• Title/Summary/Keyword: Brand Trust

Search Result 344, Processing Time 0.028 seconds

A Study on the Market Structure Analysis for Durable Goods Using Consideration Set:An Exploratory Approach for Automotive Market (고려상표군을 이용한 내구재 시장구조 분석에 관한 연구: 자동차 시장에 대한 탐색적 분석방법)

  • Lee, Seokoo
    • Asia Marketing Journal
    • /
    • v.14 no.2
    • /
    • pp.157-176
    • /
    • 2012
  • Brand switching data frequently used in market structure analysis is adequate to analyze non- durable goods, because it can capture competition between specific two brands. But brand switching data sometimes can not be used to analyze goods like automobiles having long term duration because one of main assumptions that consumer preference toward brand attributes is not changed against time can be violated. Therefore a new type of data which can precisely capture competition among durable goods is needed. Another problem of using brand switching data collected from actual purchase behavior is short of explanation why consumers consider different set of brands. Considering above problems, main purpose of this study is to analyze market structure for durable goods with consideration set. The author uses exploratory approach and latent class clustering to identify market structure based on heterogeneous consideration set among consumers. Then the relationship between some factors and consideration set formation is analyzed. Some benefits and two demographic variables - age and income - are selected as factors based on consumer behavior theory. The author analyzed USA automotive market with top 11 brands using exploratory approach and latent class clustering. 2,500 respondents are randomly selected from the total sample and used for analysis. Six models concerning market structure are established to test. Model 1 means non-structured market and model 6 means market structure composed of six sub-markets. It is exploratory approach because any hypothetical market structure is not defined. The result showed that model 1 is insufficient to fit data. It implies that USA automotive market is a structured market. Model 3 with three market structures is significant and identified as the optimal market structure in USA automotive market. Three sub markets are named as USA brands, Asian Brands, and European Brands. And it implies that country of origin effect may exist in USA automotive market. Comparison between modal classification by derived market structures and probabilistic classification by research model was conducted to test how model 3 can correctly classify respondents. The model classify 97% of respondents exactly. The result of this study is different from those of previous research. Previous research used confirmatory approach. Car type and price were chosen as criteria for market structuring and car type-price structure was revealed as the optimal structure for USA automotive market. But this research used exploratory approach without hypothetical market structures. It is not concluded yet which approach is superior. For confirmatory approach, hypothetical market structures should be established exhaustively, because the optimal market structure is selected among hypothetical structures. On the other hand, exploratory approach has a potential problem that validity for derived optimal market structure is somewhat difficult to verify. There also exist market boundary difference between this research and previous research. While previous research analyzed seven car brands, this research analyzed eleven car brands. Both researches seemed to represent entire car market, because cumulative market shares for analyzed brands exceeds 50%. But market boundary difference might affect the different results. Though both researches showed different results, it is obvious that country of origin effect among brands should be considered as important criteria to analyze USA automotive market structure. This research tried to explain heterogeneity of consideration sets among consumers using benefits and two demographic factors, sex and income. Benefit works as a key variable for consumer decision process, and also works as an important criterion in market segmentation. Three factors - trust/safety, image/fun to drive, and economy - are identified among nine benefit related measure. Then the relationship between market structures and independent variables is analyzed using multinomial regression. Independent variables are three benefit factors and two demographic factors. The result showed that all independent variables can be used to explain why there exist different market structures in USA automotive market. For example, a male consumer who perceives all benefits important and has lower income tends to consider domestic brands more than European brands. And the result also showed benefits, sex, and income have an effect to consideration set formation. Though it is generally perceived that a consumer who has higher income is likely to purchase a high priced car, it is notable that American consumers perceived benefits of domestic brands much positive regardless of income. Male consumers especially showed higher loyalty for domestic brands. Managerial implications of this research are as follow. Though implication may be confined to the USA automotive market, the effect of sex on automotive buying behavior should be analyzed. The automotive market is traditionally conceived as male consumers oriented market. But the proportion of female consumers has grown over the years in the automotive market. It is natural outcome that Volvo and Hyundai motors recently developed new cars which are targeted for women market. Secondly, the model used in this research can be applied easier than that of previous researches. Exploratory approach has many advantages except difficulty to apply for practice, because it tends to accompany with complicated model and to require various types of data. The data needed for the model in this research are a few items such as purchased brands, consideration set, some benefits, and some demographic factors and easy to collect from consumers.

