• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.39-63
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• 2012

Previous studies of reward programs have generally focused on designing the best programs for consumers and suggested that consumers' perception of the value of reward programs can vary according to the type of reward program (e.g., hedonic vs. utilitarian and direct vs. indirect) and its timing (e.g., immediate vs. delayed). These studies have typically assumed that consumers' preference for reward programs has a positive effect on brand loyalty. However, Dowling and Uncles (1997) pointed out that this preference does not necessarily foster brand loyalty. In this regard, the present study verifies this assumption by examining the effects of consumers' perception of the value of reward programs on their brand loyalty. Although reward programs are widely used by online shopping malls, most studies have examined the conditions under which consumers are most likely to value loyalty programs in the context of offline shopping. In the context of online shopping, however, consumers' preferences may have little effect on their brand loyalty because they have more opportunities for comparing diverse reward programs offered by many online shopping malls. That is, in online shopping, finding attractive reward programs may require little effort on the part of consumers, who are likely to switch to other online shopping malls. Accordingly, this study empirically examines whether consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Meanwhile, consumers seek utilitarian and/or hedonic value from their online shopping activity(Jones et al., 2006; Barbin et al., 1994). They visit online shopping malls to buy something necessary (utilitarian value) and/or enjoy the process of shopping itself (hedonic value). In this sense, reward programs may reinforce utilitarian as well as hedonic value, and their effect may vary according to the type of reward (utilitarian vs. hedonic). According to Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001), consumers' perception of the value of a brand can influence their brand loyalty through brand trust and affect. Utilitarian value influences brand loyalty through brand trust, whereas hedonic value influences it through brand affect. This indicates that the effect of this perception on brand trust or affect may be moderated by the type of reward program. Specifically, this perception may have a greater effect on brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones, whereas the opposite may be true for brand affect. Given the above discussion, the present study is conducted with three objectives in order to provide practical implications for online shopping malls to strategically use reward program for establishing profitable relationship with customers. First, the present study examines whether reward programs can be an effective marketing tool for increasing brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Second, it investigates the paths through which consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty. Third, it analyzes the effects of this perception on brand trust and affect by considering the type of reward program as a moderator. This study suggests and empirically analyzes a new research model for examining how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. The model postulates the following 10 hypotheses about the structural relationships between five constructs: (H1) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their program loyalty; (H2) Program loyalty has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H3) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand trust; (H4) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand affect; (H5) Brand trust has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H6) Brand affect has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H7) Brand trust has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H8) Brand affect has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H9) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones; and (H10) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand affect for hedonic reward programs than for utilitarian ones. To test the hypotheses, we considered a sample of 220 undergraduate students in Korea (male:113). We randomly assigned these participants to one of two groups based on the type of reward program (utilitarian: transportation card, hedonic: movie ticket). We instructed the participants to imagine that they were offered these reward programs while visiting an online shopping mall. We then asked them to answer some questions about their perception of the value of the reward programs, program loyalty, brand loyalty, brand trust, and brand affect, in that order. We also asked some questions about their demographic backgrounds and then debriefed them. We employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) method with AMOS 18.0. The results provide support for some hypotheses (H1, H3, H4, H7, H8, and H9) while providing no support for others (H2, H5, H6, H10) (see Figure 1). Noteworthy is that the path proposed by previous studies, "value perception → program loyalty → brand loyalty," was not significant in the context of online shopping, whereas this study's proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," was significant. In addition, the results indicate that the type of reward program moderated the relationship between consumers' value perception and brand trust but not the relationship between their value perception and brand affect. These results have some important implications. First, this study is one of the first to examine how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. In particular, the results indicate that the proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," can better explain the effects of reward programs on brand loyalty than existing paths. Furthermore, these results suggest that online shopping malls should place greater emphasis on the type of reward program when devising reward programs. To foster brand loyalty, they should reinforce the type of shopping value that consumers emphasize by providing them with appropriate reward programs. If consumers prefer utilitarian value to hedonic value, then online shopping malls should offer utilitarian reward programs and vice versa.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.137-164
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• 2011

