Exploring the Development of Store Images

Abstract

Despite extensive literature on store image, little is known regarding how such images develop. This article proposes a model of this process and describes an exploratory investigation which examines how environmental cues are used in forming store images. Unlike previous research, the external information environment in the present study contains pictorial information in addition to verbal. Findings show that subjects utilized different cues in developing different image factors. A spatial representation of these cues orders them hierarchically according to those which are central and those which are peripheral with respect to image formation.