• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.47-54
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• 2011

This paper presents exploratory research on consumer awareness and attitudesabout organic food, for which consumer demand continues to increase the paper also assesses consumers' organic food distribution channel preferences. By conducting a literature review, a case study has been carried out in order to glean customer behavior, market condition and typesof distribution channels, and development of specialty stores for organic foods. The early research indicates that consumer awareness and customer attitudes toward organic food are mostly positive however, organic food's high price, as well as a lack of organic food stores, cause a negative effect on consumers' purchase intention. Secondly, the U.S. organic food retail channel consists of such mainstream supermarket/grocery stores and leading natural and organic food supermarket chains as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Sunflower Farmers Market. For the current retail distribution of organic food in Korea, off-line stores are composed of direct management stores and franchise chains. Most of the organic food retail distribution operates through the Internet shopping mall, and are commonly located at retail distribution centers as multi-channel, shop-in-shop stores. Moreover, unlike in the U.S., association and consumers' cooperatives (Co-Ops), and such other member-direct retail stores as Hansallim, iCOOP, Nature Dream,and online shopping malls, are all active in Korea. Thirdly, as a result of an analysis of the present state of the organic food retail channel, as well as building a case for organic food specialty stores, the distinctive featuresand rapid growth of such unique organic food stores as Whole Foods Market, or Trader Joe's successful downsizing strategies, as well as Sunflower Farmers Market low-price approach, show steady industry growth. Moreover, as a result of a case studyof such domestic representative organic food specialty stores as "Olga" and "Chorokmaeul," a similar management style to the United States' "Whole Foods Market" and "Trader Joe's," respectively, can be seen. Similar to the U.S. market, Korean organic food markets should also implement active retail distribution opportunities, allowing consumers to select from various diverse and differentiated choices. In order to accomplish this goal, it is necessary to prepare such measures as sustaining reasonable prices, securing various suppliers for unique products,and improving consumer trust through advertisement strategies that are suitable for each company's branding processes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.714-727
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• 2015

This study investigated consumers' clothing expense, consumer innovativeness and perceived risk to the channel type they frequently purchase fashion products and compared the relationship between the variables. A survey of male and female college students was conducted and 367 responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, two-way ANOVA, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and correlations. Female consumer clothing expenses were high compared to male consumers, and clothing expenses of consumers using department stores and independent banded stores were high compared to those using internet shopping malls. The sub-dimensions of consumer innovativeness were determined as adventure-oriented, unique-oriented, and change-oriented, and female consumers have characteristics more unique-oriented and change-oriented. In the case of female respondents, unique-oriented innovativeness was highest for department store customers, while the male customer of non-branded stores showed the highest unique-oriented innovativeness. Perceived risk indicated the highest score from the customers of internet shopping mall. Department stores were recognized as reliable by female department store customers. Clothing expenses and consumer innovativeness dimensions showed significantly positive correlations; in addition, the relation between clothing expense and perceived risks were significantly negative. Consumer innovativeness and perceived risks have positive relations.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.3457-3472
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• 2020

The rapid change in the financial market has led to a shift to relationship marketing, which emphasizes relationships with existing customers rather than creating new ones. Therefore, to achieve competitive advantage in the market, assessing service quality and relationship quality has become an important tool for financial institutions. The widely applied five dimension model has shown problems of dimensions overlapping and blurring with each other, which results in the lack in providing the marketer with practical administrative implications. Therefore, a three dimensional model, composed of interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality, that could be applied in general to various service industries and, at the same time, categorized into service quality dimensions that are not ambiguous for marketers to manage has been utilized. As a result, in the case of Korean consumers, interaction quality, physical environment quality, and outcome quality were shown to have positive effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. For Brazilian consumers, physical environment quality and outcome quality were shown to have positive effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Also, a median effect of customer satisfaction was found. This paper reviews the concept and dimensions of service quality and relationship quality, as well as verifying the structural relationship between the two variables through empirical analysis. Through the results of the analysis, the paper compares the differences between two distinctive countries and present theoretical and academic implications.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.117-131
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine the current situation of B2B fashion buying behavior (i.e., buying motives, product characteristics, buying processes), and to analyze the buying performance, buying problems and buying strategies. In depth, face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaire were conducted with three buyers and three vendors related to 18 buying items of C Company. Results of this research were as following:1. Buying motives were mainly reduction of buying costs, improvement of profits, and increased efficiency in buying process for retail buyers, while the selling motive was mainly improvement of market share for suppliers. Suitable items for B2B buying were basic items or bulk items. The B2B buying process included the following steps: selecting auction items, target prices, and suppliers ; setting the product specification and bidding niles; training the suppliers for preparing the auction; proceeding the auction by internet. 2. The perceived B2B benefits for buyers were profit improvement and cost reduction while those for suppliers were time saving and market share improvement. The indicated buying problems were as poor product quality, low product image, and difficulty in partnership. For B2B buying strategies, a quality management system, various auction tactics based on items, and a supplier management system were recommended.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.138-151
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• 2012

