• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.123-145
• /
• 2008

Recently, as the information communication technology develops, the discussion regarding the ubiquitous environment is occurring in diverse perspectives. Ubiquitous environment is an environment that could transfer data through networks regardless of the physical space, virtual space, time or location. In order to realize the ubiquitous environment, the Pervasive Sensing technology that enables the recognition of users' data without the border between physical and virtual space is required. In addition, the latest and diversified technologies such as Context-Awareness technology are necessary to construct the context around the user by sharing the data accessed through the Pervasive Sensing technology and linkage technology that is to prevent information loss through the wired, wireless networking and database. Especially, Pervasive Sensing technology is taken as an essential technology that enables user oriented services by recognizing the needs of the users even before the users inquire. There are lots of characteristics of ubiquitous environment through the technologies mentioned above such as ubiquity, abundance of data, mutuality, high information density, individualization and customization. Among them, information density directs the accessible amount and quality of the information and it is stored in bulk with ensured quality through Pervasive Sensing technology. Using this, in the companies, the personalized contents(or information) providing became possible for a target customer. Most of all, there are an increasing number of researches with respect to recommender systems that provide what customers need even when the customers do not explicitly ask something for their needs. Recommender systems are well renowned for its affirmative effect that enlarges the selling opportunities and reduces the searching cost of customers since it finds and provides information according to the customers' traits and preference in advance, in a commerce environment. Recommender systems have proved its usability through several methodologies and experiments conducted upon many different fields from the mid-1990s. Most of the researches related with the recommender systems until now take the products or information of internet or mobile context as its object, but there is not enough research concerned with recommending adequate store to customers in a ubiquitous environment. It is possible to track customers' behaviors in a ubiquitous environment, the same way it is implemented in an online market space even when customers are purchasing in an offline marketplace. Unlike existing internet space, in ubiquitous environment, the interest toward the stores is increasing that provides information according to the traffic line of the customers. In other words, the same product can be purchased in several different stores and the preferred store can be different from the customers by personal preference such as traffic line between stores, location, atmosphere, quality, and price. Krulwich(1997) has developed Lifestyle Finder which recommends a product and a store by using the demographical information and purchasing information generated in the internet commerce. Also, Fano(1998) has created a Shopper's Eye which is an information proving system. The information regarding the closest store from the customers' present location is shown when the customer has sent a to-buy list, Sadeh(2003) developed MyCampus that recommends appropriate information and a store in accordance with the schedule saved in a customers' mobile. Moreover, Keegan and O'Hare(2004) came up with EasiShop that provides the suitable tore information including price, after service, and accessibility after analyzing the to-buy list and the current location of customers. However, Krulwich(1997) does not indicate the characteristics of physical space based on the online commerce context and Keegan and O'Hare(2004) only provides information about store related to a product, while Fano(1998) does not fully consider the relationship between the preference toward the stores and the store itself. The most recent research by Sedah(2003), experimented on campus by suggesting recommender systems that reflect situation and preference information besides the characteristics of the physical space. Yet, there is a potential problem since the researches are based on location and preference information of customers which is connected to the invasion of privacy. The primary beginning point of controversy is an invasion of privacy and individual information in a ubiquitous environment according to researches conducted by Al-Muhtadi(2002), Beresford and Stajano(2003), and Ren(2006). Additionally, individuals want to be left anonymous to protect their own personal information, mentioned in Srivastava(2000). Therefore, in this paper, we suggest a methodology to recommend stores in U-market on the basis of ubiquitous environment not using personal information in order to protect individual information and privacy. The main idea behind our suggested methodology is based on Feature Matrices model (FM model, Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003) that uses clusters of customers' similar transaction data, which is similar to the Collaborative Filtering. However unlike Collaborative Filtering, this methodology overcomes the problems of personal information and privacy since it is not aware of the customer, exactly who they are, The methodology is compared with single trait model(vector model) such as visitor logs, while looking at the actual improvements of the recommendation when the context information is used. It is not easy to find real U-market data, so we experimented with factual data from a real department store with context information. The recommendation procedure of U-market proposed in this paper is divided into four major phases. First phase is collecting and preprocessing data for analysis of shopping patterns of customers. The traits of shopping patterns are expressed as feature matrices of N dimension. On second phase, the similar shopping patterns are grouped into clusters and the representative pattern of each cluster is derived. The distance between shopping patterns is calculated by Projected Pure Euclidean Distance (Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003). Third phase finds a representative pattern that is similar to a target customer, and at the same time, the shopping information of the customer is traced and saved dynamically. Fourth, the next store is recommended based on the physical distance between stores of representative patterns and the present location of target customer. In this research, we have evaluated the accuracy of recommendation method based on a factual data derived from a department store. There are technological difficulties of tracking on a real-time basis so we extracted purchasing related information and we added on context information on each transaction. As a result, recommendation based on FM model that applies purchasing and context information is more stable and accurate compared to that of vector model. Additionally, we could find more precise recommendation result as more shopping information is accumulated. Realistically, because of the limitation of ubiquitous environment realization, we were not able to reflect on all different kinds of context but more explicit analysis is expected to be attainable in the future after practical system is embodied.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.442-454
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study was 1) to identify the effects of lifestyle activities and decision -making related variables (shopping orientations, use of information sources and importance of store attributes) on the outshopping behavior of female consumers in Seoul and satellite cities, and 2) to investigate the differences in the effects of those variables on the outshopping behavior among 4 clothing categories (formal wear, separates, casual wear, underwear). The data were collected via a questionnaires from 508 adult females of ages over 20's living in Seoul and satellite cities around Seoul and were analyzed by factor analysis and discriminant analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1) Some of the factors of 4 decision-making related variables significantly discriminated the outshoppers and inshoppers. The most influential factors were attitude toward imported products, time-oriented and price-oriented attitude of shopping orientations. 2) There were significant differences in the effects of 4 variables on outshopping behaviors among 4 clothing categories. More factors were effective in discriminating the outshopping behavior for formal wear or separates purchase.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
• /
• v.1997 no.05
• /
• pp.253-256
• /
• 1997

