Abstract:

Commodity display is an important cue for consumers’ prediction of the goods they purchase. Then why neat display (compared to messy one) of the commodity usually results in better product evaluation? Besides the contamination effect in literature, current research brings forward the existence and conditions of “the pictorial effect", i.e. when the goods are neatly displayed (relative to messily), consumer’s attitude toward the display becomes more positive, leading to a higher product evaluation, and the consumer’s attitudes toward display fully mediates the pictorial effect. However, the pictorial effect does not always occur, for the importance of the product appearance plays a moderator role in the effect. If consumer thinks the product appearance is not important, the pictorial effect could not be observed, which means there’s no difference in product evaluation between messy and neat display of the commodity, and only when the product appearance is important, does the pictorial effect occur. By 3 lab experiments, we proved the existence of "pictorial effect", making a theoretical contribution to the research in store display. And in application, current research supports “the necessity of tally” in the site management of retailing, and further answers the question as to what kind of product need more effort to be kept in good order in their displays.

Key words: display orderness, shelf display, product evaluation, cue utilization theory, retailing management