• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1915-1926
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• 2008

Although we know that images of a country or an industry are influential factors in product evaluation, there has been little discussion about the channels through which consumers form a country or an industry image. Guided by the assumption that the image of the Korean fashion industry conveyed through U.S. media will likely affect the evaluation of Korean fashion products, we decided to examine articles published between January 1998 and June 2008 in Woman's Wear Daily(WWD), a prestigious U.S. daily trade newspaper covering all aspects of the national and international fashion business. By using the "Korean", we found 329 relevant articles. Through content analysis, we identified the aspects of the Korean fashion industry that have been considered salient to U.S. fashion media professionals. We set up categories based on the contents of the articles that discussed segments of the supply chain of the fashion industry. We found more comments on the Korean fashion industry as fiber and fabrics supplier or apparel manufacturer than in any other categories, which reflects that South Korea has been traditionally one of the most attractive sourcing countries for the U.S. fashion business. We identified significantly less coverage on the designing, branding, marketing, and retailing aspects of the Korean fashion industry. Due to economic boom in Korea, the country's fashion industry is recognized as having a highly fashion-conscious market that can afford the world's premium brands. However, the industry is viewed as being rather vulnerable to changes in the macro economic environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.116-127
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• 2000

This study investigated the effects of sales supervisors on salespeople's goal orientations and sales performance in fashion retail setting. Specifically, it examined: 1) the differences in salespeople's goal orientations by salespeople characteristics; 2) the effects of supervisor's behavioral orientations on goal orientations of salespeople; and 3) the effects of salespeople's goal orientations on performance. A total of 343 questionnaires collected from salespeople in various apparel and accessory selling departments at four department stores in Korean were analyzed. Variables included supervisor's behavioral orientations(end-results, activity and capability), salespeople's goal orientations(learning and performance), sales performance and salespeople characteristics. MANOVA revealed that three was no difference in goal orientations by salespeople characteristics except by selling department. Multiple regression analysis revealed that supervisor's end-result orientation affected salespeople's learning orientation and performance orientation while activity and capability orientations did not. The study suggests that for long-term performance supervisors and retail organizations need to develop various supervisory behaviors, stimulate learning demands of salespeople, and provide training programs to achieve the learning goal.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.81-101
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• 2021

Traditional department stores have been struggling to attract customers for several years. Many retail stores have closed in recent years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The reinvention of in-store shopping value and experience is imperative to attract customers and reinvigorate retail business. The purpose of this study was to discover which in-store components can improve customer experiences and loyalty while also identifying dissatisfaction issues in consumer experiences in department stores. The data was collected from two consumer groups-luxury department store (Selfridges) customers and mid-market department store (Debenhams) customers-to identify the types of value and experiences they seek most often. The findings showed that to enhance their store patronage, Debenhams should reposition their brand image in a way that allows customers to connect with their self-image and lifestyle by improving efficiency and convenience and prioritizing the utilitarian and social value types. By contrast, Selfridges should enhancetheir store atmosphere, visual merchandising and sensory experiences by maximizing slow retailing experiences and emphasizing the aspirational self-concept image for symbolic and hedonic value. This research uncovered the existence of numerous overlappingvalue dimensions, each of which contributed to the enhancement of the others. Several young customers expressed their support for ecologically responsible, cost-effective second-hand luxury products. Instead of focusing merely on conventional value dimensions, department retailers should determine how environmental and ethical objectives can be fulfilled. This study explained how department stores can craft their in-store environments to appeal to their customers' preferred value types to ensure success in a competitive market.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.45-58
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• 2018

As information and communication technologies (ICTs) become more advanced, consumers are able to experience retailing activities such as searching for products and services in online retail shops and for Internet-exclusive branded contents. Specifically, fashion retailers are facing the need to develop more novel experiential design than one another to maximize customers' experience in Internet websites and secure sustainable competency. Confirming methods of organic integration of experiential and visual features of both online and mobile channels is an important aspect of the study of extended consumers' interfaces of retail channels. Mehrabian and Russell's stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm and Sugiyama and Andree's attention, interest, search, action, and share (AISAS) model were used for this research. Specifically, the present study considered the effect of e-commerce website features on consumers' emotional reactions (pleasure and arousal) and the consequent impact on online consumer behaviors (search, action, and share). Hence, plus the self-reported survey methods, each subject's psychophysiological indicators (i.e., pleasure and arousal) were measured to obtain more objective and reliable data and to redeem the results of the self-reported survey. Findings revealed the implications of the e-commerce website feature by comprehending the S-O-R paradigm and AISAS model and extending the understanding of the role of variables associated with comprehended frameworks based on psychophysiological data.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.11 s.158
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• pp.1495-1506
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• 2006