KESF-1 foot conceptually provides storage of potential energy and is converted to kinetic energy throughout the weight - bearing phase of the gait cycle. This stored energy is progressively released as the foot continues through the toe-off phase to rebound and propel the body forward. A weight deflects the keel through a predetermined range, then the keel "springs back" as weight is removed. Foot designs criteria were selected to guide development beyond the proof-of concept composite material keels; 1) store and return energy (1-3/4 " metatarsal deflection at 435 pounds vertical load), 2) natural feel and stability; 3) useful life of 3-years: 4) lightweight; 5) reduced production costs. The purpose of this study is developed the comfortable stable foot that fitted with Korean lifestyle and road condition. The results produced the realistic cosmetic foot cover with polyurethane form and the keel composed with composite materials of both glass fiber and carbon fiber.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.19-29
• /
• 2004

The current fashion market is experiencing a lot of difficulties in fashion forecasting due to consumers' fast-changing lifestyle on fashion, changes in consumer behavior, and the segmentation of the fashion market. To cope with this harsh reality, many fashion enterprises have paid much attention to the SPA (Specialty Retailer's Store of Private Label Apparel) brand as a promising fashion marketing strategy in terms of which they can survive in the extremely competing fashion market. The SPA brand is in the stage of inception in Korea, but the SPA brands such as MUJI and UNIQLO are already dominating the fashion business in Japan. Korea has just started developing the SPA brand, but its technological development, which was triggered by the success of 'BASIC HOUSE', is rapidly evolving. Under these circumstances, the SPA brand is getting vital for the fashion market in efficiently realizing consumers' requirements, revolutionizing the method for providing product information and the process of Marketing Mix Program, and expressing the value of shop. This paper studies the nature of the SPA brand and fashion merchandising system, and in turn examine the differences between the visual merchandising of the existing fashion brands and the Japanese SPA brands that are used as the fashion marketing strategy which is driven by the up-to-date technological system. Centering around these issues, we propose a visual merchandising system for fashion enterprises which serves to develop Korean-style SPA brands.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.49-56
• /
• 2004

