Store sense: Reclaiming the four walls with - Deakin University

‘Our sense of sound, sight, smell, and touch have a powerful effect on us, and psychological research is
just beginning to explain some of the physical, cognitive, social and emotional effects. Sensory stimuli
can influence environments, improve the shopper experience and change the nature of behaviour in ways
beyond our consciousness’. [1] , p. 286.
The new retail dynamic
The evolution of stores and shopping in Australia is part and parcel of the story of European settlement.
As far back as the 1800’s ‘going shopping’ was still a relatively new social concept although cities and
towns rapidly formalised to offer residents and visitors greater leisure and retail opportunities.
New settlers continued to bring their diverse cultural traditions with them, buying goods from home
producers, street-sellers or at the wharf or market-place. With the first purpose-built shops beginning
to appear in Britain and Europe from the early nineteenth century, emergent colonial societies at the
outposts of the Empire quickly followed suit.
For these early consumers, the shopping experience was a special occasion - a trip to town, dressed
in their Sunday best to marvel at the spectacles presented in shop windows, combined with the
anticipation of a special purchase. The nostalgic smells, sounds and emotions of these vibrant
experiences (for example corner shops with their tempting arrays of sweets or tins of biscuits) is still
powerful and evokes memories of a time when shopping was far less complex and sophisticated but
when the experience was at its most pure [2] .
Since these early beginnings and for most of subsequent retailing history, the physical bricks and
mortar environment has provided both the focus and the context for customer engagement. As
economies evolved, established brands in all major countries developed large retail store chains and
distribution networks. Competition was based on the traditional marketing pillars of price, product,
place and promotion with the scale and resources of bigger organisations providing strong competitive
advantage. As time progressed, independent retailers rapidly lost ground to both the shopping centre
and the national (and international) chains as consumers sought the convenience of location and the
confidence of the big brands.
But all this is rapidly changing. The new dynamics of the global retail economy are arguably threatening
traditional store environments, as shoppers increasing turn to alternative channels like the internet to
browse, compare and ultimately purchase. Faced with this evolution, it is essential for bricks and mortar
retailers to revisit the principles and practices of in-store consumer engagement and to understand
in greater detail how their physical store environments can be leveraged to optimum effect to ensure
sales optimisation, customer satisfaction and sustainable profitability.
The physical store under threat
The explosion of internet and multi-channel retailing in the last decade is having a considerable impact
on the evolution of retail environments and shaping how people buy. The growth in online sales is
capturing a significant and increasing share of the retail dollar, estimated by Forrester research to
reach 8% of total retail sales in the US and Europe by 2014 [3] . In Australia the value of online purchases
has grown at an average rate of 15% per annum since 2005, with Forrester predicting that Australian
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