Consumer Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Consumer Behaviour - Essay Example Phil Kotler defines â€Å"Atmospherics† as â€Å"the effort to design buying environments to produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his or her purchase probability.† The majority of the American public is unaware that they are spending more or less time in stores, moving slower or faster through the aisles, and purchasing items that have no concrete value to them because their unconscious is being told to make decisions contrary to that which they desire. Atmospherics create an illusion that stores try to sustain throughout the consumer’s shopping experience. In â€Å"Marketing of the Mind†, the authors argue that people visit a mall solely for its disorientating effect; they call it a â€Å"vacation from the senses, much like drinking alcohol.† (Walsh, Brown. â€Å"Media Literacy for the Unconscious Mind†. The Journal of New Media & Culture. Winter 2002, Vol.1, No.1). Storeowners attempt to influence consumers by creating an innovative store layout. Victor Gruen is accredited with conceiving an ideal environment for a shopping mall. Departmental stores, which were the main impetus to go to malls, are placed at opposite ends of the interior walkway – the logic being that consumers must pass all of the smaller shops when traversing between them. Along with climatic control, a lack of clocks, and centrally controlled lighting, the consumer loses all sense of direction, time of day and duration of his or her stay; the consumer’s eye literally becomes glazed over, and he or she loses the ability to make economically realistic decisions. Parking is often located underneath the store’s premises, so consumers cannot determine where in the store they are making their entrance, which adds to their disorientation. The shopping environment is thus transformed from a relatively neutral place to one that harbors numerous stimuli that urge