University Market Research Report: 3D Online Store Consumer Behavior

This report provides an annotation bibliography and critical analysis of the research paper "Store layout effects on consumer behavior in 3D online stores" by Krasonikolakis et al. (2018), published in the European Journal of Marketing. The study investigates the impact of store layouts on consumer behavior within 3D online shopping environments. The research explores how different store layouts, such as "biotique," "avantgarde," and "department" store layouts, influence consumer enjoyment, navigation ease, and purchase intentions. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including a Delphi study to categorize store layouts and 3D store simulations to assess consumer responses. The report details the research objectives, methodology, limitations, and the key findings, which highlight the importance of customized services and the potential for retailers to leverage consumer data to optimize the virtual retail experience. The conclusion emphasizes the impact of store layouts on consumer satisfaction and provides suggestions for future research.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MARKET RESEARCH
Introduction to Market Research
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Annotation Bibliography: Krasonikolakis, I., Vrechopoulos, A., Pouloudi, A. and Dimitriadis,
S., 2018. Store layout effects on consumer behavior in 3D online stores. European Journal of
Marketing, 52(5/6), pp.1223-1256.
Introduction
With the development of technology, thee expectance of the consumers from the retail
owners are increasing across the world. Consumers are expecting shopping stores to offer
shopping experience in an integrated manner that will be able to provide them an unique
experience. The online 3D stores have been designed in order to ensure that the consumers can
enjoy the experience as well as benefits of an offline store through online shopping
(Krasonikolakis et al. 2018). This research has been conducted in order to answer the following
research questions.
1. What is the impact of the atmosphere of the retail store on consumer behavior, when it
comes to the 3D online shopping environments?
2. How the store layouts of the online 3D store influence the buying behavior of the
consumers?
Research objectives
When it comes to the objectives of the research paper, the chief objective of the researchers
is to set up a categorization of store layout types in 3D online environments. This is to help the
store designers to create effective layout that can attract the consumers in order to enhance the
number of consumers. The aim of the research is to find out whether The ‘biotique’, the “avant-
garde” and the “department” store layouts provides more enjoyment to the consumers during
their 3D online store visit or not. The research’s objective also includes investigating the impact

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of the pragmatic as well as avant grade layouts on the ease of navigation of the consumers within
the 3D online store. It also aims to determine whether the online purchase intension towards 3D
online store is predicted by the consumer’s evolution of the 3D online store when it comes to the
H5a online shopping enjoyment, H5b entertainment, H5c ease of navigation and H5d online
customer experience. Another chief objective of this research is to explore the impact of the
substitute layouts on the attitude as well as behavior of the consumers (Krasonikolakis et al.
2018). A mixed research approach has been used by the researchers as research design of this
article. Firstly, a three round Delphi study with the help of domain experts is used to build up the
layout of the store classification scheme. Subsequently, 3D online retail stores for using the five
layouts are designed as well as developed.
Study 1
In this paragraph the critical analysis of Study 1 has been conducted. In Study 1, the
identification as well as classification of the store layout types has been conducted with the help
of the Delphi method. Considering the fact that the mentioned method does not involve major
statistical data, several relevant academics from the marketing, e-retailing, information systems
and human computer interaction domains were compiled when it comes to the context of 3D
online environment. Along with this direct communication with CEOs, practitioners as well as
employees were also conducted. Three rounds had been performed and in the final round result
was obtained. In the 1st round, the panelists identified 62 characteristics that included
components of the store layout. All the store layout types along with their distinct characteristics
were drafted in order to circulate within the participants so that the raw data can be verified and
grouped (Krasonikolakis et al. 2018). The data obtained from the 1st round of the Delphi test was
used as the input of the second round. In this round, the researchers asked the panelists to believe

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the frequency of the 3D environment and mark it through the Likert scale. Respondents were
asked to determine the possible grouping of the proposed layout. Thus a consolidate list of
distinct layout was created. In the final and third round, consensus was reached and on if each
layout group possess the potential to provide distinct layout type. The final set of response were
used in order to compile a consolidate list of store layout types.
Study 2
In this paragraph the critical analysis of Study 2 has been conducted. In study 2, a research
design was considered on the terms of the outcome obtained from the Delphi methods. To
envisage the five distinct layout types, a 3D tool was used for the development of stores. This
was followed by a video recording for capturing all aspects of the in-store layout patterns. This
choice encourages the advancement of 3D stores in a lab setting and gives an clear perspective of
the inside of a store. Google SketchUp v.8 was used as the primary device for building and
altering 3D models in this exploration. This device offers the extra favorable position of import
and fare capacities to other structure programs (Krasonikolakis et al. 2018). Two obstacles were
faced during this phase of study. Firstly, the researcher faced a copyright issue while designing
the store. Secondly, the design of the products from actual 3D store possessed the risk of
influencing the samples. For overcoming the obstacles the Database of Google SketchUp were
used.
Research limitations
In this paragraph, the research limitation is discussed. The store format types were not
created inside a virtual world that would have been helpful for the execution of the plan,
guaranteeing higher outer legitimacy contrasted with the research facility setting picked. Another

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limitation of this study is that the members did not by any stretch of the imagination
communicate with the features of each store design type; rather, they were given a portrayal and
a video of every format. The final limitation when it comes to the simplification of the results
includes the telepresence level experienced by the customers associated with the medium used to
visit 3D online environments (Krasonikolakis et al. 2018).
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the store layout of 3D online store
does impose a major impact on the satisfaction of the consumers. This investigation outlined the
necessity of giving redid administrations to purchasers. Retailers, who own 3D online stores are
empowered to assemble, analyze as well as evaluate buyer data to modify the virtual retail mix.
This research also provides the opportunity to the future researcher to explore the impact of other
experimental factors’ influence on consumers’ satisfaction.

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Reference List
Krasonikolakis, I., Vrechopoulos, A., Pouloudi, A. and Dimitriadis, S., 2018. Store layout effects
on consumer behavior in 3D online stores. European Journal of Marketing, 52(5/6), pp.1223-
1256.