Search results
11 – 20 of over 1000Gaurav Bhatt, Abhigyan Sarkar and Juhi Gahlot Sarkar
The majority of past studies on the physical store environment have focused on the impacts of distinct store environmental cues like music, crowding and décor on consumers'…
Abstract
Purpose
The majority of past studies on the physical store environment have focused on the impacts of distinct store environmental cues like music, crowding and décor on consumers' responses. However, recent research posits that consumer is more likely to experience several cues in a combination, rather than in isolation, i.e. different categories of store environmental cues are likely to impact consumer psychology holistically. Hence, our study aims to identify the relevant factors of store atmospheric cues impacting consumer's attitude in physical retail store context and validate scales to measure such factors.
Design/methodology/approach
This research develops and validates psychometrically reliable scales to measure two broad store stimuli factors namely: attractive and facilitating store stimuli, following the scale development method suggested by Churchill (1979).
Findings
The study shows that attractive store stimuli predict affective and sensory store brand experiences. The facilitating store stimuli moderate the effects of attractive store stimuli on affective and sensory store brand experiences. Affective and sensory store brand experiences predict store satisfaction.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the existing body of store ambience research by empirically understanding the psychological mechanism through which customers perceive different store cues holistically leading to the elicitation of store satisfaction.
Details
Keywords
Eleonora Pantano, Constantinos Vasilios Priporas and Pantea Foroudi
Research into the introduction of innovative technologies directly at the storefront window is limited. The purpose of this paper is to model the behavioural attitudes and the…
Abstract
Purpose
Research into the introduction of innovative technologies directly at the storefront window is limited. The purpose of this paper is to model the behavioural attitudes and the subsequent benefits of, introducing innovative technologies to the storefront, while also considering the role of personal innovativeness in the decision process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a sample of 341 consumers who approached this new kind of storefront in two well-known apparel stores in the centre of New York City. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection.
Findings
Findings empirically demonstrate that when consumers sense that there are innovative interactive technologies in the storefront windows, they are willing to enter the store, generate positive word-of-mouth communication (sharing the positive experience with friends).
Originality/value
This study is the first to investigate the combination of consumer innovativeness and storefront window on the behavioural attitude, supported with quantitative evidence.
Details
Keywords
Mohammadbagher Gorji, Sahar Siami, Louise Grimmer and Martin Grimmer
The purpose of the current paper is to examine the relationship between storescape (retail's physical and social environment factors) and customer loyalty (CL) and how employee…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the current paper is to examine the relationship between storescape (retail's physical and social environment factors) and customer loyalty (CL) and how employee citizenship behaviour towards customer (ECB-C) facilitates this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a descriptive quantitative, non-experimental research method using a cross-sectional design with a self-administered questionnaire. In total, 415 department store customers in Australia responded to the survey through an online panel provider.
Findings
Results confirmed the significance of all relationships between physical and social storescape factors, customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty, except the direct effect of physical factors on CL. The findings also highlighted the interaction effect of ECB-C in the relationship between storescape factors, satisfaction and CL, indicating that these effects are stronger at higher levels of ECB-C than lower levels.
Practical implications
The study provides insights for department store retailers, practitioners and marketing managers into the role of ECB-C in forming and shaping CS and loyalty, especially when there is a lack of storescape effect on CS and loyalty.
Originality/value
This study extends the consecutive relationship of the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model by adding ECB-C as a moderator. The study employed resource exchange (RE) theory to investigate the direct effect of storescape on CL beyond its indirect effect through organism suggested by the SOR model.
Details
Keywords
Michelle Childs, Tiffany Blanchflower, Songyee Hur and Delisia Matthews
Revolutionary changes are happening in retail, and the term “retail apocalypse” reflects these dramatic changes. As a growing number of traditional brick-and-motor retailers are…
Abstract
Purpose
Revolutionary changes are happening in retail, and the term “retail apocalypse” reflects these dramatic changes. As a growing number of traditional brick-and-motor retailers are closing, the aim of this study is to understand and test the dimensions of specific store and consumer factors that are driving this shift towards non-traditional retail marketplaces (e.g. pop-up stores, fashion trucks), factors that drive consumer loyalty (i.e. re-patronage intentions) and the mediating role of shopping enjoyment in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a consumer panel (n = 237) of previous shoppers of non-traditional retailers. Utilising exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study identifies possible store and consumer factors that are associated with consumers' patronage of non-traditional retailers. Based on results, we propose a model for non-traditional retail shopping behaviour.
