• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.14
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• pp.145-169
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• 2004

With the full liberalization of distribution sector in 1997, both multinational and domestic discount retailers have been competing to gain more market share in Korea. Increased competition among domestic and international retail stores forces marketing academics and practitioners to understand the various factors affecting discount retail store satisfaction and loyalty. This study examines how store image of a retailer influences consumers' attitudes, satisfaction and intention to re visit that store. The data, collected from a sample of 416 customers in Busan, Korea, indicate that store image is exerting positive influences in the formation of attitude, satisfaction. But favorable store image does not have positive impact on the intention to revisit the store. Rather the impact of store image on intention to re visit is mediated by attitudes and satisfaction. And unlike the overall store image, attitudes have positive effect on the formation of consumers' intention to revisit, not mediated by satisfaction. And satisfaction also results in higher possibility of forming intention to revisit that same discount store. Based on these results, we provide theoretical and managerial implications, limitations of this research, and useful directions for future study.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2014

One of the largest changes in retail business in Korea since the distribution market was opened in the mid 1990s is the appearance of foreign discount stores and the rapid growth of department stores. Discount stores and department stores have changed the structure of distribution business which has been primarily made up of traditional markets and supermarkets that have been the main retail markets in Korea. The retail business is changing from just a product purchasing place to a space where various values such as pleasure, happiness, etc. are provided. Therefore the purpose of this research is to grasp the effects that the shopping experience values at department stores have on the department brands, images, and awareness by means of theoretical and empirical research. Especially I classified the shopping experience values, an independent variable, into aesthetics, pleasures, consumers' interests, and services' excellence, and I verified whether they have a meaningful effects on the brand recognition and image, an endogenous variable, and the store royalty, a final various. A total of 235 questionnaires were used for analysis to test the research hypotheses. The positive analysis was done with SPSS 17.0K and AMOS 17.0 covariance structure analysis was performed. As a result, variables of the shopping experience values except consumers' interests seemed to have not only right influences on recognition and image, but also right influences on store royalty. Therefore this research shows that department store customers not only make use of department stores to buy products, but also visit department stores to get the values of pleasure and happiness, and that these aspects have a greater influence on the department store's image, recognition, or royalty in a sense.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2019

Purpose - There is little research on the market of foreign infant education materials. So, it is needed to deeply examine the development and preference factors of foreign infant education materials. Therefore, this study presents a future method and model for analyzing the important variables of buying foreign infant education materials. Research design, data, and methodology - The conjoint analysis method and model of this paper is used as follows. Conjoint analysis method is possible to derive the attributes to be analyzed through the model of the preferred factors, and then to derive the sub-attributes of the attributes. Results - This study derived preference attributes between brand benefit, equity (brand image, loyalty, awareness), distribution network (department store, specialty stores, discount store, internet mall), and service quality (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) in infant education materials conjoint model. Conclusions - Since the opening of the education market in Korea, parents have a high education level due to low birth rate. The advantages of the conjoint analysis method have been extended to the study of infant education materials. Based on this, this paper will identify important attributes that are considered in preference of foreign infant education materials and help to establish and implement future marketing strategies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.23-30
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• 2014

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the efficiency of retail businesses by dividing domestic retailers into discount stores, super supermarkets (SSMs), and department stores. It suggests retail-business investment strategies by using data environment analysis (DEA) to analyze how input elements such as store area, parking lot area, number of employees, and sales management expenses for the convenience of customers positively affect business performance measurements such as sales and visiting customers per day. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - The DEA model calculates a ratio of the weighted mean of various inputs to the weighted mean of various outputs and measures the efficiency of a specific decision making unit (DMU). The study included 19 companies (five discount store DMUs, ten SSM DMUs, and four department store DMUs). Because the business elements and sizes of retail store DMUs used in this analysis are different, average per-store input and output variables were used. Data were collected from "The Yearbook of Retail Industry in Korea (2012)." DEA analysis was used to determine differences in efficiency among discount stores, SSMs, and department stores in terms of the business elements of each retail business. It was also used to determine what business elements were excessively invested in by comparing and analyzing efficiency by business elements using SPSS software's ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Results - The CCR and BCC efficiency analysis found that the efficiency of discount stores is low. We believe that the saturation state of discount stores is a major factor. The ANOVA analysis confirms the VRS hypothesis with a statistically significant difference among the three groups, based on an analysis confidence interval of 95%. CRS and SE were not found to be significantly different among the three groups. As for the post hoc test, which concretely shows differences by group, the Scheffe's multiple comparison analysis test found the average differences between group 1 (discount stores) and group 2 (SSM) to be statistically significant. Conclusions - The DEA efficiency analysis implies that investment in input elements, including store area, parking lot area, and sales management expenses, were excessive in the case of discount stores, while SSMs need to invest more in promotion activities such as gifts, events, and coupons for customer management. Department stores have found that small companies invest excessively in input elements. Department stores need to invest in differentiated shopping mall complexes. This study was limited in acquiring statistical data; various input variables which might have shown more secure customer management and promotional expenses could not be applied. As the study was limited in various aspects of the efficiency analyses because financial analyses of the companies and of causal relationships, including satisfaction and loyalty of visiting customers, were not done, these aspects will be examined in the next study.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2016