In the past, retailers secured customer loyalty by offering convenient locations, unique assortments of goods, better services than competitors, and good credit policy. All this has changed. Goods assortments among stores have become more alike as national-brand manufacturers place their goods in more and more retail stores. Service differentiation also has eroded. Many department stores have trimmed services, and many discount stores have increased theirs. Customers have become smarter shoppers. They don't pay more for identical brands, especially when service differences have diminished. In the face of increased competition from discount storess and specialty stores, department stores are waging a comeback war. Growth of intertype competition, competition between store-based and non-store-based retailing and growing investment in technology are changing the way consumers shop and retailers sell. Different types of stores-discount stores, catalog showrooms, department stores-all compete for the same consumers by carrying the same type of merchandise. The biggest winners are retailers that have helped shoppers to be economically cautious, simplified their increasingly busy and complicated lives, and provided an emotional connection. The growth of e-retailers has forced traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to respond. Basically brick-and-mortar retailers utilize their natural advantages, such as products that shoppers can actually see, touch, and test, real-life customer service, and no delivery lag time for small-sized purchases. They also provide a shopping experience as a strong differentiator. They are adopting practices as calling each shopper a "guest". The store atmosphere should match the basic motivations of the shopper. If target consumers are more likely to be in a task-oriented and functional mindset, then a simpler, more restrained in-store environment may be better. Consistent with this reasoning, some retailers of experiential products are creating in-store entertainment to attract customers who want fun and excitement. The retail experience must deliver value to turn a one-time visitor into a loyal customer. Retailers need a tool that measures the full range of components that define experience-based value. This study uses an experiential value scale(EVS) developed by Mathwick, Malhotra and Rigdon(2001) which reflects the benefits derived from perceptions of playfulness, aesthetics, customer "return on investment" and service excellence. EVS is useful to predict differences in shopping preferences and patronage behavior of customers. EVS consists of items measuring efficiency, economic value, visual appeal, entertainment value, service excellence, escapism, and intrinsic enjoyment, which are subscales of experiencial value. Efficiency, economic value, service excellence are linked to the utilitarian shopping value. And visual appeal, entertainment value, escapism and intrinsic enjoyment are linked to hedonic shopping value. It has been found that consumers value hedonic experiences activated from escapism and attractiveness of shopping environment as much as the product quality, price, and the convenient location. As a result, many department stores, discount stores, and other retailers are introducing differential marketing strategy based on emotional/hedonic values. Many researches suggest that consumers go shopping not only for buying products but also for various shopping experiences. In other words, they seek the practical, rational value as well as social, recreational values in the shopping process(Babin et al, 1994; Bloch et al, 1994). Retailers may enhance buyer's loyalty to store by providing excellent emotional/hedonic value such as the excitement from shopping, not just the practical value of buying good products efficiently. We investigate the effect of perceived shopping values on the emotional experience and store loyalty based on the EVS(Experiential Value Scales) developed by Holbrook(1994), Mathwick, Malhotra and Rigdon(2001). This study assumes that the relative effect of shopping value dimensions on the responses of shoppers will differ according to types of stores and analyzes the moderating effect of store type(department store VS. discount store) on the causal relationship between shopping value dimensions and store loyalty. Emprical results show that utilitarian values of shopping experience and hedonic value of shipping experience give the positive effect on the emotional response of consumers and store loyalty. We also found the moderating effect of store types. The effect of utilitarian shopping values on the attitude toward discount store is higher than the effect of utilitarian shopping values on the attitude toword department store. And the effect of hedonic shopping value on the emotional response to discount store is higher than on the emotional response to department store. The empirical results reflect on the recent trend that discount stores try to fulfill the hedonic needs of consumers as well as utilitarian needs(i.e, low price) that discount stores traditionally have focused on

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.165-186
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• 2007

