Weerasooriya, D.A.Sutha, J.2021-10-052021-10-05201122359877http://www.erepo.lib.uwu.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/123456789/7098/259-A%20Study%20on%20Visual%20Merchandising%20and%20Consumer%20Store%20Choice%20Behaviour%20in%20S.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=yRetailing industry is a highly competitive industry due to the difficulty in differentiating the products and services based on the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion from one store to another. Self service retailing is typically used by sellers of convenience goods (such as supermarkets) and nationally branded fast ir ovins shopping goods ( Kotler and Ariaistrong, 2006). The trend of isiodern self service retailing rather the supermarket trend exists in Asia Pacific region where Sri Lanka is being one of the countries with tremendous rise of the trend. In accordance with the Nielsen company report on retail and shopper trends in Asia Pacific 2010 in Sri Lanka, the modem trade continued steadily to gain share in 2009. Further, the share of supermarkets has been expanded by l% compared to 2008.The share in 2009 is comprised with a 1 6% share. Supermarket is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments. It is larger in size and has a wider selection than a traditional grocery store and it is smaller than a hypermarket or superstore (Matanials and Ramos, 2009). Millions of dollars are spent each year by retailers designing, building and refurbishing stores (Baker et.al. , 1992).Visual merchandising, or visual presentation, is the mean to communicate a store/company’s fashion value and quality image to prospective customers (Kim, 2003). Kim (2003 ) has expressed a similar concept in a different view that is “a way of presenting merchandise effectively to improve the desirability of a product and to influence a customer’s buying behavior” Number of elements have used in past literature to measure the level of visual merchandising In-stores. The classifications and i!l ustrations presented in past literature are different and vary in accordance with the past researches’ perspectives. Agnihotri and Oburai (I 997) have categorized visual merchandising elements in to two rñain elements namely, exterior visual merchandising elements (Marquees, Entryway and Store windows) and in-store visual merchandising elements (Store layout plan, Color, Lighting, In-store signage, Merchandise sequencing style and Fixtures and Hardware). Store choice is a decision that a shopper is fairly involved in. It is important for a store to understand this behaviour in order to develop marketing strategies to attract and keep its clientele. Shoppers choose the store based on many aspects that could be classified as primary and image based and also the importance of each of these aspects changes with the kind of store the shopper wants to visit (Sinha ct al., 2002). Ther efore, th is research aims to answer whether there is an impact of visual merchandising in favour of supermarkets as the trend is that more consumers are attracted towards supermarkets and in favour of the consumer store choice behavior in the curren t Sri Lankan Context. The objectives of this study were to identify the current practices of visual merchandising that exist in Sri Lankan super markets, to identify the impact of each interior and exterior visual merchandising element on consumer store choice behavior and to determine the relative contribution of each interior and exterior element towards store choice behavior.enMarketingBusiness ManagementManagementEntrepreneurshipOther