This study determines a consumer retail store choice by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for multi-criteria decision-making in the fashion retail industry. The study provides detailed and relevant information for management, marketers of fashion retail stores, and to improve competition between suppliers. Data was collected in February 2011 from questionnaires completed by 319 university students in Busan, South Korea. One of the major findings of this study was that consumer store preference was affected by the following factors in order of importance: product, image, service quality, and purchase facilitation. Brand image was assessed to be the most important of the evaluation elements, followed by individuality, style, and price. The results of rating the relative importance and priority of fashion retailers showed that department stores ranked most highly, followed by outlet malls, Internet shopping malls, brand malls, and discount stores.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.102-120
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• 2022

With the growing importance of ESG as a must-have business strategy, this study attempted to analyze the current state of ESG practices in the Korean fashion businesses. The ESG cases of fashion business were collected from news articles searched on the largest Korean internet portal by November 2021 from October 2020 when the number of articles began to increase meaningfully. Three hundred ninety one ESG cases of 112 fashion manufacturing brands and 332 ESG cases of 49 retail brands were analyzed. Casual and outdoor/sportswear brands among fashion manufacturers were most active in ESG practices, and various online and offline retailers were practicing ESG. Approximately one-third of the fashion brands were positioned as eco-friendly concept. While environmental practices were the most practiced ESG, governance was the least practiced. Among environmental practices, fashion manufacturing businesses were most active in eco-friendly product development, while retail businesses were in eco-friendly campaign-event-service and eco-friendly packaging. The most active social practice was the contribution to communities, followed by retail businesses' sharing growth with partner businesses. Governance practices were focused on the structure and operation of the board. Various ESG collaborations with various partners were also observed. The research result is meaningful verifying and diagnosing the ESG practices of the Korean fashion businesses.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.127-148
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• 2001

As the Internet service is expanding rapidly, portal sites, a gateway tn the net, are attracting increasing attention these days. As the Internet service has expanded rapidly, so has the interest for portal sites,, which serve as a gateway to the net. Despite the tendency, however, research on a measure by which to evaluate the quality of portal sites or development of such measures has not been fully pursued. As online services, faced with profitability, are considering 'charge per view', the development of a set of quality evaluation measures for portal services will prove to become a valuable instrument in constructing competitive strategies that are vital for survival and growth of a firm. In that regard, this study aims to develop a set of evaluation measures for Internet portal sites by empirically investigating the most common offline measures for quality of services, SERVQUAL, retail SERVQUAL and other evaluation measures for IT-related online services. Moreover, the study offers the strategic implications of the defined measures.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.109-131
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• 2004

This research tried to clarify the impact of service quality on the customer satisfaction, customer retention and switching barriers in the competitive structure between department store and discount store. We measured the level of service quality by using the methodology which had been adopted in the service quality research area. Using the internet survey method, we gathered data from 750 consumers of each industry. We used various analysis methods such as the regression analysis, t-test, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results reveal different patterns in the two sectors in the retail industry with respect to switching barriers. We conclude that switching barriers play an important role in consumer satisfaction and retention.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.187-198
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• 2021

This study aims to understand the current status of the use of IoT-based products and services from the perspective of consumers and analyze the role and consumption value of each service-generated from the products and services. Their features and generated consumption value have been identified The decision-making process was divided into based on three stages (pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase) stages, and IoT services were classified in stages. In the pre-purchase stage, the IoT service provides information and alternatives, and is used for interaction and automatic payment systems in the purchasing stage. In the post-purchase stage, repetitive purchases are encouraged and after-sale services are provided. Throughout the decision-making process, smart retai application and servicel provides epistemic and functional value. In addition, it provides conditional and social value in the pre-purchase stage, and conditional value in the post-purchase stage. This study aims to provideprovides marketers and retailers an insight advice for the enhanced satisfaction of consumersimproving the satisfaction of consumers and the development of smart retail by examining the consumer-centered consumption value.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.407-413
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• 2019

This editorial on 'Smart Services and Internet of Things (IoT)' focuses on the topics related to the applications of IoT to consumer products and services, which have become 'smarter' thanks to IoT. This special issue explores, in different ways, the phenomena of smart services and the role of IoT in business innovation across different contexts such as product-service system, car auction, tourism industry, communicating platform, online travel agency, self-service retail, and bike sharing. We hope that this special issue will provide a significant step forward in enabling researchers and practitioners to understand smart services and IoT.