THE EFFECT OF STORE ATMOSPHERE TOWARD CUSTOMERS’ VISITATION BEHAVIOR AT FOOD FESTIVAL AND G-WALK, SURABAYA

Abstract

There is a great prospect in the culinary business in Indonesia. Dining out in restaurant is a phenomenon that is happening these days. More meals are eaten outside the home than before. People are pressed for time. It is easier to dine out than learn how to cook. Eating out can make people feel special, and can be used as means to celebrate something with friend. Food Festival and G-walk in Surabaya are some of the preferred places to dine out. Therefore, the researcher identified the impact of atmosphere to the customer behavior to visit these places. There are 364 Food Festival customers and 341 G-walk customers that answered the pre-tested questionnaire of this research. Six hypotheses were analyzed using multiple regression models. Result showed that external environment, general interior, human characteristics, and point of purchase are positively affect customer visitation behavior. Design and layout showed insignificant effect to customers’ visitation behavior. Among all those variables, point of purchase has the highest beta coefficient for the regression model of Food Festival customers. On the other hand, general interior has the highest beta coefficient for the regression model of G-Walk customers. Food Festival must put their poster promotion in strategic locations, expand their parking lot, build the roof and plant trees to overcome the bad weather, and add more tables to give customers more space. On the other hand, G-Walk must install fan for better air circulation, renovate their menu board with interesting pictures, renovate their signposts with bigger and clear directions, and add more tables to give customers more space.