Architectural design and consumer experience: an investigation of shopping malls throughout the design process

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the design elements of environmental features that affect consumer experience in shopping malls and develop a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between architectural design and consumer experience. Design/methodology/approach Through the systematic literature review, 13 design elements were obtained and then verified through interviews of 30 professional designers. The obtained elements were made into a questionnaire to collect data across China from 1,016 consumers of different groups. Data were analyzed using cluster analysis, principal component analysis and difference analysis. Findings The results show that design elements that influence consumer experience in shopping malls are a four-dimensional construct: visual atmosphere, physical environment comfort, space structure and business planning, among which space structure and business planning play a larger role in the consumer experience. In addition, the perception differences of consumers for those elements are significant due to the individual differences. Originality/value This paper comprehensively investigates the architectural design elements affecting consumer experience in the Chinese mall context. Moreover, it provides unique insights about the relationship between architectural design and consumer experience by exploring the categories, weights and perception differences of those elements.