With the advent of a wide variety of Internet shopping malls, consumers can choose a best appealing shopping mall from among the Bricks-and-Clicks and Pure-Player malls. Pure-Players launched their operation grandiosely with the early stage of Internet use in 1995. However, after the burst of Dot-com company bubbles in 1997, Pure-Players introduce various types of business models to meet potential needs of consumers. While Pure-Players suffer skeptical views from market analysts as well as consumers, traditional offline companies learned important lessons from Dot-com companies collapse phenomena, and expanded their business channels into online in the name of Bricks-and-Clicks. Nowadays, Bricks-and-Clicks successfully establish in the market as one of reliable business partners among consumers. Therefore, it is no surprise that recent competitions between Bricks-and Clicks and Pure-Players become fiercer than ever to attract potential customers to their websites. In this situation, consumers can choose a shopping mall to their best satisfaction. Consumers can enjoy both offline and online options for shopping because Bricks-and Clicks provide both offline and online channels to consumers, which is compared with Pure-Players offering only online channel. Offline channel is unique in providing consumers with chances to touch and feel target products and services. Meanwhile, online channel is considered very viable and convenient shopping options for consumers. In this respect, it is easily assumed that consumers will show different online shopping behavior when they have to choose either Bricks-and-Clicks mall or Pure-Player mall for the sake of shopping. Remaining research issue in this case is how much consumers' schema would influence online shopping behavior between Bricks-and-Clicks and Pure-Players. Basically, schema is a framework for synthetic information recognition that individual consumers have and is very characteristic in that it focuses not on fragmentary facts but on the combination of various causes affecting results. Consumers' schema is closely represented by trust, structural assurance, and perceived relative advantage towards a specific type of shopping mall. In literature, there exist a lot of studies comparing Bricks-and-Clicks and Pure-Players. However, there is no study to pursue the analysis of consumer behaviors comparing Bricks-and Clicks and Pure-Players from the schema perspective. Therefore, this study aims to investigate this research gap. Empirical analysis is adopted by garnering valid questionnaires from 514 Internet shopping mall users. 237 were mainly using Bricks-and-Clicks for shopping, while 277 were found to visit Pure-Players for shopping. PLS was applied to analyze the survey data to verify the proposed research hypotheses. Findings from the empirical test results are as follows. First, consumers perceive more trust and relative advantage in Pure-Players, comparing with Bricks-and-Clicks. This result is against widely-accepted perception that Bricks-and-Clicks would be perceived by consumers as more trustworthy and relatively advantageous because they have offline reputation and stores. Therefore, it becomes more obvious that Internet is becoming daily necessaries, and consumers increasingly feel very comfortable in using the Internet for their own personal purposes. Second, consumers have firm faith in transaction safety, regardless Bricks-and-Clicks and Pure-Players. This seems due to the fact that most of shopping malls showing dubious transaction safety have no place in the market. In a nutshell, empirical results tell us that Pure-Players will grow very much in the future, to the extent that consumers perceive no difference in comparison with Bricks-and-Clicks. Besides, consumers' schema accumulated through trust and perceived relative advantage plays crucial role in determining consumer behavior.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.65-75
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• 2018

Purpose - The exhibition is one of the critical distribution channels that leads to mass sales of products. Servicescape is considered as an effective means facilitating consumers' purchasing behavior. The objective of this research is to examine the effects of servicescape of the exhibition on consumer's purchasing behavior measured by time spent, the number of consultations, the number of items purchased, and amount of money spent. Research design, data, and methodology - Servicescape was divided into four main components: 'spatial layout/functionality', 'ambient condition', 'design/artifacts', and 'human factor'. Based on previous studies, this study hypothesized that servicescape dimensions first influence consumer's shopping duration and the number of consultations which in turn, affects consumer's actual purchase. A total of 407 samples were collected from attendees in Baby Expo taken place in Kyunggido, South Korea. The data were used to assess overall fit of the proposed model and test hypotheses using structural equation modeling. All the constructs had acceptable levels of composite reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. Results - The results showed that except for 'spatial layout/functionality', all components of servicescape had a significant influence on consumer's shopping duration in the exhibition. Except for 'design/artifacts', other factors of servicescape did not show a significant effect on 'the number of consultations'. Interestingly, 'design/artifacts' exerted a significant negative effect on 'the number of consultations'. As expected, 'time spent' and 'number of consultations' showed significant effects on both 'the number of items purchased' and 'amount of money spent'. Conclusions - The results offer some insights into the effect of servicescape on facilitating consumers' purchasing behavior in the context of the exhibition. Theoretically, this study provides a new type of conceptual framework that verifies the relationships between not only servicescape and purchasing behavior, but also purchasing behavior-related variables. In addition, this study supports the concept of a dark side of servicescape. With regards to practical implications, this study suggests that exhibition organizers should put more efforts in facilitating consumer's desire to stay. More importantly, organizers need to keep in mind that excessive emphasis on 'design/artifacts' to increase consumers' shopping duration can cause a side effect that reduces opportunities for interactions with customers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Interior Design Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.193-196
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• 2005

