• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.559-573
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• 2008

Internet apparel businesses are required to provide various kinds of consumer information which includes both product information and customer service information. "New Age Elderly" who become an aged man in 21th century are familiar with internet and other high technological tools from their life time experience with technological development and ready to enjoy the convenience the technology offers. As a preliminary step to develop internet consumer information model for elderly consumers, this study examines the US and Korea apparel e-tailing sites targeting elderly consumers. Ten Korean sites and nine US sites were selected and compared for their provision of consumer information in terms of contents, ease to access, and the completeness of the information. Results of data analysis indicate that elderly market in Korea is not yet clearly defined compared to the US. In Korea, elderly consumer market is considered as a part of middle-aged market, and there was no unique target marketing efforts observed. Korean sites are better than the US's sites in terms of shopping information, while the US sites offer detailed information about the company, and customer service information. In both countries, fashion related information is lacking and failing to satisfy fashion conscious elderly consumers. Managerial implications were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.997-1007
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• 2010

This study examines the role of consumer perception of social presence in e-tailing websites. The study proposes that the perception of social presence influences the variables that are important for e-tailers to build a relationship with consumers, which are the attitudes of consumers toward an e-tailer and patronage intentions toward the e-tailer. This study hypothesizes that the attitudes of consumers are influenced by individual perceptions of social presence that guide their patronage intentions. Consumer trust and their affective states are hypothesized to serve as mediators in the relationship between consumer perception of social presence and the attitudes toward an e-tailer. Sixty-one female students were used to test the proposed model. The findings from regression and mediation analyses supported all hypotheses, suggesting that the perception of social presence plays a significant role in consumer shopping habits for apparel: consumer perception of social presence influences consumer trust and affective states that modify attitudes toward an e-tailer and consumer patronage intentions. The theoretical and managerial implications for apparel e-tailers are discussed.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.272-285
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• 2012

The purpose of the study is to examine the role of consumer perceptions of websites' entertainment and informativeness in developing their attitudes (attitude toward the retailer and attitude confidence toward the product) in the context of apparel e-tailing. A structural equation model was developed for an empirical test based on the literature on uses-and-gratifications and attitude confidence. A sample of 119 consumers who live in the United States participated in the online survey. The results generally supported the proposed model. Specifically, the analyses revealed that consumers' purchase intention toward the displayed product is positively influenced by their attitudes toward the retailer and by their confidence in their attitudes toward the product. Interestingly, only one of the two cognitive antecedents, perceived entertainment, has a positive impact on consumers' attitude toward the retailer. Perceived informativeness, however, had a positive impact on attitude confidence. These findings suggest that consumers who have high perception of an e-tail website's entertainment are more likely to exhibit favorable attitudes toward the e-tailer, while consumers who have high perception of an e-tail website's informativeness are more likely to hold strong confidence in their attitudes toward the product displayed on the website. Both consumer attitudes toward the e-tailer and their attitude confidence lead to their purchase intentions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.916-928
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• 2009

The objective of this study is to investigate the differences in online visual merchandising practices of online apparel retailers between Korea and China. The 40 websites based on the sales were selected with 5 retail stores per website. Totally, 200 online retail stores were analyzed by content analysis and chi-square test. As a result, 8 online visual merchandising factors were extracted: convenience, product presence, product information, service, interest, participation, aesthetics, and fitness. There were significant differences in all 8 factors of online visual merchandising practices of apparel retail stores between Korea and China. The contribution of this study is to supply for understanding of what are the online visual merchandising composition items and factors and how they were used differently between Korea and China in a real situation of online visual merchandising.