• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2023

This study aims to identify the current sizing communication issues of menswear on retail websites and to suggest an effective size information presentation method. Based on sales frequency and awareness in the Korean menswear market, 22 brand websites were selected, and size-related information was investigated using 7 types of representative apparel items. The current diverse types of size codes had limitations in delivering actual product size information. Many websites preferred to display garment dimensions rather than basic body measurements, which is the suggested size designation method in Korean Standard. The websites posted fit model photos and customer reviews. However, the body size specifications, which consumers can use as a useful reference, were often omitted. There was also a high uncertainty in product size selection, with only the basic body measurement information listed, and there was a high deviation of garment dimensions within the same basic body measurements. The product size distribution did not match actual Korean body types. Based on the findings, we suggested improved effective sizing communication methods. These methods will contribute to a better online shopping environment for both consumers and retail sellers.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.5-16
• /
• 2015

Purpose - Currently, organizations must have a plan to achieve their future objectives. In this case, an information strategy facilitates greater success when planning for the future in any organization. Research design, data, and methodology - The core objective of the project was to explore the information infrastructure of Walkbase in a discursive manner. We started the project by providing a description of the firm, which facilitates retail outlets using in-store analytical devices. Results - We conclude that the management of Walkbase revised its current information structure to implement a more structured one that might be included in a long-term investment. On such an occasion, management can prioritize the component to develop first. Conclusions - Along with our results, we also described the business, its products, its facilities, and how it can serve different industries. Finally, we left the prioritization decision within the framework's components to top management.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.11
• /
• pp.5-13
• /
• 2015

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to understand how retailers' green practices influence customer environmental values and their organic food purchasing intention. Research design, data, and methodology - Data were collected from randomly intercepting retail shoppers (n=719) departing from 33 retail stores selling organic food products located in Florida, USA. U.S. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, CFA and Hierarchical regression analyses. Results - Results documented that customer environmental values (social-altruistic values and biospheric values) were determinants of organic food purchasing intention. Retailers' green practices representing'green self-governance'were found to significantly enhance the effects of customer environmental values upon organic food purchasing intention. Conclusions - This study successfully demonstrated that customers'willingness to purchase eco-friendly products can be greatly increased when having a positive perceptions toward retailers'green practices such as environmental friendly waste management, environmental improvement of packaging, taking back packaging and recovery of the company's end-of-life products.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.96-102
• /
• 2013

This paper makes a detailed comparison between two metrics designed for measuring customer's satisfaction in the retail industry. The first metric, which is called the customer service level, has not been widely used due to the intrinsic requirement on the parameter assumption(s) of the demand distribution. Unlike the customer service level metric the in stock ratio metric does not require any requirements on the demand distribution. And the in stock ratio metric is also very easy to understand the meaning. To develop the detailed planning activities for business with the in stock ratio metric on hand one should collect some information as following : 1) POS (Point of sales) data, 2) Inventory Data 3) Inventory Trend.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.22 no.9
• /
• pp.119-128
• /
• 2024

Purpose: his study examines the effect of message valence on consumer perceptions of sales messages and salesperson evaluations in retail contexts. In contrast to previous studies on the negativity effect, it examines the positivity effect, which implies that the effect of positive information may outweigh that of negative information in certain situations. In addition, the current research examines how the content of the sales message influences consumers' perceptions of salespeople. Research design and methodology: The study presents an analytical model in which a potentially altruistic salesperson transmits quality information as a form of cheap talk. Several predictions were derived from the model and then empirically tested in two experiments. Results: When the sales message is about relatively less expensive products, positive information can be more credible and diagnostic than negative information. In addition, positive sales messages about the less expensive products signal the salesperson's benevolence. Conclusion: This paper is one of the few studies to predict and empirically test the positivity effect. It also contributes to the literature on trust in salespeople by showing that message valence influences buyers' perceptions of salespeople.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.23-30
• /
• 2014

