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1 – 10 of over 70000The paper studies the relative use of a variety of distribution channels by Japanese consumers when purchasing clothing. In this way it aims to illustrate the potential of various…
Abstract
The paper studies the relative use of a variety of distribution channels by Japanese consumers when purchasing clothing. In this way it aims to illustrate the potential of various channels for the sale of a range of garment types by three groups of consumers and, therefore, provided guidance to potential entrants to the Japanese market. The study was carried out by means of a convenient sample and covered the years 1990–93. The three groups of consumers covered were female students, their mothers and their fathers. A total of 46 articles of female clothing and 32 articles of male clothing were covered in the survey. The results suggested that in the case of some garments consumers did not appear to distinguish clearly between channels of distribution as forward methods of purchase. This was particularly true of male consumers. Many items were habitually purchased, however, via only one channel — this was especially the case with women consumers. Males made very little use of mail order but much greater use of department stores and specialty stores.
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Ioannis Krasonikolakis, Adam Vrechopoulos, Athanasia Pouloudi and Sergios Dimitriadis
Positioned in the e-retailing field, this study aims to investigate the effect of the retail store’s atmosphere on consumer behavior in 3D online shopping environments, focusing…
Abstract
Purpose
Positioned in the e-retailing field, this study aims to investigate the effect of the retail store’s atmosphere on consumer behavior in 3D online shopping environments, focusing on store layout as a critical influential factor.
Design/methodology/approach
The research uses a mixed research method approach that includes two complementary studies. First, a three-round Delphi study with domain experts is used to develop a store layout classification scheme (Study 1), resulting in five distinct types of store layout. Subsequently, 3D online retail stores that use the five layouts are designed and developed. These serve as treatments of a laboratory experimental design, which is used to assess layout impact on a number of attitudinal and behavioral variables (Study 2).
Findings
Five distinct types of store layout have been identified in Study 1, and their distinctive features are presented. The findings of Study 2 indicate that online shopping enjoyment, entertainment and ease of navigation are influenced by the store layout types of 3D online environments. Specifically, the “avant-garde” layout type facilitates the ease of navigation of customers in the store and provides a superior online customer experience. The “warehouse”’ adopts long aisles for the display of products, which simplifies the comparison of products, whereas the “boutique” layout was found to be the best in terms of shopping enjoyment and entertainment. The “department” layout shares many common characteristics with traditional department stores, providing an entertaining and enjoyable store, whereas the “pragmatic” layout emphasizes low system requirements.
Practical implications
The paper presents characteristics that make store layouts effective for different aspects of online customers’ experience and identifies opportunities that 3D online store designers and retailers can explore for the provision of enhanced, customized services to online customers.
Originality/value
This paper examines recent technological developments in store design and visual merchandising. It identifies five layout types of 3D online stores, which are different from those of brick–and–mortar and 2D online stores, and investigates their impact on consumer behavior. Further, the paper examines how each layout type influences online shopping enjoyment, entertainment, ease of navigation, online customer experience and, in turn, purchase and word-of-mouth intentions. Finally, the paper examines the moderating role of telepresence. Individuals with high sense of telepresence conceive 3D environments as “real” and are more concerned about the attributes that trigger the sense of enjoyment they experience while browsing.
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Pradeep Korgaonkar, Ronnie Silverblatt and Tulay Girard
To investigate if consumer online patronage is influenced by product category and online store type.
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate if consumer online patronage is influenced by product category and online store type.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the prior work in this area by the authors and other researchers the study collected data in two phases to investigate the study hypotheses.
Findings
The study results suggest that consumers' online patronage is differed based on product type. Interaction effects of the online stores and product type were significant too. Additionally, the rank order of importance of the Internet attribute varied among the three types of online retailers.
Research limitations/implications
The study results should be replicated in other markets. Future studies may also include a variety of different types of online outlets to improve the conclusiveness of the findings reported in this study.
Practical implications
The results should be of interest to the online retailers in choosing the types of merchandise and services to emphasis in the retailers marketing program.
Originality/value
The paper should be of interest to academicians as well as practitioners as it contributes to the small but growing literature in the area of online retailing. It adds to the literature on the product classification paradigm as well as offers practical guidelines for managers.