  • PDF

The Effects of Mongolian Consumer's Lifestyle and Advertisement Properties on Advertisement Behavior of Korean Cosmetics (몽골 소비자 라이프스타일과 광고모델 속성이 한국 화장품 광고태도에 미치는 영향)

  • Batshugar, Uuriintuya;Kim, Kyung-Tae
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.14 no.8
    • /
    • pp.123-128
    • /
    • 2016
  • Purpose - Korean Wave that overspreads around Asia and America, especially the Korean beauty wave, has reached Mongolia and Mongolian consumers. Mongolia consumers usually prefer foreign cosmetic brands to local brands, because the local brands cannot satisfy fast changing needs and wants of local consumers. Research design, data, and methodology - Based on previous studies about life style of Mongolian consumers, advertisement properties and consumer behaviors, we propose a research model and related hypothesis. In order to test hypotheses, we analyzed 366 survey data out of 376 by eliminating improper 10 responses. Factor analysis and reliability analysis was conducted by SPSS 22.0. We used multiple regression analysis and parameter analysis to test the relation between variables. Results - As exploring the Mongolian consumers' current usage of cosmetic products, we found that the customers' focus is how the products fit with their skin. Mongolian consumers often get the information about cosmetic products through TV and internet. Mongolian consumers show positive attitudes on the appearance of Korean celebrities in responsibility, while there is no significant effect on attractiveness. Mongolian consumer's behaviors toward brand have positive effect on both responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities. Responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities have positive effect on the behaviors toward advertisements of cosmetic products. Conclusions - Behaviors toward advertisements of cosmetic products have positive effect on both purchase intention and loyalty of customer. Responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities have positive effect on mediating variable of behavior toward advertisement and independent variable of purchase intention. Responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities have positive effect on mediating variable of behavior toward advertisement and independent variable of loyalty of customer. In order to improve the effect of advertisements, firms need to consider not only the technique of the model but also the image of model in regard to trust and professionalism appealing to consumers. In addition, firms need to choose the model who fits in with the image of the firms and the products and service of the firms. Finally, Mongolian consumers tend to acquire the shopping information through TV advertisements, especially featuring Korean popular stars, thus, TV advertisements can be a wise option in Mongolian cosmetic market.

Exploratory Study on Buyer-Supplier Relationship in Dongdaemun Market: From Buyer Perspectives of Fashion Stores (동대문시장의 구매자-공급자 관계에 관한 탐색적 연구: 동대문 패션 점포의 구매자적 시각을 중심으로)

  • Jung, Ji-Wook;Choo, Ho-Jung;Chung, Ihn-Hee
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.17 no.1
    • /
    • pp.51-75
    • /
    • 2007
  • Dongdaemun fashion market has been successfully positioned as a main hub for non-brand fashion product distribution in Korea. One of important competitive advantages of Dongdaemun market often quoted by retail researchers is an efficiently managed network system among supply chain members. This study aimed to examine the importance of buyer-supplier relationship elements and supplier properties from buyers' perspectives (small & very small-sized fashion stores in Dongdaemun market), and to identify the determinants of the relationship length between suppliers and buyers. Survey responses of 233 stores were analyzed using EQS 6.1 for Window and SPSSWIN 10.0. The findings could be summarized as follows: First, fashion stores perceived that right delivery as the most important factor, and geographically closeness, design capability, quality, and lower price followed in order. Second, the characteristics of stores such as location, wholesaling versus retailing focusing, monthly sales, and total business length all affected the perceived importance of buyer-supplier relationship. Third, design capacity, communication, power was identified as determinants of actual relationship length with a supplier, while communication and trust were found to be determinants of future expected relationship length.

