Korean Women's Shopping Behavior and Body Image in U.S.

The purpose at this study was to examine and understand shopping behaviors and body image among Korean females in U.S. Subjects for this research were 20 Korean housewives. They were interviewed for this study using an interview schedule. As a result, most at the subjects have enjoyed shopping in U.S. stores. They showed that they go shopping more often in U.S. than in Korea due to more time to shop. They considered refund policy and kind salespersons as th positive characteristics in U.S. stores, while they complained about size, quality, and style in even their favorite stores. Also, subjects tend to be dissatisfied with their bodies. Compared to how they feel in Korea, they especially feel lower body image and lower self-esteem in the U.S. Ninety percent of subjects considered their body affected their shopping behaviors. To compensate how they felt about their bodies, they responded that they limit or change clothing styles or colors when they shopped. Based on these results, socio-cultural body image regarding ideal beauty and shopping behavior would be discussed.