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This paper aims to verify the hypothetical relationships between antecedent and consequence variables of consumer's shopping experiences based on an experiential typology…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to verify the hypothetical relationships between antecedent and consequence variables of consumer's shopping experiences based on an experiential typology advocated by Schmitt.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the study takes a holistic view of shopping experiences by adopting three experiential components (sensory, affective, and rational) with a view to uncovering the roles of antecedent (shopping motives) and consequence (impulse buying) of shopping experiences. Specifically, the study seeks to affirm the effects of shopping motives on shopping experiences for three types of retail store (department store, discount store, and internet store) and two product types (perfume and detergent). Second, the study confirms whether store type and product type influence the kind of experience preferred by shoppers and verifies whether types of product and store moderate the relationship between shopping motives and shopping experiences. Thirdly, the study investigates the effects of shopping experiences on impulse buying, with special attention given to the role of store atmospherics.
Findings
The study found that shopping motives had significant effects on shopping experiences. Product‐based shopping motive exerted greater significant influence on shopping experiences than experience‐based motive. The result showed that product type (detergent) was a significant moderator between experience‐based shopping motive and sensory experience. And, both department store and discount store were found to significantly moderate between experience‐based motive and affective experience. It also found that affective shopping experience boosted impulse buying and rational experience decreased it significantly at department store. However, no consistent pattern of influence was detected for the effects of atmospherics on impulse buying when examined by store type.
Originality/value
The study results will offer important retailing implications which accommodate customers' experiential needs that are not only consumer‐centric, but also context specific. The study reflects the growing recognition of the role of sensory stimuli, as they were found to influence advertisement and brand effectiveness. Also, antecedents of experiential shopping in relation to its impact on impulse buying have not been fully explored in the past.
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Stephan Grzeskowiak, M. Joseph Sirgy, Thomas Foscht and Bernhard Swoboda
A common assumption holds that retailers generally contribute to customer life satisfaction – retailers offer products and services that solve consumer problems – large and small…
Abstract
Purpose
A common assumption holds that retailers generally contribute to customer life satisfaction – retailers offer products and services that solve consumer problems – large and small. However, some retail experiences have been found to generate dissatisfaction, stress and unhappiness for some customers but not for others. Research is needed to not only demonstrate how retail experiences impact customer life satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to address the question: why does satisfaction with various store types impact customer life satisfaction differently?
Design/methodology/approach
The research context of this study is grocery retailers (neighbourhood convenience stores, super markets, and grocery discounters) in Austria. Using stratified random sampling across store types, a total of 379 personal interviews with grocery store customers were conducted. OLS regression analysis was conducted to test the research model.
Findings
The study results suggest that satisfaction with a store type impacts customer life satisfaction depending on store-type congruity with shoppers’ identity. That is, satisfaction with a store type (e.g. neighbourhood convenience stores, super markets, and grocery discounters) is found to influence life satisfaction if the store type is congruent with the shoppers’ self-image and lifestyle.
Practical implications
An emphasis on store-type congruity with shopper’s identity allows retailers to shift their attention towards creating more meaningful shopping experiences. Such a shift in focus may not only benefit retailers due to increase in customer loyalty for that store format. It also benefits shoppers themselves – the shopping experience contributes to shoppers’ life satisfaction.
Originality/value
This research introduces store-type congruity with shopper’s identity as a key concept that connects shopping experiences to customer life satisfaction. This contributes towards building the hierarchical theory of shopping motivation. It demonstrates under what conditions shopping experiences impact consumer life satisfaction – a research topic that has received little attention in the retailing literature to date.
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Pauline Sullivan, Ronald Savitt, Yi Zheng and Yanli Cui
Traditional competition across apparel store types reflects the dynamics of market positioning in practice. Previous research found that apparel related purchases accounted for…
Abstract
Traditional competition across apparel store types reflects the dynamics of market positioning in practice. Previous research found that apparel related purchases accounted for over half of the money rural consumers spent out of town. Research on apparel shopping intentions according to store types helps identify to what extent different retail formats compete with each other for customers and enables rural retailers to improve their positioning strategies. Results describe apparel shopping behaviour, in rural population, relative to store type and variables influencing consumers’ shopping intentions. Factors influencing consumers’ shopping choices among different apparel retail formats are identified. Descriptive statistics indicated most apparel shoppers frequented independently owned stores and cross‐shop among retail formats. When store categories were created, data revealed that the retail format category department, discount, and chain stores attracted more customers than the other retail format categories.
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Myron Gable, Martin T. Topol, Vishal Lala and Susan S. Fiorito
The purpose of this paper is to determine the responses of women college students to discount stores and category killers in terms of the importance of seven‐store characteristics…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the responses of women college students to discount stores and category killers in terms of the importance of seven‐store characteristics as well as their expectations for these attributes. Another purpose was to determine differences, if any, between these two store formats. Further the moderating variables of shopping frequency and orientation were introduced to determine if they influenced the results.