  • PDF

The Effect of Augmented Reality Traits on Presence, Flow, and Relational Continuance Behavior with Smart-Phones (스마트폰 기반 증강현실 특성이 프레즌스, 플로우 및 관계지속행동에 미치는 영향)

  • Chun, Tae-Yoo;Park, No-Hyun
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.13 no.5
    • /
    • pp.45-52
    • /
    • 2015
  • Purpose - Augmented reality (AR) content used in mobile media today can accommodate a wide variety of contextual information. This indicates that making people experience a sense of presence and flow is a very significant factor in augmented reality content. Flow represents a rich immersion potential as representing the progress of emotion and the means to facilitate the operation of the smart phone. Therefore, users will have friendly relational continuance behavior with products and brands that supply this experience. Based on that, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among smart phone AR application traits, presence, flow experience, and relational continuance behavior. First, AR application traits are defined as three categories sensory immersion, navigation, and manipulation, based on preceding studies. This study then examines the influence of AR application traits on the presence and flow experience and looks into the relation among presence, flow experience, and relational continuance behavior. This analysis suggests more detailed and concentrated strategic implications. Research design, data, and methodology - A research model is designed to examine the relation among AR application traits, presence, flow experience, and relational continued behavior. For data collection, questionnaire surveys were composed of multi-items for each component and the direct interview method was used for the interviews. To collect the data, after running the smart phone AR applications, the consumer behaviors of the respondents were generally determined. The questionnaire surveys were conducted for one month, October 2014. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed with 278 questionnaires used for analysis, excluding the unanswered and insincere questionnaires. The data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 20.0 and LISREL ver. 8.51. Results - The following results are found: First, AR application traits have a significantly positive effect on presence with sensory immersion, navigation, and manipulation all having a significantly positive effect. Second, sensory immersion and manipulation among the AR application traits have a significantly positive effect on flow. However, navigation did not have a significantly positive effect on flow. Third, presence has a significantly positive effect on flow and has a significantly positive effect on relational continuance behavior. Moreover, flow also has a significantly positive effect on relational continuance behavior. This behavior tends to be formed since brands want to encourage relational continuance behavior and positive emotions with the brands being used. Relational continuance behavior accompanies repeat purchasing, positive word-of-mouth and recommendation activities, and forms of trust with the brand. Conclusions - The research results showed that smart phone AR traits had significantly positive effect on presence, flow, and relational continuance behavior. Based on this, smart phone AR application providers should establish an aggressive marketing strategy to accommodate more realistic problems in order to positively influence user behavior. Additionally, the marketers should make efforts to provide fun or convenience in the AR application operation process of the user.

Study on Relationship Between Consumption Values of Masstige and Consumer Happiness (매스티지 브랜드의 소비가치와 소비자 행복과의 관계에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Yu-Kyung
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.13 no.1
    • /
    • pp.105-118
    • /
    • 2015
  • Purpose - The objective of this study is to verify whether there are differences between Korean and Chinese consumers in the importance of the attributes such as shopping value and loyalty in social commerce. With the purpose of finding out these differences, the following questions are set up as research questions. First, will there be a difference between Korea and China in the importance of attributes of social commerce? Second, will there be a difference between Korean and Chinese consumers in shopping value? Third, will there be a difference between Korean and Chinese consumers in their loyalty? Research design, data, and methodology - The researchers collected data through self-administered questionnaires from Korean and Chinese consumers who had used social commerce within the past six months before answering the questionnaire. First, for social commerce users in Korea, comprising male and female university students in Chungcheong, a questionnaire was circulated. For social commerce users in China, university students within Beijing were surveyed. Responses to 336 questionnaires were used, excluding those with no answers or unreliable answers. Data coding and data cleaning were used. SPSS 18.0 was used. First, exploratory factor analysis is done to verify the validity of testing tools, and Cronbach's α coefficient is used to verify credibility. For factor analysis, the Varimax method is used. To verify the internal consistency reliability of each factor, the Cronbach's α coefficient is used to verify the credibility. Second, a T-test is done to verify differences between Korean and Chinese consumers for the importance of attributes. Third, ANOVA (Analysis of variance) is done to verify differences between Korean and Chinese consumers in shopping value and loyalty. Results - When Korean and Chinese consumers use social commerce, first, the importance of the attributes of social commerce is affected by four factors; playfulness and economic factors are more important to Korean consumers than Chinese consumers. As for informativeness factors, including product information and quality, and buyer comments, there was no confirmed difference between Korean and Chinese consumers. The convenience factor is more important to Chinese consumers than Korean consumers. Second, the factors affecting shopping value for Korean and Chinese consumers were hedonic shopping value and rational shopping value. To see the difference between Korean and Chinese consumers in shopping value factors, a t-test is conducted. As a result, in the rational shopping value factors of social commerce, Korean consumers scored higher than did Chinese consumers. These results were verified to be meaningful through statistics. In the hedonic shopping value factor of social commerce, Korean consumers scored higher than Chinese consumers. These results showed a significant difference. Third, loyalty in social commerce is higher for Chinese consumers than for Korean consumers. However, there is no difference in loyalty depending on sex. Conclusions - These results will hopefully be valuable and used in the future by Korean companies that wish to enter the Chinese social commerce market.

