CONNECTING ONLINE VISUAL MERCHANDISING AND CONSUMER RESPONSE BEHAVIOUR

The current study was designed to examine the relationship of online visual merchandising and consumers' emotions (pleasure and arousal) that in turn influence consumer response behaviors for this the study will apply Stimuli (S)—Organism (O)—Response (R) model suggested by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) as a base to relate these elements in which online visual merchandising will be the Stimulus, Emotional State will be the Organism and Approach-Avoidance behaviour will be the Response. This study takes two emotional variables i.e. Pleasure and arousal. The purpose of this study is to also explore different online visual merchandising (OVM) elements. The paper through extensive literature on Online Visual Merchandising and Factor Analysis gives five elements of OVM that affects consumer response behaviour. The factors exacted were Atmospheric, Website navigation, Product demonstration, Web graphics and Web advertising. There are various sub-elements included within these factors. A convenience sample of 200 online purchasers was selected. This study presents a detail understanding of online visual merchandising and its elements and how they are used differently in different websites. The paper also gives implications for retailers of how to use online visual merchandising to attract consumers. The findings of the study provides valuable information for online retailers developing successful online stores using various web cues that may attract both online browsers and purchasers.