Key Dimensions of Luxury Fashion Retail Atmospherics in Chinese Market

Abstract

As China has become the third largest luxury spender in the world, luxury retailers are constantly battling in the market. Retailers have to attract more customers to meet their demands, expectations and needs in order to grow in the market. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a great understanding of the relationship between the specific nature of luxury store environments and the perception, motivation and behaviour of Chinese consumers. The purpose of in-store atmosphere is to establish a superior environment in order to encourage customers to have sentimental feelings for obtaining positive response. This study uses stimuli – organism – response (S-O-R) model to interrogate how luxury fashion retailers design store atmosphere to influence consumer’s affective, cognitive and behavioural response. This study also investigated the difference between generation Y and generation Z in behaviour within a shopping environment. A sample of 150 participants spanning ages 18 to 38 and consisting four tiers of cities, participated in this study. The research found that consumers had higher expectations on luxury in-store environment than general stores. The study also found younger generation of millennials (18-23) would be influenced more than generation Y (24-38) with respect to in-store environment. Moreover, the results showed that environmental stimuli did have influence upon consumer’s affective, cognitive responses which would lead them to make approach or avoidance behaviour. However, in this research, the results showed that hierarchy of city has no effect on consumer behavioural response. 9 This research provided a detailed understanding of in-store environment literature, and applied the theories to Asian market, to be more specifically, Chinese market. The findings enabled retailers to understand the priorities of in-store environmental stimuli for Chinese consumers.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Helen Mccormick (Supervisor) & Stephen Doyle (Supervisor)