International Journal of Research Available at https://edupediapublications.org/journals e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Volume 04 Issue 13 October 2017 Available online: https://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/IJR/ Page | 41 The Impact of Store Environmental Factors on Customer’s Impulse Buying Behaviour: Fashion Stores in Colombo District, Sri Lanka W.H.T.Madhuhansi * Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya, Dalugama, Sri Lanka 1 thejamadhuhansi@gmail.com Abstract— Impulse buying behavior is an unplanned and spontaneous purchase. Among different types of buying behaviors of consumers, impulse buying behavior has been identified as one of the critical and beneficial buying behaviors by marketers and researchers all around the world and the number of researches done on impulsive buying behavior has been increased during last 60 years. This research is conducted with the purpose of identifying the impact made by store environmental factors on consumer buying behavior of fashion outlets in Colombo district. Background music, lighting, employee presence and perceived crowding were considered as the independent variables and Data was collected through a distribution of structured and self- administered questionnaire from a sample of 152 customers. Regression analysis was used to analyze data and background music and employee presence were found as the factors with significant impacts on impulse buying behavior. Keywords— Impulsive buying behaviour, store environment, consumer behaviour I. INTRODUCTION Consumer Behavior is very complex and critical because their exact behavior cannot be predicted and the revenue and future success depends on it. Normally, consumers pass through several stages for a buying but the purchase done by the consumers without pre-planning is called Impulsive Buying Behavior. Impulse buying is simply defined as the sudden and immediate purchase decision inside a store with no prior intention to buy the specific product or products. (Mohd and Gupta 2013). Literature supports that the Impulse buying can be happened anywhere by anyone. Because of the rapid growth in shopping outlets, companies often seek the factors that impact on buying behavior. Based on the own experiences and previous researches, Impulse buying behaviour can be identified as one of the most critical buying behaviours. One of the biggest considerations done by organisations in their decision making is whether the marketing strategies used by them are effective in order to exceed their target sales. According to the researches, one of the best ways of accomplishing this is, improving the appearance of the store so that it leads more impulse purchases. Previously, traditional consumers used to make a pre plan of the things needed to buy before going to the shop. But, as a result of the globalisation, income level, purchasing power, life styles and patterns of consumers has been changed radically and therefore at present, consumers behave irrational and un-planned in their purchasing behaviour. The earliest studies on impulse buying include the DuPont Consumer Habits Studies in 1940s to 60s and studies such as by Patterson in 1960s which were sponsored by the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute. (Mohd and Gupta 2013). Many researches point out that Impulse Buying is potential to grow further with new technology and therefore, marketing innovations should be done to enable customers to make impulse purchases. Therefore, this research is done to recognise the impact made by Store Atmospheric factors on consumer Impulse Buying Behavior of Fashion Outlets in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Store Environment The importance of the store environment is emphasised by (Kotle.P 1973) as “Buying environment can be purposefully designed to persuade specific emotional effects in shoppers, thereby enhancing their purchasing ability”. This statement shows that a proper attention should be given to in-store environment hence it plays a vital role in the shopper decision making process. Shun Yin Lam in his article “The effects of store environment on shopping behaviour” emphasises that the store environment is constructed with many factors such as music, lights, layout, promotional signage and human elements. Store environment could influence shopper behaviour in different ways. The impact of the appearance or the ambience of the store applies to any shopper related stores even if they are not in to retail industry. (S.B.Hearth 2014). Different authors have discussed the factors of the store environment in different ways and I consider Music, Lights, Employee present and people crowding. Music is a medicine for a stressed, obsessed mind with a lot of problems. People like to listen to music when they spend even a busy life and it shows that music has positive results. Many researchers emphasize that background music and other sounds played at a store can be lead to have a pleasant shopping experience for the customers and sometimes the time period spending for shopping can be increased by this. Further, the length of the shopping period depends on the speed of the music. (P.C and Curnow 1966) mentions that the extend of retaining of the shoppers in a store where there is a loud music is very low comparing to a place with slow music. In stores, there should be a very pleasant, balanced lighting system where shoppers can see the store arrangements and also themselves nicely. In some stores, shoppers see themselves in mirrors nicely and fairly because of good lightings and this will motivate them to remain in the shop a longer period and buy more products. (S.B.Hearth 2014) argues that shoppers can better view the products and it