Thermal comfort in the supermarket environment : multiple enquiry methods and simultaneous measurements of the thermal environment

In the supermarket environment three factors must be considered: food (food quality), personnel (working conditions), and customers. The customers do not remain in this environment very long but are of particular interest since they constitute the supermarket's commercial basis. However, there are no recommendations on the indoor environment based on this category. This study compares the perceived indoor thermal environment with simultaneous objective measurements of the thermal environment and includes multiple enquiry methods. These methods have been used for this specific environment in order to understand how customers perceive, evaluate, and prefer variations in the thermal environment. Measurements were performed in summer and winter in front of twelve display cabinets, over 1100 questionnaires have been received. To provide recommendations, this study presents measured and perceived comfort in supermarkets, information which can be used for prescribing suitable thermal environments for customers.