Investigate the influence of In-Store atmosphere on Customer Patronage Intention towards Supermarkets in Western Province.

Abstract

Modern retailers have the ability to influence on customer purchasing decision in many ways. According to the prevailing literature many researchers argued that attractive in-store atmosphere becomes an important determinant for improving the customer patronage behaviour towards shopping at modern retail outlets. Further they explored that it has become an essentially important element in the retailing industry. Therefore in-store atmosphere and customer patronizing behavior become an important area in academic interest to further investigated. Accordingly present study is focused on the impact of in-store atmosphere on patronage intention of customers towards shopping at modern trade outlets in western province in Sri Lanka. Both secondary and primary data were considered for the study. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire administrated among 150 supermarket shoppers from western province. Hypotheses were tested by adopting to the correlation and regression analysis employing SPSS software. From six hypotheses, five were supported and only one hypothesis was rejected based on the empirical evidences. Therefore the study revealed that In-store music, In-store lighting, Store layout, and Cleanliness are positively influenced and In-store scent is not significantly influenced on customer patronage behavior of customers. Finally, researchers concluded that internal atmosphere of supermarkets become significant factor for selecting a retail outlet in Sri Lankan context.