Dressing Room Lighting System as a Marketing Tool

It is unclear how lighting direction affects consumers in the dressing room despite the assumptions of lighting authorities, retailers, and designers. The designing effects can be detrimental to the business’ failure or growth. The vital aspects being atmosphere of the dressing area and lighting directions.
The design of the retail stores in aspects of display of clothes, the entrance, space availed for shopping, the dressing space and finally the mood and atmosphere in general, plays a key role in attracting and maintaining customers. The satisfaction of any consumer who comes in the retail shop is at the core of business growth and survival. To the management team, it is vital to lay consideration of the atmosphere of the store and the mood that will arouse the customers for maximum satisfaction. It is very important to understand the mood of the consumer base in order to determine the aspects to focus on in store layout and design. One of the aspects that are mostly sensitized on is the lighting in the dressing room.
Research is being done on the environment and the effects on arousal of the customer, perceived outlook and finally in making the final purchase. The dressing room is at the core where the consumer makes the overall decision whether to purchase the outfit or not. The look the customer perceives from the mirror view and the lighting of the room plays the key to decision making. Despite the fact that retailers have gone to extreme lengths to attract consumers with discounts and display the best outfits in stores, this fact alone cannot influence the final decision for making the purchase. A customer will spend more money if his/her shopping experience is satisfied to the maximum (Donovan et al., 1994).
In light of this argument, lighting is of vital importance in the dressing room. While designing the lighting system, consideration should be to avoid the formation of shadows on the customers’ body look, maximizing the view of the outfit and creating an arousal mood in the consumers’. The customers’ expectations go hand in hand with the perception and mood arousal (Burns &Neisner, 2006).
References
Burns, D.J. &Neisner, L. 2006. Customer satisfaction in a retail setting: the contribution of emotion. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 34(1), 49-66.
Donovan, R.J., Rossiter, J.R., Marcoolyn, G., Nesdale, A. 1994. Store atmosphere and purchasing behavior. Journal of Retailing.70(3), 291.