Product complaints allow business operators to learn from and solve problems they have been unaware of and prevent customers from leaving in advance. The ability to deal properly with complaints may improve consumer loyalty and repurchase intentions. This study analyzes consumers' intention in complaining behavior towards supermarkets and traditional markets. This study provides implications for business operators in the establishment of marketing strategies to deal with complaints and perform education related to consumer complaints by the verification of variables that influence intention on complaining behavior. A survey was conducted on housewife consumers who had experience using supermarkets and traditional markets. The major results are as follows: first, in store awareness higher in supermarkets than in traditional markets. Second, determinants of consumer complaint behavior, indicated a belief there was a need to spend more money at traditional markets than supermarkets, where the possibility of complaint success and complaint attitudes were found to be low. Third, intention of complaining behavior was lower at traditional markets than supermarkets. Intentions on private complaining behavior and public complaining behavior were both low. Fourth, intention of private behavior is higher than intention of public behavior for both supermarkets and traditional markets. Fifth, complaint attitudes were variables with the greatest influence on intention of complaining behavior for both supermarkets and traditional markets.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.113-145
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• 2008

Marketing for the distribution industry is making an ongoing progress in the changes of customers, the competitive environment, and the internal marketing environment. Integrated marketing communication activities are required for the enhancement of efficiency in the market.oriented activities. In this study, IMC is defined as "a notion that a market oriented business integrated marketing communication means, conducting and evaluating marketing activities with consistent messages in order to communicate with customers based on databases." In this study, an IMC planning model for the improvement of marketing efficiency in the distribution industry was derived from a pilot study. This model may be broken down into the following phases: IMC goals setting, situational analysis (customer analysis, competition analysis and company analysis), customer data analysis, contact management, budgeting, the establishment of an IMC strategy, the IMC mix and execution, an evaluation system, and feedback. In consideration of the characteristics of the distribution industry, this study was accompanied by a vocational study on IMC means employed by, in particular, department stores and other distributors such as: advertising, sales promotion, sales promotion advertising, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling, the Internet, mobile, visual merchandising, words of mouth. In addition, this study also covered the correlation among variables such as IMC activities of distributors, the process of forming customer's brand attitudes, brand loyalty and repurchase intention. This research would enhance the utilization of IMC. The analysis on customer's brand attitudes toward the IMC activities of distributors requires the simultaneous consideration of how they are linked to purchase as well as their attitudes toward both distributors and stores. The formation of brand loyalty and repurchase intention is related to the integration of marketing communication and the maintenance of consistency in contents, which requires integrated brand communication (IBC) strategies. IBC is a concept of using IMC means to manage the brand in a continuing and consistent manner and measuring their effect, which is a process to establish enterprise.level brand identity and maximize brand loyalty and repurchase intention by integrating IMC means. For an empirical analysis in this study, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among those department store customers from 20's to 50's who reside either in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas and have made purchase at department stores. In this study, the research model consisted of four theoretical variables: IMC activities, IMC attitudes, brand loyalty, and repurchase intention, on which variables a pilot study was conducted. A number of hypotheses were constructed on the relations between IMC activities and IMC attitudes, between IMC attitudes and repurchase intention, and between brand loyalty and repurchase intention. The test of the hypotheses may be summarized as follows: Firstly, the test of the hypothesis concerning the relation between IMC attitudes and IMC activities - advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling, the Web, mobile, visual merchandising, and word of mouth - indicates that advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling, mobile, visual merchandising, and word of mouth have significant impact on IMC activities. In addition to the result similar to those of previous studies that such marketing communication means as word of mouth, advertising, personal selling and sales promotion, in particular, play very important roles, a notable finding of this study is that visual merchandising performed by department stores is shown to have very significant impact on IMC activities. On a separate note, it is also noteworthy that Internet marketing activities engaged by department stores are not shown to have significant impact on IMC attitudes. Secondly, the test of the hypothesis on the relation between IMC attitudes and brand loyalty attests that IMC attitudes for the distribution industry significantly affect brand loyalty. Thirdly, the test of the hypothesis concerning the relation between IMC attitudes and repurchase intention confirms that IMC attitudes for the distribution industry significantly affect repurchase intention. Fourthly, the test of the hypothesis concerning the relation between brand loyalty and repurchase intention indicates that brand loyalty significantly affect repurchase intention. A comprehensive view of these findings points to the conclusion that the IMC activities for the distribution industry do affect IMC attitudes, brand loyalty, and repurchase intention.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2021

