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

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.30 no.12 s.159
• /
• pp.1697-1707
• /
• 2006

Relentless advances in information technology are constantly transforming market dynamics of the retail industry. RFID is an emerging innovative technology that can reduce labor costs, improve inventory control and increase sales by effective business processes. Apparel retailers need to recognize the benefits of RFID and identify critical success factors. By focusing on apparel retailers, this study attempts (1) to identify the reality of RFID associated with benefits; and (2) to prospect the implementation of RFID in apparel retailing. We conducted a focus group interview with selected six panels who were experts of retail industry in the United States to obtain data regarding RFID attributes. Content analysis was used to generate related excerpts and classify 31 attributes of RFID benefits from the meaningful 173 responses. For experience of RFID, retailers were familiar with RFID technology and expressed the belief that RFID basically would support an existing retail system for speed to markets. However, retailers addressed the level of experience with RFID technology that they were still in the early adoption stage among few innovative companies. The content analysis identified five dimensions of RFID benefits for apparel retailing: Visibility and Velocity, Revenue Enhancement, Customer Service, Security, and Employee Productivity. This result lends support to the belief that RFID has a significant potential to streamline supply chain management, store operation and customer service for apparel retailing. This study provides intellectual and managerial implications far practitioners and researchers by postulating the effective use of RFID in the apparel retail industry.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.285-297
• /
• 2019

Retail firms have begun to pursue the marketing strategies, which stimulate consumers' sensibility and lead people to purchase their products. The visible effects of visual merchandising (VM) arouse consumers' interest and play an effective role in having busy people efficiently choose products. Apparel retail stores such as SPA use the offline store to be the experiential environment of their branding. Consumers' sensitivity and response toward various visual merchandising strategies needs to be accessed. The purpose of this study is to identify VM consciousness and VM evaluation attribute factors. Relationship of such variables with other variables were accessed. As consequence variables, product satisfaction and unplanned purchase behavior were included in the study. An empirical survey data was collected from men and women of various ages. Results indicated that VM consciousness and VM evaluation attribute factors were not correlated with consumer demographic variables. VM evaluation attributes were factored into appropriateness, attractiveness and functionality dimensions. Clothing involvement and brand orientation significantly influenced product satisfaction and unplanned purchase. The direct and indirect effect (via VM consciousness) were significant. For unplanned purchase, brand orientation only had indirect effect. The influence of VM evaluation attribute factors were significant. Appropriateness had stronger effect on product satisfaction whereas attractiveness had stronger effect on unplanned behavior. Functionality dimension had only indirect effect on product satisfaction but did not show significant direct and indirect effects on unplanned purchase. This study identified the pivotal role of VM consciousness in various shopping and purchasing circumstances in offline retail store of apparel brands.

• Journal of Korea Trade
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.106-124
• /
• 2022

Purpose - The increasing share of Korean private label products (PLPs) in the domestic market helped generate lucrative revenue. In recent years, major South Korean retailers have begun to cast their sights on overseas markets and actively export their PLPs. In China, the proportion of private label fresh food (PLFF) is gradually expanding amid the development of the new retailing model. A profound understanding of the relationship between private label fresh produce and purchase intention may be the answer to helping Chinese retailer private labels expand supply chains in Korea. This study, taking Chinese retailers as an example, examines the impacts of selection factors of private label fresh food and perceived value on purchase intention. Apart from that, the relationship between the selection factors and purchase intention will be analyzed with perceived value as a mediator. Design/methodology - This work aims to empirically analyze the purchase intention of private label fresh food using statistical analysis. In this study, a hypothetical causal model consisting of 6 latent variables and 24 measured variables is developed based on the literature review. To validate the research hypotheses and the research model, SPSS23.0/AMOS23.0 is used to analyze factors such as validity and reliability, as well as structural equation modeling. Findings - The hypothetical model established in this study is of general applicability. In respect to PLFF, perceived value, while significantly influencing purchase intention in combination with four selection factors (perceived quality, perceived price, brand trust, and store image), mediates partially between the first three factors and purchase intention, which rules out the impact and mediating effect of store image on purchase intention. Originality/value - These research results, as helpful insights into the present circumstances of Chinese PLFF in the domestic market, provide useful information and guidance for Korean retailers and service providers to innovate production and service, as well as develop marketing and promotion strategies, so that they can shift private label goods with advantages from domestic demand to export, thus increasing overseas profitability. Further, this work will also contribute to relevant research.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.763-783
• /
• 2015

Online customer reviews (i.e., electronic word-of-mouth) has gained considerable interest over the past years. However, a knowledge gap exists in explaining the mechanisms among the factors that determine the product sales in online retailing environment. To fill the gap, this study adopts a principal-agent perspective to investigate the effect of customer reviews and customer incentives on product sales in online retail stores. Two customer review factors (i.e., average review ratings and the number of reviews) and two customer incentive factors (i.e., price discounts and special shipping offers) are used to predict product sales in regression analysis. The sales ranking data collected from the video game titles at Amazon.com are used to analyze the direct effects of the four factors and the interaction effects between customer review and customer incentive factors to product sales. Result reveals that most relationships exist as hypothesized. The findings support both the direct and interaction effects of customer reviews and incentive factors on product sales. Based on the findings, discussions are provided with regard to the academic and practical contributions.