Findings
EFA revealed that quality of personal experience and consumer curiosity were dominant factors explaining variance. Key findings revealed that in-store factors (in-store ambiance, quality and value of products) and consumer factors (consumer curiosity, quality consciousness) influence consumers' re-patronage intentions. This highlights the importance of maintaining quality elements in shopping experiences. Shopping enjoyment was found to mediate relationships, indicating that while not all factors directly impact loyalty, it can be enhanced through pleasurable shopping experiences.
Practical implications
Our findings help retailers understand which factors are driving this dramatic change in consumer behaviour so they may develop better strategies to attract and retain customers. Retailers need to highlight product quality and in-store atmosphere and spark consumers' quality consciousness and curiosity to enhance consumer loyalty.
Originality/value
Despite the rise in popularity, this is the first study to investigate non-traditional retailers comprehensively.
Details
Keywords
Angelo Bonfanti, Vania Vigolo, Virginia Vannucci and Federico Brunetti
This study focuses on memorable customer shopping experience design in the sporting goods retail setting. It aims to identify the phygital customers' needs and expectations that…
Abstract
Purpose
This study focuses on memorable customer shopping experience design in the sporting goods retail setting. It aims to identify the phygital customers' needs and expectations that are satisfied through in-store technologies and to detect the in-store strategies that use these technologies to make the store attractive and experiential.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study adopted a qualitative research methodology, specifically a multiple-case study, by performing semi-structured interviews with sporting goods store managers.
Findings
Sporting goods retailers use various in-store technologies to create a phygital customer shopping experience, including devices, mobile apps, wireless communication technologies, in-store activations, support devices, intelligent stations, and sensors. To improve the phygital customer journey and the phygital shopping experience, retailers meet customers' needs for utilitarian, hedonic, social, and playfulness experiences. Purely physical or digital strategies, as well as phygital strategies, are identified. This research also proposes a model of in-store phygital customer shopping experience design for sporting goods retailers.
Practical implications
Sporting goods managers can invest in multiple technologies by designing a physical environment according to the customers' needs for utilitarian, hedonic, social, and playful experiences. In addition, they can improve the phygital customer shopping experience with specific push strategies that increase customer engagement and, in turn, brand and store loyalty.
Originality/value
This study highlights how the phygital customer experiential journey can be created through new technologies and improved with specific reference to the sporting goods stores.
Details
Keywords
Dong Ling Xu‐Priour and Gérard Cliquet
The purpose of this paper is to examine the hypotheses about whether the effects of consumer enjoyment shopping experience, derived from seven aspects of recreational shopping…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the hypotheses about whether the effects of consumer enjoyment shopping experience, derived from seven aspects of recreational shopping (i.e. social aspects of retail environment, service quality, browsing, bargain hunting, social interaction, enduring involvement and brand experience) on consumer attitude towards stores channels are comparable between France and Chinese cosmetic shoppers.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this objective, a questionnaire of 500 French and 480 Chinese working females were conducted. Both the convergence and habituation theories were applied.
Findings
Results of the multiple regression analysis support the above assumptions and suggest that customer enjoyment shopping experience and its relation with consumer attitudes towards store channels in China tends to be more in line with those in developed countries.
Research limitations/implications
The findings presented are the views of women's in‐store enjoyment shopping experiences in two cities in French and Chinese cosmetic markets. To ensure the generalizability of the findings, other products, consumer groups and regions (i.e. Indian etc.) can be envisaged.
Practical implications
Multinational retailers and cosmetics vendors have to recognize these customer enjoyment shopping experiences in both retail settings. In particular in the Chinese retail market, to improve these experiences so as to achieve positive consumer attitude towards retail outlets and finally strike the deal in this numerous market.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to employ convergent and habituation theory to examine the stability or change of the aforesaid relation between China and France. Hence, it adds to international marketing theory concerning the usefulness of these growing important theories in explaining the comparability between developed countries and developing ones in relation between constructs.
