Nudge Design Strategies for Experiential Marketing and Retail Space Branding

Nudge theory, a field of economics, aims to gently induce desirable behavior in humans and has been primarily applied to personal finance and public policy issues. In this study, we extended nudge theory to the design field by inductively deriving specific nudge design strategies that can be applied to retail space branding. To this end, nudge design examples were collected, and from them, nudge design keywords were extracted. Then, these keywords were categorized according to the five experiential marketing modules: sense, feel, think, act, and relate. From the keywords, we derived 30 nudge design strategies for retail space branding. Finally, the applicability of these strategies was tested through case studies of well-known brand stores with links to existing literature. Space branding design is a comprehensive domain where environmental, graphic, and product design come together and where nudge design could be effectively applied. The results of this study might be used as a checklist in a retail project and serve as a communication tool between marketers and designers.