The value of all goods and services produced in the economy divided by population has risen from $7.355 in 1998 to $12.646 in 2003. In other to maintain higher standard of lifestyle, people are 'hungry' for time. The idea of saving time and money by providing many different types of products altogether in one space was implemented with the advent of large warehouse style discount stores. These type of retailers grew in size and popularity during the 1990s and 2000s, causing a decline in sales in the old, traditional downtown markets. From ancient to twenty-first century, the role of the grocery store has been that of the social center of the community; a place of unity and interaction of people. The experience a customer engages in at a grocery store is comparable to that of a museum. Not only is the grocery store a unique, physical space to visit, but also a rich collection of fascination items. The layout of the interior space is meticulously planned for the efficiency of customer circulation and the success of product exhibition. Eye catching graphics and attractive lighting also add to the appeal of the grocery store's high style. Shoppers are no longer satisfied with just buying good products at a lower price. Shoppers prefer to spend time in an entertaining environment. The Hanaro Mart project in this study propose the idea of warehouse style discount stores which can satisfy all the demands of customers and their various activities. This study will open up unique dimensions of aesthetic expression and experience in the interior environments. Shopping for food is an unavoidable task. If food shopping is enjoyable, more people will spend more time at it.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.68-84
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was analyze how korean adult women\`s swimming suit buying behavior varied according to consumer characteristics. Especially, it was intended to provide basic materials for swimming suit product development and quality improvement appropriate to consumer characteristics with a focus on product evaluation criteria. Questionnaire research was conducted for 850 adult women resident in Seoul, to whom questionnaire were distributed and who were asked to complete their questionnaires. 1. As for buying motive, of swimming suit buying behavior, it was shown that the highest proportion of adult women bought their new swimming suit because their old swimming suit was wornout and most adult women tended to buy their new swimming suit or their own will rather than at others\` suggestion. 2. As for the source of information at a time. of swimming suit purchase, adult women collected information from the product on display most and bought their swimming suit in a planned way in relation to the degree of purchase planning. 3. As for product evaluation criteria, adult women showed the high scores in order of the type and quality of material, activity and functionalism, dimensions and fitness. 4. In many cases actual swimming suit purchasers were the adult women who bought their swimming suit, and they used the department store or the large shopping center as the place of purchasing the swimming suit. Its reason was that the department store or the large shopping center had a diverse assortment of products. As for the degree of their travelling companion\`s influence, it was found that most adult women were influenced by their travelling companions when purchasing their swimming suits. 5. As for the level of satisfaction with swimming suit purchase, it was shown that adult women were generally satisfied with their swimming suit purchase. It was found that their level of satisfaction was higher in order of activity and functionalism, the type and quality of swimming suit materials, and ease in washing management while they showed the low level of satisfaction with price, the fastness of color to washing, light and detergents and durability.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.750-756
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• 2020

