• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine how congruity between self-image and store image affects a customer's satisfaction with the retailer, loyalty towards that retailer, and patronage behavior toward that retailer in a fashion retailing context. In addition to the direct effects of selfcongruity on consumer responses, the mediating roles of satisfaction and retailer loyalty were also examined. A convenience sample of 137 college students participated in an online survey. Path analysis showed that self-congruity had a direct effect on satisfaction, but not on retailer loyalty and patronage behavior. However, the effect of self-congruity on retailer loyalty and patronage behavior was fully mediated by satisfaction. Satisfaction had a positive effect on both retailer loyalty and patronage behavior. The effect of satisfaction on patronage behavior was partially mediated by retailer loyalty. As supported in the study, self-congruity can induce retailer loyalty. Given that retailers have direct control over developing a certain store image that affects perceptions of self-congruity of their target market, the findings of the study provide useful information for fashion retailers. The findings of the study add to current selfcongruity literature by extending to fashion retailing and also by examining the mediating roles of satisfaction and retailer loyalty on the effects of self-congruity.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.57-63
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• 2009

With an exponential increase in electronic commerce (e-commerce), marketers are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by emphasizing service quality and post interaction service aspects, which leads to customer satisfaction or behavioral consequence. Particularly for apparel, service quality is one of the key determinants in encouraging customer e-loyalty, and hence the success of apparel retailing in the context of electronic commerce. Therefore, this study explores e-service quality (E-SERVQUAL) factors and their unique effects on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping based on Parasuraman et al' s (2005) framework. Specific objectives of this study are to identify underlying dimension of E-SERVQUAL, and analyze a structural model for examining the effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-loyalty for online apparel shopping. For the theoretical framework of service quality in the context of online shopping, literatures on traditional and electronic service quality factors were comparatively reviewed, and two aspects of core and recovery services were identified. This study hypothesized that E-SERVQUAL has an effect on e-loyalty; customer satisfaction has a positive effect on e-service loyalty for apparel online shopping; and customer satisfaction mediates in the effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on literatures. A total of 252 usable questionnaires were obtained from online consumers who had purchase experience with online shopping for apparel products and reside in standard metropolitan areas, in the United States. Factor analysis (e.g., exploratory, confirmatory) was conducted to assess the validity and reliability and the structural equation model including measurement and structural models was estimated via LISREL 8.8 program. Findings showed that the E-SERVQUAL of shopping websites for apparel consisted of five factors: Compensation, Fulfillment, Efficiency, System Availability, and Responsiveness. This supports Parasuraman (2005)'s E-S-QUAL encompassing two aspects of core service (e.g., fulfillment, efficiency, system availability) and recovery related service (e.g., compensation, responsiveness) in the context of apparel shopping online. In the structural equation model, there are five exogenous latent variables for e-SERVQUAL factors; and two endogenous latent variables (e.g., customer satisfaction, e-loyalty). For the measurement model, the factor loadings for each respective construct were statistically significant and were greater than .60 and internal consistency reliabilities ranged from .85 to .88. In the estimated structural model of the e-SERVEQUAL factors, the system availability was found to have direct and positive effect on e-loyalty, whereas efficiency had a negative effect on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. However, fulfillment was not a significant predictor for explaining consequences of E-SERVQUAL for apparel online shopping. This finding implies that perceived service quality of system available was likely to increase customer satisfaction for apparel online shopping. However, it was not supported that e-loyalty was determined by service quality, because service quality has an indirect effect on e-loyalty (i.e., repurchase intention) by mediating effect of value or satisfaction in the context of online shopping for apparel. In addition, both compensation and responsiveness were found to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction, which influenced e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. Thus, there was significant indirect effect of compensation and responsiveness on e-loyalty. This suggests that the recovery-specific service factors play an important role in maximizing customer satisfaction levels and then maintaining customer loyalty to the online shopping site for apparel. The findings have both managerial and research implications. Fashion marketers can establish long-term relationship with their customers based on continuously measuring customer perceptions for recovery-related service quality, such as quick responses to problem and returns, and compensation for customers' problem after their purchases. In order to maintain e-loyalty, recovery services play an important role in the first choice websites for consumers to purchase clothing. Given that online consumers may shop anywhere, a marketing strategy for improving competitive advantages is to provide better service quality, maximize satisfaction, and turn to creating customers' e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. From a researcher's perspective, there are some limitations of this research that should be considered when interpreting its findings. For future research, findings provide a basis for the further study of this important topic along both theoretical and empirical dimensions. Based on the findings, more comprehensive models for predicting E-SERVQUAL's consequences can be developed and tested. For global fashion marketing, this study can expand to a cross-cultural approach into e-service quality for apparel by including multinational samples.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.1-17
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• 2016

