Visual merchandising and consumer purchase intention: a systematic literature review

Purpose This systematic literature review synthesizes and critically evaluates research on visual merchandising practices and their influence on consumer purchase intention. It maps the intellectual structure of the field, identifies dominant theoretical frameworks, examines proposed psychological mechanisms, and develops an integrated research agenda responsive to contemporary retail transformation. Methodology Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we searched Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect on 14 March 2025 for peer-reviewed, English-language articles published between January 2000 and March 2025. A total of 212 empirical studies met the eligibility criteria. We employed thematic synthesis, descriptive bibliometric mapping (VOSviewer 1.6.20; association-strength normalization), and narrative synthesis. Consistent with the review’s narrative design, no pooled effect size is reported; we summarize the direction, consistency, and contextual contingency of reported relationships and explain why meta-analytic pooling was not undertaken. Findings Visual merchandising research has evolved from examining isolated atmospheric elements to investigating integrated experiential retail environments. The Stimulus–Organism–Response framework is the predominant theoretical lens, with perceived store attractiveness, emotional responses, and perceived value emerging as the principal proposed mediating mechanisms. Digital and interactive technologies are reshaping practice, creating phygital retail experiences. The literature consistently reports positive associations between visual merchandising and purchase intention, though strength and mechanism vary by retail context, product category, and consumer characteristics. We develop twenty propositions fifteen empirically grounded (P1–P15) and five agenda-setting (P16–P20) each mapped to a research question. Originality/Value The review (i) synthesizes fragmented literature through a documented, reproducible protocol; (ii) develops an integrated framework specifying cognitive, emotional, and value-based pathways and their contextual contingency, compared explicitly with prior S–O-R applications and with Basu et al. (2022); (iii) identifies theoretical, methodological, contextual, and empirical gaps; and (iv) advances a forward-looking agenda.