Effects of Supplier's Competence on Customer-Supplier Long-term Relationships : with emphasis on the cosmetics industry (공급업자 역량이 공급업자와 구매업자의 장기지향적 거래관계에 미치는 영향: K화장품 기업을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Yong-Hak;Han, Sang-Lin;Na, June-Hee;Yoon, Dong-Han
    • Journal of Distribution Research
    • /
    • v.13 no.4
    • /
    • pp.71-95
    • /
    • 2008
  • Transaction between industrial suppliers and their buyers in business markets increasingly take place in the form of long-tenn business relationships. These relationships are governed through formal or informal agreements. Dynamic business markets are also forcing B2B marketers to create flexibility in their firms. However, buyers are bound in their rationality and find it impossible to contemplate all possible future contingencies. The more formal and detailed the contracts they conclude, the likelier it becomes that at least one buyer is going to perceive a need to adjust the initial agreement as environmental events unfold. In this case, the actor relies upon industrial supplier's competence. Our study purpose is to examine the consequences of supplier's competence on the industrial customer-supplier long-tenn relationship. Antecedent variables of supplier competence include R&D, flexibility, brand asset, market sensing, and customer support service. We presented a comprehensive constructive model consisting of components of supplier's competence and the antecedent factors. Research hypotheses were developed and data were gathered from respondents who work in the cosmetics industry. The results discussed here represent a first step towards a better understanding of the role of supplier competence in the B-to-B cosmetics industry. Managerial implications and the limitations of this research were also discussed.

  • PDF

A Study on the Promotion of Specialty Store of Fresh Foods - Focused on Chonggak' House Vegetables Store - (생식품 전문점 판매 서비스 활성화에 관한 연구 - 총각네 야채가게를 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Young-Suk;Yoon, Nam Soo
    • The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
    • /
    • v.2 no.1
    • /
    • pp.100-118
    • /
    • 2011
  • Since 1990, income has been grown rapidly in Korea. Thus, concerns of environmental pollution and health have been increased among Korea's consumers. As a result of this concern, demand for safe food and agricultural products has been growing in Korea. Recently, purchasing patterns of Korea's consumers have been changed as Korea's society has changed to an aging society, growth of unmarried person, and low birthrate. Korea's consumers prefer to buy only volume that they need. Thus, the volume of agricultural products that they purchase became small. Therefore, retailers should reflect such needs of consumers to their business. The purpose of this study is to build up new strategies in order to make a high profit through customer's satisfaction when selling agricultural products. Using literature review, this study has drawn results. The results of this study is that retailers should lay products with brand in their store and establish trust with customers in oder to make loyal customers. In addition, retailers should prepare individual package of agricultural products for sales of a small volume to keep pace with social changes.

An Exploratory Study on the Components of Visual Merchandising of Internet Shopping Mall (인터넷쇼핑몰의 VMD 구성요인에 대한 탐색적 연구)

