GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Some retailers make stores too exciting for their customers, says University of Florida marketing professor Barton Weitz, who is photographed inside the Oaks Mall in Gainesville on March 2, 2006. Weitz’s research finds that people prefer a highly arousing store environment when shopping for fun but dislike it when running errands they just want to get done. Browsers in a shopping mall may be turned on by bright colors, pulsating music and video screens, while grocery store customers are put at ease by streamlined aisles, pastel greens or blues and soft melodies in the background, he said.

(Kristen Bartlett/University of Florida)
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