This study intends to propose the fundamentals of 'Ecovillage' design by researching into the cycle system of material of 'Crystalwaters' which is having been in charge of a leading role of GEN since 1996 (GEN was formed in 1996) as Ecovillage in Australia. First, to secure the water resources, we can store up rain and the water of valley, and dam. Second, we are able to use the natural filter apparatus, do tree-planting of roof to gain better quality of water. Third, it is to save the energy as supplying water. For it, we make the best of a gravity that is one of the cycle principle of water. Forth, to build a Dam can make a site of scenic beauty, do the role of recreation place and provide against emergencies (a fire, drought) as well as make a mild climate. Fifth, it can reduce the environment load because of sewage and garbage as making it compost. This is possible by treating biologically using composting apparatus of the dry or wet process. Sixth, it is to reduce the environmental pollution as to discharge seperating a recycable waste, an organic matter being able to make it compost. Finally, first of all, environmentally friendly inhabitant consciousness from lifestyle and production style plays an importent part for water cycle and the ecological cycle of waste and sewage.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.21 no.11
• /
• pp.103-111
• /
• 2023

Purpose: This research aims to study the selection attributes influencing the purchasing decisions of the MZ generation in online luxury stores and explores the moderating effects of consumer value. The research aims to validate the impact of reasonable pricing, brand reliability, product variety, comprehensive product information, and user-friendly interfaces on customers' decision to purchase products from online luxury stores. Research design, data and methodology: A survey was conducted with 101 participants, and data analysis included exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as covariance structure model analysis. Results: The findings reveal that brand trust, product variety, and information sufficiency significantly influence brand affect, which in turn influences purchase intention. Additionally, the study identifies that consumers prioritizing hedonic value are more influenced by brand trust and information, while those prioritizing utilitarian value are more responsive to factors like reasonable price, product variety, and ease of use. Conclusions: The study provides insights into the preferences and behaviors of the MZ generation, highlighting their digital proficiency, mobile-centric lifestyle, desire for product variety, price-consciousness, social media influence, and the availability of personalized shopping experiences as factors contributing to their preference for online luxury stores. These findings contribute to understanding consumer behavior and decision-making processes in the context of online luxury shopping.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.209-237
• /
• 2012

