مهدی مهدوی - گروه مدیریت، دانشکده ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، کرمان، ایران
نوید فاتحی راد - استادیار مدیریت بازرگانی، گروه مدیریت، دانشکده ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، کرمان، ایران

Since the coinage of the term “Atmospherics” by Kotler, a great deal of research has been dedicated to study of sensory and social elements of retail environments, while the holistic influence of both physical and human factors has been rarely explored by the scholars in the field. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the relative importance of such elements over one another. Totally 128 shoppers took part in the survey in order to prioritize ubiquitous factors in almost any retail outlet. Implementing fuzzy logic, analysis found relatively higher weights for human factors over physical ones in 16 types of retail outlets offering distinctive products. Shoppers insight towards each individual outlet in regards to the study’s criteria are presented. Based on the findings of the current study, it seems that improvements in both human and physical factors in all study’s outlets are crucial. Limitations and future research suggestions are provided.

Atmospherics, Fuzzy Logic, Fuzzy TOPSIS, Human Factors, Retail Outlet