Visual merchandising, visual merchandising displays, sight, colour, lighting, consumer behaviour.Abstract

Twenty-first century consumers have a lot of power in relation to buying due to their changing and demanding needs and wants. The entire selling activity has become more convenient for consumers as they can search for and purchase products from online websites instead of going to a physical store, which do have an influence on the physical brick and mortar stores in South Africa. This study was conducted to explore the influence of sight atmospherics and visual merchandising displays in apparel retail stores in Tshwane on consumers' behaviour. The study implemented an exploratory design which was qualitative in nature. Two focus groups were held, each made up of eight participants, and the gathered data was analysed by means of thematic analysis. It was found that visual merchandising displays had an unconscious influence on consumer behaviour and, since visual display is not the only factor considered when deciding to make a purchase, a pleasant atmosphere would influence participants to stay longer which in return could lead to a purchase. It was further found that consumers were influenced by sight atmospherics in either a conscious or a subconscious way which had an influence on the amount of time consumers would spend in an apparel retail store, and which would further influence their behaviour towards making a purchase or not