Color and shopping intentions: The intervening effect of price fairness and perceived affect

How do consumers react to various color, lighting, and price point combinations? The results described in this article depict varying consumer reactions with the three-way congruence between a store's environmental cues, consumers' cognitive categories representing known store types, and salient situational shopping motivations. For fashion-oriented stores, blue interiors are associated with more favorable evaluations, marginally greater excitement, higher store patronage intentions, and higher purchase intentions than are orange interiors. However, the results change substantially when the effect of lighting in combination with color is considered. The use of soft lights with an orange interior generally nullifies the ill effects of orange and produces the highest level of perceived price fairness while controlling for price. Additionally, the results suggest that the effects of environmental and price cues are mediated by consumers' cognitive and affective associations. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.