Selling Cars through Visual Merchandising: Proposing Emotional Design Approach

Abstract

Retail giants in every other industry have extensively used sophisticated visual merchandising techniques but they have been grossly underutilized in the auto industry. For this reason, there are no specific guidelines or manual provided to utilize visual merchandising elements inside the car showroom especially in automotive scene. By using strategic visual merchandising, car dealers can turn prospects into buyers. However, the visual merchandising elements must capture the emotion and perception of customers. Therefore, this study aims to identify the roles of visual merchandising inside a car showroom as stimuli that attract customers at the point of sale i.e. the car dealership and proposing emotional design approach in designing car showroom. By means of the proposed conceptual model, it should complement the current design approach in enhancing consumer purchasing behavior from the design perspectives. The conceptual framework has emerged from emotional design concept that allows the creation of desirable showroom design. As a result, this concept can be a guideline to facilitate marketer and dealer in designing a car showroom through visual merchandising elements.