For retailers, the shopping environment is a combination of many decisions, including the store location, format, layout, and design. At the core, however, decisions about the shopping environment are not about locations or formats or layouts or channels or media. They are about the customer.
The shopping environment is the context within which customers finalize their purchase decisions and spend their money. It is the place where retailing happens. Selecting that place may be the single most important decision retailers make, because store locations tend to have a major impact on who the customers will be.