• IE interfaces
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.447-456
• /
• 2011

Identifying the major moving patterns of shoppers' movements in the selling floor has been a longstanding issue in the retailing industry. With the advent of RFID technology, it has been easier to collect the moving data for a individual shopper's movement. Most of the previous studies used the traditional clustering technique to identify the major moving pattern of customers. However, in using clustering technique, due to the spatial constraint (aisle layout or other physical obstructions in the store), standard clustering methods are not feasible for moving data like shopping path should be adjusted for the analysis in advance, which is time-consuming and causes data distortion. To alleviate this problems, we propose a new approach to spatial pattern clustering based on longest common subsequence (LCSS). Experimental results using the real data obtained from a grocery in Seoul show that the proposed method performs well in finding the hot spot and dead spot as well as in finding the major path patterns of customer movements.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.116-127
• /
• 2000

This study investigated the effects of sales supervisors on salespeople's goal orientations and sales performance in fashion retail setting. Specifically, it examined: 1) the differences in salespeople's goal orientations by salespeople characteristics; 2) the effects of supervisor's behavioral orientations on goal orientations of salespeople; and 3) the effects of salespeople's goal orientations on performance. A total of 343 questionnaires collected from salespeople in various apparel and accessory selling departments at four department stores in Korean were analyzed. Variables included supervisor's behavioral orientations(end-results, activity and capability), salespeople's goal orientations(learning and performance), sales performance and salespeople characteristics. MANOVA revealed that three was no difference in goal orientations by salespeople characteristics except by selling department. Multiple regression analysis revealed that supervisor's end-result orientation affected salespeople's learning orientation and performance orientation while activity and capability orientations did not. The study suggests that for long-term performance supervisors and retail organizations need to develop various supervisory behaviors, stimulate learning demands of salespeople, and provide training programs to achieve the learning goal.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.9
• /
• pp.517-526
• /
• 2020

This research investigates the relationship among product quality, service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavior intentions. Validated measurements were identified from a literature review. The measurement model and the conceptual model depicting hypothesized relationships were evaluated based on responses from 220 customers using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The testing results show that, for the direct path, product quality has a significant, positive influence on customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Also, perceived value directly influences customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and satisfaction is an antecedent of behavioral intentions. For the indirect path, service quality has a significant, positive influence on behavioral intentions through the customer satisfaction. The major finding of this study suggest that service quality easily attract more customers, especially the young consumers. About the sale personnel, communication skills, knowledge and ways of treatment to customers are crucial to retailers to gain competitive advantage over competitors. Therefore, it should have clear and consistent processes, procedures with criteria that create the best condition for organization and individual to open this kind of retailing store. Furthermore, product quality improvement is essential; all products must have clear originality; and diversifying products and services is also the way to appeal more consumers.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Business Review
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.45-60
• /
• 2019

Proposing that the main barriers to mini-packaging success in China, in contrast to India and the Philippines, is Chinese consumers' sociocultural values and attitudes toward products in mini packages, this study investigates the factors that potentially make the China market relatively not conducive to buying products in mini packages via a survey of 468 Chinese adults in Shanghai (first-tier city) and Zhuhai (second-tier city). Results show that respondents agree that products in mini packages are difficult to store once opened, are more expensive than are larger-sized products, do not provide good value for money, entail frequent shopping, are harmful to the environment, are not advertised, and are mainly for trying new products and for traveling. They disagree with many possible reasons for the unpopularity of products in mini packages. This study's contributions are (1) providing in-depth quantitative analysis of the possible reasons mini-packaging is not popular in China, (2) offering managerial advice for using mini-packaging to increase brand competitiveness, (3) developing a scale to measure attitudes toward products in mini packages; and (4) being empirical as opposed to merely anecdotal/speculative like some studies in this area.

• Fourth Industrial Review
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2021

Purpose - Faced with the great change of the 4th industrial revolution and the addition of the COVID-19 pandemic, great confusion and crises are occurring in the retail environment as well. The purpose of this study is to suggest the necessity of establishing a methodology for applying retail tech to offline distribution channels in crisis. Research design, data, and methodology - After examining the recent developments of representative fields to which retail technology is applied, it is rearranged through consideration through previous studies. Result - The retail industry must transform into digital commerce through digital transformation. According to the development of retail technology, the distribution industry is at a time of change from the stage of brokering product and service transactions to a structure that creates value based on information on production and consumption. The business model of the distribution industry must be converted to a platform business model in which both consumers and producers become users. Conclusion - In-depth analysis of the cases has not been conducted, and there are limitations in that the development is somewhat insufficient due to insufficient prior research data. However, it is meaningful to suggest the necessity of finding a methodology for applying retail technology to overcome the crisis of offline retailers through quantitative research on the retail technology area.