Fashion stores have to change to fit such the taste of individual customers taste and try to give unique experiences to the customers. They need to develop a special space that entertains customers, and entices them to visit and revitalize the off-line stores. This paper aims to analyze the experimental factors of stores, and how each of the factors impact customer experience in order to find out its effect on store satisfaction and store loyalty. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0. Results of this study are as follows. First, Visual, Tactile, and Gustatory are the main senses that influence the emotional experience of the customers on a store visit. Second, three factors that influenced customer experience in experimental fashion stores are 'Causing Interest', 'Causing Concern', and 'Causing Relationship.' Third, the 'Causing Interest' factor and the 'Causing Concern' factor showed positive correlation with store satisfaction, while the 'Causing Relationship' factor did not impact store satisfaction, which affected store loyalty. Fourth, each experimental fashion stores can have different effect to consumer satisfaction and loyalty. Also, fashion store brands without an experimental store can cause various effects to consumers when a flagship store with an array of product information is formed. The conclusion drawn from this study will provide a guideline for fashion stores attract faithful customers by improving their store environment.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.449-463
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to analyze the perceptions and entering status of small business online fashion retailers on portal shopping and fashion shopping malls. Case studies were conducted on a total of 10 research samples. The results were as follows: first, regarding the strategic factors of online fashion stores, 'price competitiveness' is important, especially in portal shopping and low-cost brands; 'product assortment' is important but not essential in all platforms; and 'differentiation' is important to continuously secure loyal customers in fashion shopping malls. Customer satisfaction leads to customer loyalty, and customer loyalty affects the sales conversion rate and brand growth of online sales channels. Factors that promoted sales activities in online sales channels were exposure, advertisements, SNS, events, special exhibitions, and events. Hindrance factors were low price competition, overheated competition, and the MD of sales channels. Second, the research samples used multiple online sales channels, including portal shopping malls and fashion shopping malls, in addition to their own malls. The selection factors were platform reputation and commission, branding, and customer inflow through exposure. Portal shopping malls were perceived as providing easy access, advertising/customer communication, exposure/search, price competitiveness, scalability, and intense competition, whereas fashion shopping malls were perceived as providing a brand image and concept, brand promotion, high commissions, difficult entry, and low profits. The factors for success in portal shopping malls were exposure/search, price competitiveness, and brand recognition, whereas the factors for success in fashion shopping malls were differentiation, brand, exposure/advertisement, product assortment, and MD.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1485-1497
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to define the mutual relationship between the explanatory variables of brand loyalty and consumer's fashion luxury brand loyalty, and ultimately to show a path model of fashion luxury brand loyalty. Especially this was focused on the relationship among social risk perception, symbolism involvement, marketer leading information search, and continuing brand loyalty. In the empirical study, a questionnaire was developed through the literature search and a survey was conducted both in on-line and off-line questionnaire simultaneously. Finally 291 data from males and females who had a buying experience of luxury brand goods were analyzed. The result showed the 4 significant paths of fashion luxury brand loyalty existed, such as social risk perception$\rightarrow$symbolism involvement, social risk perception$\rightarrow$marketer leading information search, symbolism involvement$\rightarrow$continuing brand loyalty, marketer leading information search$\rightarrow$continuing brand loyalty. And the explanatory factor which has the strongest influencing power to continuing brand loyalty was symbolism involvement. The powers of social risk perception and marketer leading information search to continuing brand loyalty were weaker than symbolism involvement. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to develop a theory on the consumer's loyalty to fashion luxury goods and marketing strategies for enhancing the brand loyalty.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.58 no.9
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• pp.99-113
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• 2008