Details
Keywords
Daniel Wade Clarke, Patsy Perry and Hayley Denson
The literature holds few contributions regarding the sensory environment of small, privately‐owned retail stores. Hence, this paper seeks to explore the sensory experience of…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature holds few contributions regarding the sensory environment of small, privately‐owned retail stores. Hence, this paper seeks to explore the sensory experience of patrons of a small boutique.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses photo‐elicitation to examine the experience of the sensory retail environment of patrons of a small fashion boutique in the North West of England. Participants were asked to “show me how it feels to shop here” by taking photographs to depict their sensory in‐store experiences. Follow up interviews were carried out to explore the participants’ sensory experiences and then qualitative content analysis was used to identify the typical “likes” and “dislikes” regarding aspects of the sensory environment.
Findings
The findings reveal that it is not just tangible things that can affect a shopper's experience, but store traits such as smell, lighting and presence of owner‐manager can also influence a consumer's experience.
Research limitations/implications
By providing an illustration case study, this paper provides a visual method for researching shopping experience from a sensory perspective. This research concerned small fashion boutiques. Other research as well as this study indicates that studies of sensory environments in other kinds of boutiques could produce different findings.
Practical implications
The paper is intended not only to equip small fashion retailers with an understanding of why some customers dwell and return to browse, but also to help them discern what it is that shoppers want to experience while shopping. Managerial implications are offered with the aim of converting patronage into sales to support survival of small fashion retailers.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on small to medium‐sized enterprise fashion retailing and the sensory experience of fashion shopping. The identification of sensory touch points in small fashion boutiques helps owner‐managers to understand female shoppers and provides a handrail for thinking up new ways of improving shopping experiences.
Details
Keywords
Consumers are spending more on leisure, and retailers and shopping centre developers are seeking ways to make shopping more of a leisure pursuit. This paper deals with the…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers are spending more on leisure, and retailers and shopping centre developers are seeking ways to make shopping more of a leisure pursuit. This paper deals with the questions: what is leisure shopping, who are leisure shoppers, what is leisure retailing, and how are shopping centres providing for them?
Design/methodology/approach
Brief reviews of key research domains establish various meanings for leisure shopping and give some indications of who leisure shoppers are. Recent developments in shopping centres are considered. The last section discusses conceptual models, building on earlier empirical work on the functioning of shopping centres which incorporate leisure activities.
Findings
Leisure shopping is not best conceptualized as part of a continuum from purposive to leisure oriented. Rather, it may exist in a variety of circumstances, dependent on individual characteristics, trip motivations, the social setting of the trip and the nature of the destination. Leisure centres are not a separate category of centre, but the classification of shopping centres should be modified to incorporate consideration of leisure. Catering may be the most important provision.
Research limitations/implications
Shopping centre managers and owners should note the complexity of leisure shopping. The best unit of analysis may be the trip, rather than other forms of customer segmentation. Synergistic benefits for retailers from some forms of adjoining leisure activity may be small.
Originality/value
The paper provides two models which may be used to analyse both shopping activity and shopping centres from the leisure point of view.
Details
Keywords
Julian R. K. Wichmann, Thomas P. Scholdra and Werner J. Reinartz
Inner city centers not only provide opportunities for shopping, dining, and entertainment, but with their lively atmosphere and other vital attributes, also create attractive…
Abstract
Inner city centers not only provide opportunities for shopping, dining, and entertainment, but with their lively atmosphere and other vital attributes, also create attractive destinations for residents and tourists alike. However, inner city retailing, potentially the most important reason to visit an inner city, is facing serious competition from e-commerce and out-of-town shopping malls. Dying inner city centers have become a severe issue in recent years, worldwide. To counteract this devastating trend and ensure the vitality and viability of inner city centers, stakeholders from the public and private sectors regularly join their forces in initiatives to strengthen urban structures. However, academic insights into the contribution of retailing on perceived city attractiveness remain sparse. Relying on an extensive data set that combines survey and observational data, the authors are able to quantify a variety of inner city characteristics, ranging from its store and service provider portfolio to its ambience and accessibility, and measure their association with its perceived attractiveness. They show that a city's portfolio of retail stores is not only related to people's perceptions of the city's overall attractiveness but also perceptions of its ambience. However, not all retail categories contribute the same way; while the presence of clothing stores or booksellers is strongly associated with cities' ambience as well as attractiveness, other retail categories such as optometrists or electronics stores are negatively associated with consumers' inner city perceptions. Importantly, these relationships also depend on the size of the focal city. Based on their results, the authors provide important managerial and societal implications on how to leverage the local retailing environment to improve inner city attractiveness. For example, the results may inform (local) governments on which sectors to subsidize in order to attract those store and service provider categories that benefit inner city attractiveness.
Details