  • Kim, Kwang-Seok;Shin, Jong-Kuk;Koo, Dong-Mo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.18 no.2
    • /
    • pp.19-45
    • /
    • 2008
  • This study is to empirically examine the primary dimensions of visual merchandising (VMD) of internet shopping mall, namely store design, merchandise, and merchandising cues, to be a attractive virtual store to the shoppers. The authors reviewed the literature related to the major components of VMD from the perspective of the AIDA model, which has been mainly applied to the offline store settings. The major purposes of the study are as follows; first, tries to derive the variables related with the components of visual merchandising through reviewing the existing literatures, establish the hypotheses, and test it empirically. Second, examines the relationships between the components of VMD and the attitude toward the VMD, however, putting more emphasis on finding out the component structure of the VMD. VMD needs to be examined with the perspective that an online shopping mall is a virtual self-service or clerkless store, which could reduce the number of employees, help the shoppers search, evaluate and purchase for themselves, and to be explored in terms of the in-store persuasion processes of customers. This study reviewed the literatures related to store design, merchandise, and merchandising cues which might be relevant to the store, product, and promotion respectively. VMD is a total communication tool, and AIDA model could explain the in-store consumer behavior of online shopping. Store design has to do with triggering a consumer attention to the online mall, merchandise with a product related interest, and merchandising cues with promotions such as recommendation and links that induce the desire to pruchase. These three steps might be seen as the processes for purchase actions. The theoretical rationale for the relationship between VMD and AIDA could be found in Tyagi(2005) that the three steps of consumer-oriented merchandising are a store, a product assortment, and placement, in Omar(1999) that three types of interior display are a architectural design display, commodity display, and point-of-sales(POS) display, and in Davies and Ward(2005) that the retail store interior image is related to an atmosphere, merchandise, and in-store promotion. Lee et al(2000) suggested as the web merchandising components a merchandising cues, a shopping metaphor which is an assistant tool for search, a store design, a layout(web design), and a product assortment. The store design which includes differentiation, simplicity and navigation is supposed to be related to the attention to the virtual store. Second, the merchandise dimensions comprising product assortments, visual information and product reputation have to do with the interest in the product offerings. Finally, the merchandising cues that refer to merchandiser(MD)'s recommendation of products and providing the hyperlinks to relevant goods for the shopper is concerned with attempt to induce the desire to purchase. The questionnaire survey was carried out to collect the data about the consumers who would shop at internet shopping malls frequently. To select the subject malls, the mall ranking data announced by a mall rating agency was used to differentiate the most popular and least popular five mall each. The subjects was instructed to answer the questions after navigating the designated mall for five minutes. The 300 questionnaire was distributed to the consumers, 166 samples were used in the final analysis. The empirical testing focused on identifying and confirming the dimensionality of VMD and its subdimensions using a structural equation modeling method. The confirmatory factor analysis for the endogeneous and exogeneous variables was carried out in four parts. The second-order factor analysis was done for a store design, a merchandise, and a merchandising cues, and first-order confirmatory factor analysis for the attitude toward the VMD. The model test results shows that the chi-square value of structural equation is 144.39(d.f 49), significant at 0.01 level which means the proposed model was rejected. But, judging from the ratio of chi-square value vs. degree of freedom, the ratio was 2.94 which smaller than an acceptable level of 3.0, RMR is 0.087 which is higher than a generally acceptable level of 0.08. GFI and AGFI is turned out to be 0.90 and 0.84 respectively. Both NFI and NNFI is 0.94, and CFI 0.95. The major test results are as follows; first, the second-order factor analysis and structural equational modeling reveals that the differentiation, simplicity and ease of identifying current status of the transaction are confirmed to be subdimensions of store design and to be a significant predictors of the dependent variable. This result implies that when designing an online shopping mall, it is necessary to differentiate visually from other malls to improve the effectiveness of the communications of store design. That is, the differentiated store design raise the contrast stimulus to sensory organs to promote the memory of the store and to have a favorable attitude toward the VMD of a store. The results that navigation which means the easiness of identifying current status of shopping affects the attitude to VMD could be interpreted that the navigating processes via the hyperlinks which is characteristics of an internet shopping is a complex and cognitive process and shoppers are likely to lack the sense of overall structure of the store. Consequently, shoppers are likely to be alost amid shopping not knowing where to go. The orientation tool enhance the accessibility of information to raise the perceptive power about the store environment.(Titus & Everett 1995) Second, the primary dimension of merchandise and its subdimensions was confirmed to be unidimensional respectively, have a construct validity, and nomological validity which the VMD dimensions supposed to have a positive correlation with the dependent variable. The subdimensions of product assortment, brand fame and information provision proved to have a positive effect on the attitude toward the VMD. It could be interpreted that the more plentiful the product and brand assortment of the mall is, the more likely the shoppers to favor it. Brand fame and information provision as well affect the VMD attitude, which means that the more famous the brand, the more likely the shoppers would trust and feel familiar with the mall, and the plentifully and visually presented information could have the shopper have a favorable attitude toward the store VMD. Third, it turned out to be that merchandising cue of product recommendation and hyperlinks affect the VMD attitude. This could be interpreted that recommended products could reduce the uncertainty related with the purchase decision, and the hyperlinks to relevant products would help the shopper save the cognitive effort exerted into the information search and gathering, which could lead to a favorable attitude to the VMD. This study tried to sheds some new light on the VMD of online store by reviewing the variables mentioned to be relevant with offline VMD in the existing literatures, and tried to link the VMD components from the perspective of AIDA model. The effect size of the VMD dimensions on the attitude was in the order of the merchandise, the store design and the merchandising cues.It is said that an internet has an unlimited place for display, however, the virtual store is not unlimited since the consumer has a limited amount of cognitive ability to process the external information and internal memory. Particularly, the shoppers are likely to face some difficulties in decision making on account of too many alternative and information overloads. Therefore, the internet shopping mall manager should take into consideration the cost of information search on the part of the consumer, to establish the optimal product placements and search routes. An efficient store composition would be possible by reducing the psychological burdens and cognitive efforts exerted to information search and alternatives evaluation. The store image is in most part determined by the product category and its brand it deals in. The results of this study support this proposition that the merchandise is most important to the VMD attitude than other components, the manager is required to take a strategic approach to VMD. The internet users are getting more accustomed and more knowledgeable about the internet media and more likely to accept the internet as a shopping channel as the period of time during which they use the internet to shop become longer. The web merchandiser should be aware that the product introduction using a moving pictures and a bulletin board become more important in order to present the interactive product information visually and communicate with customers more actively, therefore leading to making the quantity and quality of product information more rich.