Design/methodology/approach
Personal interviews were used to collect data from a random sample of women college students from one university through the administration of a structured survey instrument. Statistical analyses were employed to generate the results.
Findings
Differences were found in the respondents' perceptions for both importance and expectations for six of the seven‐store attributes. For one characteristic, continuity of supply, no differences emerged and this characteristic was deemed important for both store formats. Moderating variables did not alter the results.
Research limitations/implications
Given the limited nature of the sample, there is a need for replication of this research in other geographic regions, including international sites in order to corroborate these findings. Also, replication with men is needed.
Practical implications
This study provides guidance to both discount store and category killer executives on the types of strategies and tactics needed to better attract and retain women college students.
Originality/value
Attention was directed to women college students, a highly desired but often neglected market segment. Further, continuity of supply, an attribute not often indicated in most retailing texts emerged as very important and highly expected by respondents.
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Youn-Kyung Kim, Sejin Ha and Soo-Hee Park
The purpose of this paper is to identify men’s clothing market segments based on store types and generational cohorts and the retail attributes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify men’s clothing market segments based on store types and generational cohorts and the retail attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 2,808 US male consumer data from Predictive Analytics survey were analyzed with correspondence analysis (CA) (to identify segments based on store types and generations), general linear model (GLM) (to determine what retail attributes were important to target each segment) and a Rasch tree model (to test items of each factor in their relative importance).
Findings
The CA produced three segments: Segment 1 (Gen Y male consumers who frequently shop at specialty stores), Segment 2 (Gen X males who frequently shop at discount stores and online stores) and Segment 3 (Baby Boomers and Seniors who frequently shop at department stores). GLM shows that fundamentals were important to all segments; experiential was most important to Segment 1, while promotion was most important to Segment 3. Rasch tree analysis provided specific information on retail attributes for each store type and each generation.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could employ both the importance and performance of retail attributes that are measured on a rating scale to understand consumers’ attitudes toward each retail format.
Practical implications
This study provided men’s clothing retailers with current insights into the male consumer segments based upon generational cohorts and store types from which they can better develop appropriate positioning strategies to satisfy the needs of each segment.
Originality/value
This study addressed the men’s clothing market, a growing but largely ignored market in the clothing industry and the retail literature.
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So Won Jeong, Leslie Stoel and Jae‐Eun Chung
Retail success in China for dietary supplement products requires knowledge of the importance consumers place on store type as well as their perceptions of product characteristics…
Abstract
Purpose
Retail success in China for dietary supplement products requires knowledge of the importance consumers place on store type as well as their perceptions of product characteristics such as country of origin (country where the product is made and where the brand is from). Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to examine differences in purchase intention and its key antecedents such as attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, based on store type importance and product country of origin (China versus USA). To test the proposed hypotheses, MANCOVA was conducted.
Design/methodology/approach
A mail survey was conducted in Shanghai and the total number of usable questionnaires was 444.
Findings
This paper revealed that perceived importance of large store format was significantly related to consumer attitudes and behavioural control for dietary supplement products, but country of origin was not important to Chinese consumers. Additionally, significant relationships with marketer trust and product familiarity were found.
Originality/value
This research is important because the Chinese government recently decreed that prescriptions could now be sold in outlets other than hospitals. This opens the realm of possibilities for retailers of health and beauty products by enabling them to sell a broader and potentially more profitable range of goods. In China, the demand for DS and other health‐related products is increasing. The present study will provide insights to foreign retailers who want to enter China about the impact of store type and product country of origin on consumer purchase intention and its antecedents.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structural relationship between online brand equity, brand experience, brand attitude, and brand attachment while considering the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structural relationship between online brand equity, brand experience, brand attitude, and brand attachment while considering the moderating effect of store type (online stores vs app stores) and product type.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 459 completed online questionnaires were collected from experienced online (n=254) and app shoppers (n=205) to empirically test the proposed model. Partial least squares path modeling approach, a variance-based structural equation modeling, was performed to evaluate the measurement and the structural model.
Findings
The study’s empirical investigation validates the proposed model and implies that online brand equity, brand experience, and brand attitude explain 66 percent of variances in brand attachment. Partial least square-multi group analysis reveals that the type of store and product type are moderators to all the proposed relationships except the hypothesis on the relationship between online brand equity and brand attachment.
Originality/value
With the tremendous advancement of information technology that enables firms to deploy multichannel strategy in their core business activities, the role of brand in a multichannel retail environment has been ignored. This study is among several attempts to examine the role of brand among consumers experienced with online and app stores. The practical implications and limitation are discussed.
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