Clear views, clear gains: Exterior transparency's role in increasing consumer entry for retail environments

The exterior of retail environments is crucially important for eliciting consumer entrance and traffic, but what drives entry? We examine a prominent design element for every exterior – the level of transparency, proposing that more transparency enhances the informativeness provided to consumers and consequently increases the likelihood of consumer entrance. In contrast, whereas less transparency decreases informativeness about a place, foot traffic for less transparent places can be increased by providing consumers with more information about the interior via other means than transparency (e.g., a floorplan). Alternative information through brand familiarity can also increase entry for more and less transparent places. This proposed process shifts from the traditional emotionally focused paradigm of stimulus-organism-response in environmental psychology and instead recognizes the importance of providing more information within any marketplace interaction, even when it pertains to the built environment. Utilizing varying store types (e.g., retail, restaurants, fitness centers) and modalities (images, virtual reality), our studies provide support for these effects and the underlying mechanism. Consequently, we demonstrate an optimal design configuration of transparency for managerial guidance while providing crucial insights for an under-researched component of retail design.