  • PDF

An Exploratory Study on Marketing of Financial Services Companies in Korea (한국 금융회사 마케팅 현황에 대한 탐색 연구)

  • Chun, Sung Yong
    • Asia Marketing Journal
    • /
    • v.12 no.2
    • /
    • pp.111-133
    • /
    • 2010
  • Marketing financial services used to be easier. Today, the competition in financial services is fierce. Not only has the competition become more intense, financial services have also changed structurally. In an environment with various customer needs and severe competitions, the marketing in financial services industry is getting more difficult and more important than before. However, there are still not enough studies on financial services marketing in Korea whereas lots of research papers have been published frequently in some international journals. The purpose of this paper is (1)to review the literature on financial services marketing, (2)to investigate current marketing activities based on in-depth interview with financial marketing managers in Korea, and (3)to suggest some implications for future research on the financial services marketing. Financial products are not consumer products. In fact, they are not products at all in the way product marketing is usually described. Nor are they altogether like services. The financial industry operates in a unique way, and its marketing tasks are correspondingly complex. However, the literature review shows that there has been a lack of basic studies which dealt with inherent characteristics of financial services marketing compared to the research on marketing in other industries. Many studies in domestic marketing journals have so far focused only on the general customer behaviors and the special issues in some financial industries. However, for more effective financial services marketing, we have to answer following questions. Is there any difference between financial service marketing and consumer packaged goods marketing? What are the differences between the financial services marketing and other services marketing such as education and health services? Are there different ways of marketing among banks, securities firms, insurance firms, and credit card companies? In other words, we need more detailed research as well as basic studies about the financial services marketing. For example, we need concrete definitions of financial services marketing, bank marketing, securities firm marketing, and etc. It is also required to compare the characteristics of each marketing within the financial services industry. The products sold in each market have different characteristics such as duration and degree of risk-taking. It means that there are sub-categories in financial services marketing. We have to consider them in the future research on the financial services marketing. It is also necessary to study customer decision making process in the financial markets. There have been little research on how customers search and process information, compare alternatives, make final decision, and repeat their choices. Because financial services have some unique characteristics, we need different understandings in the customer behaviors compared to the behaviors in other service markets. And also considering the rapid growth in financial markets and upcoming severe competition between domestic and global financial companies, it is time to start more systematic and detailed research on financial services marketing in Korea. In the second part of this paper, I analyzed the results of in-depth interview with 20 marketing managers of financial services companies in Korea. As a result, I found that the role of marketing departments in Korean financial companies are mainly focused on the short-term activities such as sales support, promotion, and CRM data analysis although the size and history of marketing departments to some extent show a sign of maturity. Most companies established official marketing departments before 2001. Average number of employees in a marketing department is about 58. However, marketing managers in eight companies(40% of the sample) still think that the purpose of marketing is only to support and manage general sales activities. It shows that some companies have sales-oriented concept rather than marketing-oriented concept. I also found three key words which marketing managers think importantly in financial services markets. They are (1)Trust in customer relationship, (2)Brand differentiation, and (3)Rapid response to customer needs. 50% of the sample support that "Trust" is the most important key word in the financial services marketing. It is interesting that 80% of banks and securities companies think that "Trust" is the most important thing, whereas managers in credit card companies consider "Rapid response to customer needs" as the most important key word in their market. In addition, there are different problems recognition of marketing managers depending on the types of financial industries they belong to. For example, in the case of banks and insurance companies, marketing managers consider "a lack of communication with other departments" as the most serious problem. On the other hand, in the case of securities firms, "a lack of utilization of customer data" is the most serious problem. These results imply that there are different important factors for the customer satisfaction depending on the types of financial industries, and managers have to consider them when marketing financial products in more effective ways. For example, It will be necessary for marketing managers to study different important factors which affect customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, degree of risk-taking, and possibility of cross-selling according to the types of financial industries. I also suggested six hypothetical propositions for the future research.

