marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, the term atmospherics is used to describe the discipline of designing commercial spaces. Atmospherics was coined by

Philip Kotler Philip Kotler (born May 27, 1931) is an American marketing author, consultant, and professor emeritus; the S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (196 ...

in a 1973 article in the Journal of Retailing.Kotler, P. (1973). Atmospherics as a marketing tool. Journal of Retailing, 49(4), 48-64. Kotler argues that the tangible product is only a small part of the total consumption package. Buyers respond to the total product, which includes services, warranties, packaging, advertising, financing, pleasantries, images and so on. Atmospherics covers three major art forms important to retail: architecture: exterior structure, interior design, and the design of window displays. The atmosphere of a commercial space performs three functions: creating

attention Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...

message A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus. A ...

s (communication) and affect. The term

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

is a term borrowed from

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. Space is designed to make people feel a certain way. This is apparent in cathedrals, which inspire a feeling of spiritual awe. Kotler provides two definitions of atmospherics. It is the "conscious designing of space to create certain effects in buyers" or more precisely, "the effort to design buying environments to produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance purchase probability". Atmospherics is a qualitative construct that encompasses four of the main senses, with the exclusion of taste. The atmosphere of a commercial space can be divided into the intended atmosphere: the designed space; and the perceived atmosphere: the consumer's perception of that space. Atmospherics is a relevant marketing tool where the product is purchased or consumed and where the seller has design options. These are generally retail spaces such as shops and restaurants, but also libraries, religious buildings, civic buildings and so on. Atmospherics is more relevant as the number of competitive outlets increases and where product or price differences are small. Kotler presents atmospherics as an important concept in the positioning of the value offering. Atmospherics is also considered more relevant where products and services are targeted at specific buyer groups. Kotler proposes a causal chain, connecting atmosphere and purchase probability: * Sensory qualities of space surrounding purchase object * Buyer's perception of the sensory qualities * Effect of perceived sensory qualities * Impact of buyer's modified information and affective state

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Retail processes and techniques

See also

References