Atmospherics and retail environments: the case of the "power aisle"

Aims to examine the relationship between the merchandising strategies employed in the configuration of a power aisle and consumers' price perceptions of those products within a warehouse grocery store setting. The results suggest that a power aisle comprising a smaller number of stock-keeping units (SKUs) and a correspondingly greater quantity of each item will convey a lower price image than will a power aisle comprising a greater number of SKUs and a correspondingly smaller quantity of each item. Evidence that the merchandising policies used in the power aisle of a warehouse grocery store have the ability to affect consumers' perceptions of those prices, therefore, was observed.