The Role of Physical Environment in Consumers’ Relationship with a Retail Outlet Offering a Regional Product

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a quantitative study that examined the effect of a store’s physical environment on consumers’ relationship with a retail outlet. The results retained most of our research hypotheses. We found that a design with references to regional products positively influences consumer attachment to the point of sale. However, atmospherics have no significant impact on loyalty to the point of sale.