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the efficiency of retail businesses by dividing domestic retailers into discount stores, super supermarkets (SSMs), and department stores. It suggests retail-business investment strategies by using data environment analysis (DEA) to analyze how input elements such as store area, parking lot area, number of employees, and sales management expenses for the convenience of customers positively affect business performance measurements such as sales and visiting customers per day. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - The DEA model calculates a ratio of the weighted mean of various inputs to the weighted mean of various outputs and measures the efficiency of a specific decision making unit (DMU). The study included 19 companies (five discount store DMUs, ten SSM DMUs, and four department store DMUs). Because the business elements and sizes of retail store DMUs used in this analysis are different, average per-store input and output variables were used. Data were collected from "The Yearbook of Retail Industry in Korea (2012)." DEA analysis was used to determine differences in efficiency among discount stores, SSMs, and department stores in terms of the business elements of each retail business. It was also used to determine what business elements were excessively invested in by comparing and analyzing efficiency by business elements using SPSS software's ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Results - The CCR and BCC efficiency analysis found that the efficiency of discount stores is low. We believe that the saturation state of discount stores is a major factor. The ANOVA analysis confirms the VRS hypothesis with a statistically significant difference among the three groups, based on an analysis confidence interval of 95%. CRS and SE were not found to be significantly different among the three groups. As for the post hoc test, which concretely shows differences by group, the Scheffe's multiple comparison analysis test found the average differences between group 1 (discount stores) and group 2 (SSM) to be statistically significant. Conclusions - The DEA efficiency analysis implies that investment in input elements, including store area, parking lot area, and sales management expenses, were excessive in the case of discount stores, while SSMs need to invest more in promotion activities such as gifts, events, and coupons for customer management. Department stores have found that small companies invest excessively in input elements. Department stores need to invest in differentiated shopping mall complexes. This study was limited in acquiring statistical data; various input variables which might have shown more secure customer management and promotional expenses could not be applied. As the study was limited in various aspects of the efficiency analyses because financial analyses of the companies and of causal relationships, including satisfaction and loyalty of visiting customers, were not done, these aspects will be examined in the next study.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.85-94
• /
• 2015

Purpose - This study attempts to examine the impacts of consumers' perceived service convenience of retailers on various service performance metrics such as service quality and customer satisfaction. It also tries to investigate differences in the importance of service convenience dimensions on service performance between a department store and a general super market. Research design, data, and methodology - The four hypotheses in this study were proposed and tested. Two hypotheses were on the causal relationships between service convenience dimensions and service performances (service quality and customer satisfaction). The other two hypotheses were on comparisons for the effects of convenience dimensions on service quality and customer satisfaction between department stores and general super markets. To test the hypotheses, three department store chains (Hyundai, Lotte, and Shinsegae department Store) and three general super markets (E-mart, Homeplus, and Lotte mart) were involved. Overall, 510 usable responses were used. The data were analyzed using regression analysis. Results - The results largely support the hypothesized relationships of the proposed model. The results show that access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, and post-benefit convenience have positive influences on service quality, whereas decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, and post-benefit convenience have positive effects on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the results show that there are differences between department stores and general super markets in the effects of benefit convenience and post-benefit convenience on service quality as well as the effects of transaction convenience and post-benefit convenience on customer satisfaction. Conclusions - The concept of service convenience is important in retail environments but little is known about this topic in retail literature. Specially, while service convenience dimensions have different impacts on service performance in distinct retail environments, there has been little investigation or comparison between retail types as regards service convenience. This study is the first to test the differences between distinct retail types (department stores and general super markets) on the service convenience-service performance links. Managerially, the findings of this study suggest that the service convenience management of retailers is an important part of successful service performance management. Because it is most important that both department stores and general super markets enhance benefit convenience to improve service performance, managers of both store types need to invest their resources to reduce consumers' perceived time and effort expenditures to experience the retailer's core benefits. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that retail stores should spend human and financial resources to enhance customer perceptions of service convenience, while also considering what constitutes the service outcome in the consumer's mind. Furthermore, the findings suggest that managers need to use different service convenience management tactics in department stores and general super markets. Specifically, managers in general super markets should pay more attention to benefit convenience and transaction convenience to achieve better service performance whereas managers in department stores should concentrate on post-benefit convenience to create customers' positive evaluation.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.10 no.11
• /
• pp.79-88
• /
• 2012

