Abstract

The effects of the retail environment on consumer perceptions and behaviors have been widely discussed. Recent research indicated that visual servicescapes of a retail environment affect consumers’ attitudes toward the retailer and the servicescapes, consumers’ perceptions of self-image congruity with the retailer, and consumers’ involvement with the retailer. The visual servicescapes also influence the formation of consumer-retailer relationships, which can be characterized as “perfect matches,” “mismatches,” “fair-weather friends,” “best friends,” and “acquaintances.” The purpose of the current research is threefold: (1) Building on recent quantitative findings, it develops a scale to measure the five consumer-retailer relationship types; (2) it empirically tests which visual servicescapes dimension has the most influence on the formation of consumer-retailer relationship; and (3) it seeks to replicate earlier findings regarding the effects of the visual servicescapes on consumers’ attitude toward a retailer, consumers’ self-image congruity with the retailer, and consumers’ involvement with the retailer.