This paper provides the foundation to settle the new paradigm in the beauty industry service quality by confirming the beauty industry service quality influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty through the actual verification. The scale of this study for measurement of beauty industry service quality is confirmed through the certification of reliability and feasibility with questionnaire investigation after confirmation of contents and preliminary feasibility. The dimensions and items for measurement of beauty industry service quality are selected with service ability(6), tangible(4), responsiveness(3), reliability(2), conveniency(2). And it is confirmed that the level of service quality is changing unlike a beauty-shop facility or cost recognized traditionally as a key factor to occupy the higher position in competition of beauty-shops. This thesis presents the important point of current issue about kinds of strategy which beauty industry should establish in providing the beauty industry service for occupying higher position in keen competition.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.526-540
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• 2010

Due to fierce competition, many domestic fashion businesses are suffering difficulty in securing and maintaining customers. Accordingly, fashion companies are devoting all their energy to secure customers by using high quality and diverse strategies for distribution and promotion, and to secure loyalty by satisfying customers with the offer of excellent service. Thus, it is very important to provide systematic service recovery strategy available for handling service failure effectively. Therefore, the purpose of this study is comprehensively analyzing influences of expectation dis-confirmation and perceived justice for service recovery upon consumers' satisfaction and loyalty. The findings are as follows. First, as for the service failure that customers experienced, the more consumers who expect it to be recovered led to the higher formation of expectation-compensation dis-confirmation. Second, it was indicated that the higher seriousness in service failure that customers experienced led to the lower satisfaction and loyalty to service recovery. Third, as a result of examining influence of expectation-compensation dis-confirmation for service-failure recovery upon consumer satisfaction and loyalty, the customers who showed more positive dis-confirmation to expectation-compensation were indicated to form the more satisfaction and loyalty. Fourth, as a result of examining the influence of the perceived justice in the process of service-failure recovery upon customer satisfaction, all in 3 dimensions of justice had effect on customer satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.586-597
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to identify the moderating effect of Internet lifestyle among relational benefits effect, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty on the Internet shopping mall. For the study, utilizing the convenient sampling method, the sample of study was composed of female and male adults aged between 20 and 30 living in Seoul metropolitan area who had experienced purchase of fashion products on the web. Of 350 distributed, 311 useful questionnaires were returned. The survey research design was employed with structured questionnaire. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, cluster analysis and multiple-regression analysis were used. The results of this study are as follows: The results of Internet lifestyle were regarding 4 cluster of Internet lifestyle. 1) information seeking type, 2) shopping maniac type, 3) social gathering type and 4) passive follower type were obtained. The interaction of psychological benefits and the type of Internet lifestyle affected customer satisfaction positively. The interaction of customer satisfaction and Internet lifestyle reinforced customer loyalty. Especially interaction of shopping maniac type among Internet lifestyle types and customer satisfaction affected customer loyalty strongly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.394-407
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• 2015

Prior research highlighted personalized services as a crucial antecedent to website loyalty, yet little has been discussed on the underlying mechanism. The current study explores the intervening effects of the three psychological constructs in the personalization-loyalty relationship: cognitive efficiency, perceived enjoyment, and socialness. An experiment was conducted with a total of 414 U.S. shoppers on a fictitious e-tail site for jeans that employed different levels of personalized content. The results found that the participants exposed to the high-level personalization condition reported a higher cognitive efficiency and higher socialness perception regarding the fashion e-tail site; however, no direct effect of intensity of e-personalization was found on perceived enjoyment. Cognitive efficiency and enjoyment perceptions on the site significantly increased customers' loyalty intentions regarding the site, while website socialness perception had no direct effect on loyalty intentions. Website socialness showed indirect effects on website loyalty intentions only through cognitive efficiency and perceived enjoyment; however, no direct effect from website socialness was found. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.366-378
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to understand fashion product consumers' relationship dissolution by considering the characteristics of customer behavior and examining the connection between the main variables. The survey was conducted on 623 women over 20 years old who had experienced relationship dissolution or problems with regular fashion stores in the areas of Seoul and Kyungki in September 2005. The SPSS 12.0 package and Amos program were used to analyze the data. The results of this study were as follows: First, service recovery justice of a fashion store, interactional justice, distributive justice, and procedural justice had effects on encounter satisfaction. Furthermore, encounter satisfaction influenced relationship dissolution behavior, voice, exit, loyalty, neglect via overall satisfaction. Second, there were differences in relationship dissolution behavior according to consumer loyalty and switching costs.