1. Research Purpose Consumers rely on various clues to evaluate their decision to patronize a retail store, and store brand is one of them (Dodds 1991; Grewal et al. 1998). As consumers find ever increasing variety of contact points connecting them to specific store, the value of experiential shopping as a means of increasing store's brand equity warrants greater attention from scholars of retail management. Retail shopping values are credited for creating not only cognitive experiences like brand knowledge but also emotional experiences such as shopping pleasure and pride (Schmitt 1999). This may be because today's consumers place emphasis on emotional values associated with shopping pleasure, lifestyle brought to life, brand relationship, and store atmosphere more than utilitarian values such as product quality and price. Many previous literature found this to be true (Ahn and Lee 2011; Mathwick et al. 2001). This brings forth important research issues and questions regarding the roles of shopping experiential values and brand equity with regard to consumer's retail patronage choice. However, despite this importance, research on this area remains quite inadequate (Hwang 2010). For this reason, this study aims to verify the relationships among experiential shopping values, retail store brand equity and tries to link that with customer loyalty by surveying large-scale discount store shoppers in Korea and China. 2. Research Contents In order to carry out the research objective, this study conducted comprehensive literature survey on previous literature by discussing major findings and implications with regard to shopping values and retail brand equity and store loyalty. For data collection, researcher employed survey-based research method where data were collected in two major cities of Korea (Seoul) and China (Bejing) and sampling frame was based on patrons of large discount stores in both countries. Specific research questions raised in this study are as follows; RQ1: How do Korean and Chinese consumers differently perceive of shopping values regarding shopping at large-sclae discount stores? RQ2: Are there differences in consumers' emotional consumption propensities? RQ3: Do Korean and Chinese consumers display different perceptions of brand equity towards large-scale discount stores? RQ4: Are there differences in relationships between shopping values and brand equity for Korean and Chinese consumers? For statistical analysis, SPSS17.0, AMOS17.0 and SmartPLS were employed. 3. Research Results The data collected through face-to-face survey conducted in Seoul and Bejing revealed appropriate data validity and reliability as a result of exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests, andh SEM model yielding satisfactory model fitness. The result of the study may be summarized by three main points. First, as a result of testing differences in consumption dispositions, Chinese consumers showed higher scores in aesthetic and symbolic dispositions, whereas Korean consumers scored higher in hedonic disposition. Second, testing on perceptions toward brand equity of large discount stores showed that Korean consumers exhibited more positive perceptions of brand awareness and brand image than Chinese counterparts. Third, the result of exploratory factor analysis on the experiential shopping values revealed different factors for each country. On Korean side, consumer interest value, aesthetic value, and hedonic value were prominent, whereas on Chinese side, hedonic value, aesthetic value, consumer interest value, and service excellence value were found salient. 4. Research Implications While many previous studies on inter-country differences in retailing area mainly focused on cultural dispositions or orientations to explain the differences, this study sets itself apart by specifically targeting individual consumer's shopping values from an experiential viewpoint. The study result provides important theoretical as well as practical implications for large-scale discount store, especially the impotance of fully exploring the linkage between shopping values and brand equity, which has significant influence on loyalty. Therefore, the specific implications deriving from the result shed some important insights upon the consumption values based on shopping experiences and brand equity. The differences found in store shoppers between the two countries may also provide useful insights for Korean and Chinese retailers who plan to expand their operations globally. Related strategic implications derived from this study is the importance of localizing retail strategy which is based on the differences found in experiential shopping values between the two country groups. Especially the finding that Chinese consumers value consumer interest and service excellence, whereas Koreans place importance on hedonic or aesthetic values indicates the need to differentiate the consumer's psychographical profiles when it comes to expanding retail operations globally. Particularly important will be to pursue price-orienated strategy in China in consideration of the high emphasis on consumer interests and service excellence, but to emphasize the symbolic aspects of brand equity in Korea by maximizing the brand equity associated with aesthetic values and hedonic orientations. 5. Recommendations This study focused on generic retail branded discount stores in both countries, thus making it difficult to tease out store-specific strategies based on specific retail brands. Future studies may benefit fro employing actual brand names in survey questionnaire to verify relationship between shopping values and brand-based store strategy. As with other studies of this nature, this study needs to strengthen the result's generalizability by selecting respondents from a wider spectrum of respondents.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2013

