A Study of Visual Merchandising Effectiveness: A Cross-cultural Study of Korean and Chinese Consumers

비주얼 머천다이징 효과에 관한 연구: 한국과 중국 소비자의 비교문화연구

The purpose of this study is to identify the differences in persuasive effectiveness of visual merchandising between consumers in Korea and China including the moderating roles of shopping value in effectiveness of visual merchandising. For the cross-cultural experiment, 2(degree of sensuousness of VM: high vs. low)${\times}$2(involvement: high vs. low)${\times}$2(nation: Korea vs. China) factorial design were used. A total of 480 questionnaires allocating 60 students to each group were distributed. The results were as follows. First, Chinese consumers were likely to respond favorably regardless of the degree of sensuousness of VM, while Korean consumers were more positive in high degree of sensuousness of VM. Second, aesthetic cognition of VM and attitude toward VM had positive influences on brand cognition in both countries. Third, Korean consumers with greater recognition of aesthetic attributes of VM had more positive brand attitude, while Chinese consumers with greater recognition of utilitarian attributes of VM had more positive brand attitude. Fourth, there were moderating effects of shopping value in persuasive effectiveness of VM in Chinese consumer group, while there were no significant moderating effects in Korean consumer group. With the cross-cultural interpretation of the fin-dings, strategic implications and suggestions for the global fashion retailing, specifically fashion visual merchandising, are provided.