Purpose: Contemporary consumers are increasingly adopting public displays of their loyalty towards brands: consumer dedication surpasses loyalty in that they find various ways to show their devotion to their favorite brands. The purpose of the current study is to utilize sports psychology to improve customer experience in the sports shops. Research design, data and methodology: To investigate the purpose of the study and suggest the solutions, Epistemology methods were used to analyze the nature of knowledge and various forms of attaining knowledge. As such, epistemology asks questions such as "what are constitutes of valid knowledge?". Results: This study figured out five theoretical results to suggest for practitioners in the sports retail shop based on prior research. According to the research, sports psychology can affect consumer buying behavior which builds upon specific demographics and their differentiating behavior. The results also show that males shop with specificity, while female consumers are likely to shop for pleasure. Men are also less frequent shoppers than women. Conclusions: Above all, this study concludes that a consumer decision-making study is vital in the sports retail business, and information about consumer decision-making can be an influential factor for sports retailers to increase their competitive advantage.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-34
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• 2010

Introduction As consumers' purchase behavior change into a rational and practical direction, the discount store industry came to have keen competition along with rapid external growth. Therefore as a solution, distribution businesses are concentrating on developing PB(Private Brand) which can realize differentiation and profitability at the same time. And as improvement in customer loyalty beyond customer satisfaction is effective in surviving in an environment with keen competition, PB is being used as a strategic tool to improve customer loyalty. To improve loyalty among PB users, it is necessary to develop PB by examining properties of a customer group, first of all, quality level perceived by consumers should be met to obtain customer satisfaction and customer trust and consequently induce customer loyalty. To provide results of systematic analysis on relations between antecedents influenced perceived quality and variables affecting customer loyalty, this study proposed a research model based on causal relations verified in prior researches and set 16 hypotheses about relations among 9 theoretical variables. Data was collected from 400 adult customers residing in Seoul and the Metropolitan area and using large scale discount stores, among them, 375 copies were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 and Amos 7.0. The findings of the present study followed as; We ascertained that the higher company reputation, brand reputation, product experience and brand familiarity, the higher perceived quality. The study also examined the higher perceived quality, the higher customer satisfaction, customer trust and customer loyalty. The findings showed that the higher customer satisfaction and customer trust, the higher customer loyalty. As for moderating effects between PB and NB in terms of influences of perceived quality factors on perceived quality, we can ascertain that PB was higher than NB in the influences of company reputation on perceived quality while NB was higher than PB in the influences of brand reputation and brand familiarity on perceived quality. These results of empirical analysis will be useful for those concerned to do marketing activities based on a clearer understanding of antecedents and consecutive factors influenced perceived quality. At last, discussions about academical and managerial implications in these results, we suggested the limitations of this study and the future research directions. Research Model and Hypotheses Test After analyzing if antecedent variables having influence on perceived quality shows any difference between PB and NB in terms of their influences on them, the relation between variables that have influence on customer loyalty was determined as Figure 1. We established 16 hypotheses to test and hypotheses are as follows; H1-1: Perceived price has a positive effect on perceived quality. H1-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of perceived price on perceived quality. H2-1: Company reputation has a positive effect on perceived quality. H2-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of company reputation on perceived quality. H3-1: Brand reputation has a positive effect on perceived quality. H3-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of brand reputation on perceived quality. H4-1: Product experience has a positive effect on perceived quality. H4-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of product experience on perceived quality. H5-1: Brand familiarity has a positive effect on perceived quality. H5-2: It is expected that PB and NB would have different influence in terms of brand familiarity on perceived quality. H6: Perceived quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. H7: Perceived quality has a positive effect on customer trust. H8: Perceived quality has a positive effect on customer loyalty. H9: Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer trust. H10: Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty. H11: Customer trust has a positive effect on customer loyalty. Results from analyzing main effects of research model is shown as