in the study of (Mattila & Wirtz, 2008) and (Mohan et al., 2013).Hence, this research hypothesised that: H5: There is a positive impact of the fragrance of stores on impulsive buying behaviour.

METHODOLOGY Sampling and Data Collection
In this research, the data was collected from 252 young apparel consumers through a convenience sampling method by using an online survey Google Forms.The "Five Point Likert Scale" was used to measure the variables.This scale consisted of fi ve scales ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" was applied in part II of the questionnaire to identify responses.Pearson's correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to analyse the collected data.Am.J. Interdiscip.Res.Innov.3(1) 30-35 2024

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 shows profi les of respondents who are males (45.2%) and females (54.8%) use impulsive buying during apparel purchases.The younger apparel consumers mostly use impulsive buying during apparel purchases as fi nding shows that the majority of apparel consumers fall in the age categories between 1997 to 2010 and 51.2% respondents reported monthly family income below 25,000 Sri Lankan rupees.Internal reliability of the items is checked by using   2003), Internal reliability is high as values are above 0.7.Table 3 outlines the elements that infl uence impulsive buying.behaviour of apparel consumers.Mean scores in table 3 show that "Window Display" (x= 3.82) is found to be at the high level, followed by "Promotional Offers" (x= 3.76), "Store Layout" (x= 3.75) and "Fragrance of Stores" (x=3.61).In contrast, "Background Music" (x =3.41) and "Impulsive Buying Behaviour" (x=3.48) are at a moderate level respectively.2023) Note: Mean value range: 4.0 < X < 4.20: High, and 4.20 < X < 5.00: Very High 2.60 < X ≤ 3.40: Moderate, 1 ≤ X ≤ 1.80: Very Low, 1.80 < X ≤ 2.60: Low, 3: Source: (Masri & Jaaron, 2017) Am.J. Interdiscip.Res.Innov.3(1) 30-35 2024  6 shows that the regression model was signifi cant where F-value = 26.768;R 2 = 0.097; p=0.000.Further R 2 describes 9.7% of variation in Promotional Offers can be explained by impulsive Buying Behaviour.The proposed model was adequate as the F-statistics (F=26.768)were signifi cant at the 5% level (p<0.05).Beta is 0.311.Table 7 shows that the regression model was statistically signifi cant where F-value = 71.563;R 2 =0.223; p=0.000.Further R 2 describes 22.3% of variation in Store Layout can be explained by impulsive Buying Behaviour.The proposed model was adequate as the F-statistics (F=71.563)were signifi cant at the 5% level (p<0.05).Beta is 0.472.Table 8 shows that the regression model was statistically signifi cant where F-value = 120.052;R 2 = 0.324; p=0.000.Further R 2 describes 32.4% of variation in Background Music can be explained by impulsive Buying Behaviour.The proposed model was adequate as the F-statistics (F=120.052)were signifi cant at the 5% level (p<0.05).Beta is 0.570.
Table 9 shows that the regression model was statistically signifi cant where F-value = 336.812;R 2 = 0.574; p=0.000.Further R 2 describes 57.4% of variation in Fragrance Of Stores can be explained by impulsive Buying Behaviour.The proposed model was adequate as the F-statistics (F= 336.812) were signifi cant at the 5% level (p<0.05).Beta was 0.758.

Table 1 :
Profi le of the Respondents

Table 2 :
Reliability analysis for Overall Variables

Table 3 :
Descriptive Statistics of the Variables

Table 4
portrays that the Fragrance of Stores (r=0.758) is positively highly correlated with impulsive buying behaviour in the apparel industry at the 1% signifi cant level.However, the relationship between Window Display (r=0.497),Promotional Offers (r=0.311),Store Layout (r=0.472) and Background Music (r=0.570) with Impulsive Buying Behaviour are a moderate positive correlation value less than 0.7 at the 0.01 signifi cance level.The above table 5 specifi es 0.247 of R square statistics of Window Display and it means Window Display has 24.7% of impact on impulsive buying behaviour towards apparel.According to the table, sig value is 0.000 (p<0.05).The unstandardized constant statistic is 1.632 and it shows the model would predict if the independent variable were zero.Regression results indicate that the b value of Window Display is 0.495.It means if Window Display increased by one-point, impulsive buying behaviour increased by 0.495.Beta value is 0.497.Table

Table 4 :
Results of Pearson's Correlation analysis Relationships

Correlation Coeffi cient Sig. Value Decision Attribute
Correlation is signifi cant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 5 :
Results of Simple Linear Regression analysis

Table 6 :
Results of Simple Linear Regression analysis

Table 7 :
Results of Simple Linear Regression analysis

Table 8 :
Results of Simple Linear Regression analysis