Objectives: After coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic, the South Korean government announced guidelines on wearing masks to prevent its spread. The guidelines have changed depending on the severity of the spread of COVID-19. This study aimed to identify mask-wearing behaviours to counter the spread of COVID-19 in indoor and outdoor environments. Methods: The type of mask worn and proper wearing were observed in cafés, supermarkets, underground shopping malls, and streets in Seoul. Behavioral assessment was repeated in August at social distancing levels 1 and 2, in October at social distancing level 1, and in November after the mask mandates. Results: In August, 22.1% of subjects in cafés, 90.8% in supermarkets, 91.8% in underground shopping malls, and 83.6% on outdoor streets wore masks properly. In October, the proportion of correct wearers increased in all locations. After masks became mandatory in November, about 97% of users of supermarkets, underground shopping malls, and streets wore masks properly. In cafés, the proportion of proper wearers was 61.5% with both social distancing level 2 in August and the mandate in November. The number of KF-certified mask wearers continued to increase from August to November. Conclusion: This study investigated mask-wearing behaviors to counter COVID-19 through observations in indoor and outdoor places in Seoul. Mask-wearing behavior was different depending on the place and the government guidelines in place. The results could be used for evaluation of the current guidelines for COVID-19.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.97-115
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial pattern of retail services and the consumer behaviors. For the purpose we select Jeju Island as the study area, because it retains relatively little distorted retail service systems by it's locational isolation. The retail service systems comprise three types: large-scale modern marts, conventional markets, and periodic markets. This study attempts to examine the interrelationships between these three different types, of retail services, and to figure out the spatial characteristics of consumer behaviors for each of them. We performed questionnaire surveys for getting the data of consumer behaviors. We applied several statistical methods to analyze the survey data. Most of retail services are located in two urban centers, Jeju City and Seoguipo City. We found that the locations of retail services are determined strongly by population size. The selection of market type and the location to go for shopping are related strongly with the types of goods. However, there is a wide difference in the consumer behaviors according to the consumer's socio-economic characteristics. Young wives tend to go shopping to large-scale marts in Jeju City which is the higher level central place, while old wives go shopping to conventional markets and periodic markets. They also show different shopping behaviors according to the household income levels. Low income groups prefer to go conventional markets located near to their residence, middle income groups go to large-scale marts in Jeju, and high income group go out of the Jeju Island. However, the consumer behavior does not show big difference according to the size of family. There are also no difference in the selection for shopping location according to the consumer's resident locations.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.147-159
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• 2021

After the 2020 Corona 19 pandemic, consumers' online consumption is increasing rapidly, and non-store online retail channels are showing high growth. In particular, social media is gaining its status as a social media market where direct transactions take place in the means of promoting companies' brands and products. In this study, changes in consumer behavior after the Corona 19 pandemic are different in choosing online shopping media such as existing online shopping malls and SNS markets that can be classified into open social media and closed social media when purchasing agri-food online. We tried to find out what type of product is preferred in the selection of agri-food products. For this study, demographic characteristics of consumers, perceived risk of consumers, and dietary lifestyle were set as independent variables to investigate the effect on online shopping media type and product selection. The summary of the empirical analysis results is as follows. When consumers purchase agri-food online, there are significant differences in demographic characteristics, consumer perception risks, and detailed factors of dietary lifestyle in selecting shopping channels such as online shopping malls, open social media, and closed social media. Appeared to be. The consumers who choose the open SNS market are higher in men than in women, with lower household income, and higher in consumers seeking health and taste. Consumers who choose the closed SNS market were analyzed as consumers who live in rural areas and have a high degree of risk perception for delivery. Consumers who choose existing online shopping malls have high educational background, high personal income, and high consumers seeking taste and economy. Through this study, we tried to provide practical assistance by providing a basis for judgment to farmers who have difficulty in selecting an online shopping medium suitable for their product characteristics. As a shopping channel for agri-food, social media is not a simple promotional channel, but a direct transaction. It can be differentiated from existing studies in that it is approached as a market that arises.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.405-411
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• 2016

Given the importance of ensuring continued residency and maintenance of the 1st Planned New Town, which is the first of more than 20 such projects, this study aims to identify the factors determining the residents' living intention. The results show that age, gender, length of stay, and occupancy type are significant factors influencing their living intention. Among the environmental factors, the educational environment and shopping environment are crucial. This means that in order to achieve the "Ageing in Place" concept, it is necessary to improve the educational environment, provide a variety of commercial facilities and expand the living facilities. While it has no direct influence on the pros and cons of building remodeling, the results showed that when the living intention is used as a parameter, the transportation, educational, and shopping environment have an indirect influence on the pros and cons of building remodeling.