Prior research indicates the strategic importance of the store environment in enhancing customers’ shopping experience and their purchase decisions. This article examines the effects of imaginative displays on customers’ purchase behavior. An imaginative display is constructed using multiple units of the same product in a novel or innovative yet aesthetically appealing form, which could be themed (i.e., has a particular shape mimicking an object) or unthemed. Six studies in both lab and field settings show that, relative to standard displays (i.e., non-novel and neutral aesthetics), imaginative displays can increase customers’ purchase behavior and intentions. Importantly, for themed imaginative displays, these effects work through the dual mechanisms of affect-based arousal and cognition-based inferred benefits, which are contingent on congruence between display form and perceived product benefit. Findings from this research not only contribute to the literature on in-store display and store atmospherics, but also have significant practical implications for retailers. Specifically, while imaginative displays may appear gimmicky, they can favorably influence customers’ purchase behavior and increase product sales at relatively low costs.

先前的研究表明商店环境在增强客户的购物体验和购买决策方面的战略重要性。本文研究了富有想象力的展示对客户购买行为的影响。使用同一产品的多个单元以新颖或创新但又具有美学吸引力的形式构造一个富有想象力的显示器，可以将其主题化（即，具有模仿对象的特定形状）或不主题化。在实验室和现场环境中进行的六项研究表明，相对于标准展示（即非新颖和中性的美学），富有想象力的展示可以增加客户的购买行为和购买意图。重要的是，对于主题富有想象力的展示，这些效果是通过基于情感的唤醒和基于认知的推断收益的双重机制起作用的，取决于展示形式和产品感知收益之间的一致性。这项研究的发现不仅有助于有关店内陈列和商店气氛的文献，而且对零售商具有重大的实际意义。具体而言，尽管富有想象力的显示可能看起来有些花哨，但它们可以以相对较低的成本有利地影响客户的购买行为并提高产品销量。