1.2 Literature Review
Environmental psychology is a knowledge base that focuses
on the interaction between individuals and their surroundings. This section defines the term environment broadly
including social settings, natural environments, learning
environments, built environments, and informational
environments.
Dressing rooms are essential to customers’ decisionmaking when purchasing clothing. Poorly illuminated
dressing rooms give distorted impressions of the clothing
and oneself in those clothes and result in poor shopping
experiences (Baumstarck 2008; Baumstarck and Park 2010).
According to the IESNA lighting handbook, there are
several recommendations for the dressing room, one of
which is concerned with lighting. In most dressing rooms,
lighting emanates from overhead fluorescent fixtures, and
light should also provide good color rendering to best present true color and texture. Lighting is therefore an essential
element in the fitting room, which can create a good experience for customers, which in turn provides comfort and
reassurance while choosing their clothes.
One study at Florida University examined women’s
behavior in fitting rooms, concluding that the overhead
lighting created unwanted shadows across the face and form
while the frontal lighting was preferred by most women
because it created a sense of larger space accentuated by the
surrounding mirrors. Conversely, overhead lighting closed
the sense of space making customers feel cramped (Fitting
Room Lighting Enhances Consumer Purchasing Power
2013).
Another article stated that overhead lighting is the worst
for fitting rooms, as it creates unfavorable shadows on the
face and body which will result in unwanted appearance for
the customer. Fluorescent light creates unflattering green
color on the customer’s face. On the other hand, linear LED
fixtures mounted to either side of the mirror will fill in any
unfavorable shadows and offer even lighting, creating a great
appearance for customers, resulting in a successful and satisfying shopping experience (Seo 2013).
2 Research Objectives
The purpose of this study is to analyze customer behavior
and psychological response to an object under a specific
light as well as how this light affects an object’s color in
stores and dressing rooms by comparing two different outlets. Surveying people’s responses to determine the most
suitable type of light for dressing rooms is the main objective in this study.
3 Research Methodology
3.1 Study Field Area
In this study, the Sahara Center has been chosen as a sample
area since it is one of the leading shopping destinations in
the UAE. It exists in Al Nahda St. near Ramada Sharjah,
Sharjah city in the UAE, and is strategically located on
Dubai–Sharjah highway. This shopping center has an area of
1.853.683 ft
2 with a total number of 350 stores. Each store
has its own function and use. For the study, three clothing
stores on three different levels have been selected with different light conditions but with approximately the same area.
The stores—Zara, Matalan, and Mango—were chosen to
study the impact of shop lighting on customer behavior.
Figure 1 shows the two shops (Zara and Matalan) and the
relationship between them. Figure 2 shows the third shop
(Mango). Figures 3 and 4 clarify the entrances of each shop,
noting that all the shops are accessible from the main corridor. Usually dressing rooms are in the back of the stores;
these rooms are the targets of this study.
Fig. 1 Zara and Matalan shops
216
R. M. Alsaleh et al.
Environmental psychology is a knowledge base that focuses
on the interaction between individuals and their surroundings. This section defines the term environment broadly
including social settings, natural environments, learning
environments, built environments, and informational
environments.
Dressing rooms are essential to customers’ decisionmaking when purchasing clothing. Poorly illuminated
dressing rooms give distorted impressions of the clothing
and oneself in those clothes and result in poor shopping
experiences (Baumstarck 2008; Baumstarck and Park 2010).
According to the IESNA lighting handbook, there are
several recommendations for the dressing room, one of
which is concerned with lighting. In most dressing rooms,
lighting emanates from overhead fluorescent fixtures, and
light should also provide good color rendering to best present true color and texture. Lighting is therefore an essential
element in the fitting room, which can create a good experience for customers, which in turn provides comfort and
reassurance while choosing their clothes.
One study at Florida University examined women’s
behavior in fitting rooms, concluding that the overhead
lighting created unwanted shadows across the face and form
while the frontal lighting was preferred by most women
because it created a sense of larger space accentuated by the
surrounding mirrors. Conversely, overhead lighting closed
the sense of space making customers feel cramped (Fitting
Room Lighting Enhances Consumer Purchasing Power
2013).
Another article stated that overhead lighting is the worst
for fitting rooms, as it creates unfavorable shadows on the
face and body which will result in unwanted appearance for
the customer. Fluorescent light creates unflattering green
color on the customer’s face. On the other hand, linear LED
fixtures mounted to either side of the mirror will fill in any
unfavorable shadows and offer even lighting, creating a great
appearance for customers, resulting in a successful and satisfying shopping experience (Seo 2013).
2 Research Objectives
The purpose of this study is to analyze customer behavior
and psychological response to an object under a specific
light as well as how this light affects an object’s color in
stores and dressing rooms by comparing two different outlets. Surveying people’s responses to determine the most
suitable type of light for dressing rooms is the main objective in this study.
3 Research Methodology
3.1 Study Field Area
In this study, the Sahara Center has been chosen as a sample
area since it is one of the leading shopping destinations in
the UAE. It exists in Al Nahda St. near Ramada Sharjah,
Sharjah city in the UAE, and is strategically located on
Dubai–Sharjah highway. This shopping center has an area of
1.853.683 ft
2 with a total number of 350 stores. Each store
has its own function and use. For the study, three clothing
stores on three different levels have been selected with different light conditions but with approximately the same area.
The stores—Zara, Matalan, and Mango—were chosen to
study the impact of shop lighting on customer behavior.
Figure 1 shows the two shops (Zara and Matalan) and the
relationship between them. Figure 2 shows the third shop
(Mango). Figures 3 and 4 clarify the entrances of each shop,
noting that all the shops are accessible from the main corridor. Usually dressing rooms are in the back of the stores;
these rooms are the targets of this study.
Fig. 1 Zara and Matalan shops
216
R. M. Alsaleh et al.