The purposes of this study are to investigate the formation and the change of apparel retail structure historically with the viewpoint that the retail structure is affected by the process of economic development. This study was done by literature research method and the result of this study is the following. The tailor and seamstress shops, the first clothing shops in Korea, were replaced by ready-made shops, because mass production system which had developed with the industrialization of Korea increased the advantage of economy of scale compared to handicrafts individual one. After that, the production system of apparel industry had been efficient continuously, while retail system had not. The retailing of famous brand apparel conducted by exclusive franchise store caused supplier oriented markets where the opinion and the desire of consumers were not reflected. While the retailing of the unknown brand apparel handled by small retail stores were inefficient. As the apparel industry matured in 1990s, various types of new stores appeared such as specialty stores, discount stores, TV home shopping, internet shopping, outlet malls, and big fashion stores in Dongdeamoon. These new stores have features of seeking profits in mass merchandising. As these large retail stores grow, the apparel retail structure of Korea is changing from a fragmented market to a vertically integrated one. This change is shown by the decrease of stores per inhabitants. With the change of environment, the apparel retail system which has lagged behind comparatively is expected to develop into more efficient system based on the large capital investment which raise the advantage of economy of scale.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.37-53
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• 2016

This study focused on the development of a conceptual model of the turnover intention of part-time sales associates in apparel retailing. A convenience sample of 294 college students who were part-time apparel workers was used to test the model. In this proposed model, organizational support and growth opportunity indirectly influenced turnover intention through work engagement, which in turn positively affected work effort, job performance, and job satisfaction. The results also revealed a direct relationship between work/role stress and burnout, which influenced turnover intention. These findings make a unique contribution to the extant literature and enable development of relevant strategies by apparel retailers.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2012

To date most of the research concerning e-service quality in the context of online apparel settings has had a female or a generalized for gender and age focus. To expand the scope of understanding of online consumers, this study focuses on the key dimensions of e-service quality which affect male Generation Y consumers' e-satisfaction which in turn may affect their e-loyalty. A convenience sample of male college students was recruited from a Korean university. The findings of this study showed that privacy, personalization, efficiency, and website design were the key dimensions that have significant positive relationships with e-satisfaction. The positive relationship between e-satisfaction and e-loyalty was also confirmed. Managerial implications and suggestions for further research are further discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1721-1732
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• 2007

This study identified types of information source, and explored a path model for consumer information search by shopping attributes in the context of online decision making. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires during regularly scheduled classes. A total of 219 usable questionnaires were obtained from respondents who enroll at universities in the southwestern region of the United States. For data analysis, factor analysis and path model estimation were used. Consumer information source was classified into three types for online clothing purchases: Online source, Offline retail source, and Mass media. Consumers were more likely to rely on offline retail source for online clothing purchases, than other sources. In consumer information search by shopping attributes, online sources were more likely to be related to transaction-related attributes(e.g., incentive service), whereas offline retail source(e.g., displays in stores, manufacturer's catalogs and pamphlets) were more likely to be related to product and market related attributes(e.g., aesthetics, price) when purchasing clothing online. Also, the path model emphasizes the effect of shopping attributes on traditional retailer search behavior, leading to online purchase intention for clothing. This study supports consumer information search by attributes, and discusses a managerial implication of multi-channel retailing for apparel.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.51-75
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• 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.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.193-205
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• 2019

A trend analysis of research articles in a field of knowledge is significant because it can help in finding out the structural characteristics of the field and the future direction of research through observing change in a time series. We identified the structural characteristics and trends in text data (keywords) gathered from research articles which in itself is an important task in various research areas. The titles and keywords were crawled from research articles published from 2016 to 2018 in the Research Journal of the Costume Culture (RJCC), one of the representative Korean journal in the field of clothing and textile. After we extracted data comprising English titles and keywords from 195 published articles, we transformed it into a 1-mode matrix. We used measures from network analysis (i.e., link, strength, and degree centrality) for evaluating meaningful patterns and trends in the research on clothing and textile. NodeXL was used for visualizing the semantic network. This study observed change in the clothing and textile research trend. In addition to covering the core areas of the field, the subjects of research have been diversifying with every passing year and have evolved onto a developmental direction. The most studied area in articles published by the RJCC was fashion retailing/consumer psychology while aesthetic/historic and fashion industry/policy studies were covered to a more limited extent. We observed that most of the studies reflecting the identity of RJCC share subject keywords to a significant extent.