The term atmospherics pertains to the emotional nature of an environment or, more precisely, to the feelings created by the total aura of physical attributes that comprise the physical environment. View Exhibit 11.7 for a limited list of atmospherics and the qualities of an environment. Atmospherics can be affected by both the functional and affective qualities.
Servicescape is a term used to refer to the physical environment in which consumer services are performed. Each servicescape has its own unique environment.
The functional quality of an environment describes the meaning created by the total result of the attributes that facilitate the function and make it perform efficiently. In a shopping environment, this includes convenience in all of its forms: price levels, number and helpfulness of employees, breadth and depth of merchandise, and other characteristics that facilitate the shopping task
The affective quality represents the emotional meaning of an environment, which results from the sum effect of all ambient attributes that affect the way a consumer feels in that place. It appears that female shoppers are more demanding and react more negatively when this element is missing.