This case focuses on Shanghai Tang, the first truly Chinese luxury brand that appeals to both Westerners and, more recently, to Chinese consumers worldwide. A visionary and wealthy businessman Sir David Tang created this company from scratch in 1994 in Hong Kong. Its story, spanned over almost two decades, has been fascinating. It went from what best a Chinese brand could be in the eyes of Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a nearly-bankrupted company in 1998, before being acquired by Richemont, the second largest luxury group in the world. Since then, its turnaround has been spectacular with a growing appeal among Chinese luxury consumers who represent the core segment of the luxury industry today. The main objective of this case study is to formally examine how Shanghai Tang overcame its downfall and re-emerged as one the very few well- known Chinese luxury brands. More specifically, this case highlights the ways with which Shanghai Tang made a transitional change from a brand for Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a brand for both, Westerners who love the Chinese culture and Chinese who love luxury. A close examination reveals that Shanghai Tang has followed the brand identity concept that consists of two major components: functional and emotional. The functional component for developing a luxury brand concerns all product characteristics that will make a product 'luxurious' in the eyes of the consumer, such as premium quality of cachemire from Mongolia, Chinese silk, lacquer, finest leather, porcelain, and jade in the case of Shanghai Tang. The emotional component consists of non-functional symbolic meanings of a brand. The symbolic meaning marks the major difference between a premium and a luxury brand. In the case of Shanghai Tang, its symbolic meaning refers to the Chinese culture and the brand aims to represent the best of Chinese traditions and establish itself as "the ambassador of modern Chinese style". It touches the Chinese heritage and emotions. Shanghai Tang has reinvented the modern Chinese chic by drawing back to the stylish decadence of Shanghai in the 1930s, which was then called the "Paris of the East", and this is where the brand finds inspiration to create its own myth. Once the functional and emotional components assured, Shanghai Tang has gone through a four-stage development to become the first global Chinese luxury brand: introduction, deepening, expansion, and revitalization. Introduction: David Tang discovered a market gap and had a vision to launch the first Chinese luxury brand to the world. The key success drivers for the introduction and management of a Chinese luxury brand are a solid brand identity and, above all, a creative mind, an inspired person. This was David Tang then, and this is now Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, the current Executive Chairman. Shanghai Tang combines Chinese and Western elements, which it finds to be the most sustainable platform for drawing consumers. Deepening: A major objective of the next phase is to become recognized as a luxury brand and a fashion or design authority. For this purpose, Shanghai Tang has cooperated with other well-regarded luxury and lifestyle brands such as Puma and Swarovski. It also expanded its product lines from high-end custom-made garments to music CDs and restaurant. Expansion: After the opening of his first store in Hong Kong in 1994, David Tang went on to open his second store in New York City three years later. However this New York retail operation was a financial disaster. Barely nineteen months after the opening, the store was shut down and quietly relocated to a cheaper location of Madison Avenue. Despite this failure, Shanghai Tang products found numerous followers especially among Western tourists and became "souvenir-like" must-haves. However, despite its strong brand DNA, the brand did not generate enough repeated sales and over the years the company cumulated heavy debts and became unprofitable. Revitalizing: After its purchase by Richemont in 1998, Le Masne de Chermont was appointed to lead the company, reposition the brand and undertake some major strategic changes such as revising the "Shanghai Tang" designs to appeal not only to Westerners but also to Chinese consumers, and to open new stores around the world. Since then, Shanghai Tang has become synonymous to a modern Chinese luxury lifestyle brand.

• Journal of Fashion Business
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.117-130
• /
• 2004

The purposes of this study were to find out highly market sharing young casual brands, to compare their trends of concept and competition, and to propose orientation of brand concept repositioning and marketing strategies on Department stores. Reference searching method and field searching method were used for this study. The results were as follows: 1. The brands which covered more than 50% market share included <96NY> . 2. Price range of these brands was from 130,000 to 220,000 won. The brands of upper-moderate price zone included <96NY> and they were very competitive each other. The brands of moderate price zone included and they were also very competitive between them. However, the brands of lower-moderate price zone had lower competition. This price zone might be a good point to launch new brands. 3. The main target-age of young casual zone was from 17 to 30 years. The most of brands focused on 21-25 years old, which were higher age targeted before. 4. The main concepts of these brands were 'luxury, girlish, sexy' and 'Sportism, lifestyle' were sub-concepts.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.171-176
• /
• 2014

Due to the recent increase of online shopping mall, there were many changes in consumer lifestyle. and the luxury and foreign cosmetics are well sold in nowadays department store online shopping mall sites. Although not all products are sold through online shopping, consumers tend to purchase more inexpensive brand products through online shopping mall. Thus, department stores tend to sell the brand goods through their online sites In this thesis, First, the trust of shopping mall caused a positive effect to the trust of parent company. Second, the trust of shopping mall had a positive impact on satisfaction. Without satisfying parameters, The trust of parent company did not itself affect satisfaction of shopping mall.