  • PDF

A study on the impact of online contents characteristics on customer loyalty - Mediated effect of flow perspective - (고객충성도에 영향을 미치는 온라인 콘텐츠 특성에 관한연구 -몰입(Flow)의 매개효과를 중심으로 -)

  • Shin, Young-Chul;Jeong, Seung-Ryul
    • Journal of Internet Computing and Services
    • /
    • v.14 no.5
    • /
    • pp.101-117
    • /
    • 2013
  • As the number of online game user has been rapidly increased thanks to the recent vitalization of online contents market, not only new business opportunity but also the opportunity to create high profits have been provided as well. However, the increase of the number of online game user and the rapid expansion of the market evoke a cutthroat completion among online game service providers, and also high barriers to entry to online game market have been erected. Thus, what kinds of efforts need for the business success and sales increase in online game market? In lots of researches regarding online contents business, the deepening of loyalty was considered as a critical factor for the business success. According to the study on user's behavior in online environment, users would experience the Flow while using online service, and then, if they were in state of the Flow, they would use the service constantly. High customer loyalty to online game means high will to use the online game too. The purpose of this research was i) to examine what factors enable users to be naturally immersed in online game while playing it, ii) to examine what properties of online game can make game more interesting and exciting, iii) to verify that such factors are critical in deepening customer loyalty, and iv) to suggest some essential factors to be fun and exciting games, on where the focus should be put, and the directionality for the development for sales expansion of online game developer or online game service provider. The research results are as below: First, the involvement and the perceived quality which were characteristics of brand appeared to be factors most affecting Flow. This shows that once game user get interested in online game that user has played frequently, even though new games are released, user will continuously flow the game not moving to new games, and also shows that users not only get more interested but also put more trust in games in the site to where users are frequently going than games in other sites, and consequently user can increasingly flow the game. Second, the compensation and graphics which are the characteristics of contents appeared to be factors affecting Flow. Proper compensation which is given to game users triggers fun and interests in game and makes them flow more and more. And graphics make users to feel game space as if real space and let them flow in game with more reality. Third, challenges, support, and the stability which are technical characteristics appeared to be factors affecting Flow. Challenges enable users to not only experience new virtual world but also solve various difficulties and obstacles. Once users feel fun and interests through this challenge, they can naturally flow games. In addition, the stability of network provides reliability in security and hacking. By doing so, it can induce users to flow more and more. Lastly, when aforementioned characteristics including contents characteristics, technical characteristics, and brand characteristics are organically combined each other, game users feel fun and total minutes are naturally increased, so that game users experience Flow, and consequently the customer loyalty will be deepened as well.