Purpose - The objective of this paper is to suggest that a company's CRM activities have an effect on customer loyalty in the Korean retail industry. Typically, Korean customers use large local marts with convenience in the absence of any other choice. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the fact that customers do not break away from their preferred retail stores, either owing to their stringent loyalty (the lie loyalty) or difficulty in turning to alternative choices. Research design, data, methodology - By surveying a sample of 200 hyper-markets through a questionnaire, and excluding dubious and missing responses, I obtained 181 samples to be included in the empirical analysis. The survey was conducted for two weeks during October 2011. AMOS and SPSS18 statistical packages were used for conducting statistical analysis for this study. This paper was developed using the concept of customer equity on CRM, which is known to have a positive impact on customer loyalty through the satisfaction and switching-barrier parameters. The hypothesis of this paper is that customer equity is composed of relationship equity, value equity and brand equity, and that the relationship equity variable has positive effects on the value equity and brand equity amongst other types of customer equity. Moreover, customer equity influences customer loyalty through parameters including customer satisfaction and switching costs in the Korean retail industry. Results - According to the results of the analysis, it was confirmed that relationship value had a positive effect (+) on all variables, including the perceived QoS (Quality of Service), store brand images, economic value, and store convenience. It was also confirmed that the assumption that the perceived QoS (Quality of Service), economic value, and store convenience had a positive effect on customer satisfaction was shown to be statistically significant, with a p-value below 0.05. Only the store brand value variable had an effect on the switching-cost variable with respect to the causal sequence of the variables, including the perceived QoS, store brand value, economic value, and store convenience. The remaining variables did not seem to influence the switching-cost variable. On the other hand, another effect showed that customer satisfaction had a statistically significant influence on the switching-costs variable. Moreover, the customer satisfaction and switching-cost variables also had a statistical influence on customer loyalty. Conclusions - The CRM activities had an influence on various variables (including perceived QoS, perceived economic value, store brand value, and store convenience) pertaining to customer values. Customer satisfaction and switching-cost had some effects on customer loyalty as a parameter. This confirms that stringent loyalty exists with respect to customer loyalty in the retail industry. The fact that the variable had such a statistically significant influence on the switching-cost and store brand equity variables means that consumers react to the reputation of a brand, confidence about the store, and quality confidence. The implications of this study in the retail industry should be further extended to devise strategies for customer retention.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.135-140
• /
• 2017

The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of genes that encode multi-drug efflux pumps and virulence factors in Enterococcus faecalis isolated from retail meat and antibiotic resistance patterns of these strains. Of the 277 retail meat samples, 93 Enterococcus faecalis were isolated. The strains exhibited resistance to ampicillin (35.5%), chloramphenicol (6.4%), ciprofloxacin (4.3%), erythromycin (18.3%), levofloxacin (0%), quinupristin-dalfopristin (76.3%), tetracycline (45.2%), teicoplanin (0%) and vancomycin (0%). The strains were positive for MFS type eme(A) (100%), ABC type efr(A) (100%), ABC type efr(B) (98.9%) and ABC type lsa (91.4%) efflux pump gene. The strains were positive for gelE (68.8%), ace (90.3%), asa1 (47.3%), efaA (91.4%) and esp (12.9%) virulence gene. This research will help to assess the hazards associated with the occurrence of drug resistance among enterococci from retail meat. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor enterococcus spp. isolated from retail meat continuously.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.161-173
• /
• 2006

The most important two decision-makings which a retail store owner face require which place of the store should geographically be established and which stock should be properly placed on the shelves. The problem of geographic positioning is the decision-making for the store's positioning and stock arrangement within the retail store is the decision-making for the placement store. In order to determine the positioning, the expected area should be analyzed so that the analysis of commercial area can usually be implemented in accordance with retail marketing strategy and therefore the sized of the potential market for example each distric's clientele, competition and, a municipal community's regulations, could be evaluated. But I contend that with only the size of potential market does not give an adequate answer to the problem of a store's positioning. Through the estimation of commercial are in combination with feng-shui, the theory of divination based on topography, the store's position could be selected, taking a positive energy, Gi. This thesis is the starting point of these trials. In the long run, the actual analysis of the study should be continued in a more scientific, systematic, statistical way.