The effects of lighting on purchase intentions.

Abstract

With increasing competition in today’s retail industry, lighting has become an important aspect of store design, as it can be used to create different kinds of ambience, attract customers into stores, and even focus their attention onto particular merchandise. Past researches have proven relationships between lighting and mood, and also, the effects of bright and dim lightings on consumer self-awareness. However, there is little or no research to date that has examined the relationship between lighting effects and consumer self-awareness, and ultimately, purchase intentions. This study examines how lighting effects, in particular spotlight and uniform light, can affect consumers’ self-awareness, activating certain aspects of self-concept salient in their minds, and ultimately affecting purchase intentions. It was found that certain aspects of self-concept played a more important role in product evaluation under the spotlight condition as compared to under uniform lighting condition. We derived interesting insights from our results, some of which may have useful implications for marketers, whilst others may serve as a basis for future research. BUSINESS