• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.79-96
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• 2008

This research has the goal of model presentation which explains the mediating role of the salespeople-related variables(customer orientation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment) and the customer-related variables(service quality, service value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty) on the market orientation's effect on the performance. We collected survey data from 152 shop managers working in the department-store. In the result of final analysis, all 12 hypotheses are supported with statistically significance. The market orientation of firm increases the salespeople-related variables(customer orientation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment), and the salespeople-related variables increase the customer-related variables(service quality, service value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty). Finally, customer loyalty increases the performance. This research has the contribution of explanation which shows the mediating role of the salespeople-related variables(customer orientation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment) and the customer-related variables(service quality, service value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty) on the market orientation's effect on the performance. According to the result of this research, firms have to focus on the market orientation and understand the role of salespeople-related variables and customer-related variables on the process between the market orientation and the performance.

• 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.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.124-141
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• 2011

The domestic food culture in Korea has gone through great changes, among which dining out is considered most prominent. These changes are caused by a number of factors: development of several related industries, increase in dining out chances, diversification of consumer needs, change in consumption awareness and quality, increase in disposable income, women's advance into the society, etc. Under these circumstances, the fast food industry has been experiencing slow growth, whereas family restaurants and take out coffee franchises are consistently increasing the number of restaurants and shops as a part of aggressive management to increase sales. This study aims, first, to examine the effects of consumer's brand individuality and satisfaction on brand trust, brand emotion, brand identification, and brand loyalty of specialty coffee shops. Subsequently, this study observes how consumer's brand individuality and satisfaction affect the formation of brand trust, brand emotion, brand identification, and brand loyalty in accordance with preferred type of specialty coffee shops, frequency of experience, and life style in order to establish relevant strategies. The results of this study are as follows. First, brand individuality had a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Second, customer satisfaction had a positive effect on brand trust. Third, customer satisfaction had a positive effect on brand loyalty. Fourth, customer satisfaction had a positive effect on brand emotion. Fifth, brand trust had a positive effect on brand loyalty. Sixth, brand emotion had a positive effect on brand loyalty. These results have the following implications. First, the dimensions of brand individuality are presented as a means to form brand loyalty, thereby demonstrating the significance of the effect. Accordingly, developing a proper brand individuality in forming brand loyalty is imperative. Second, consumers using specialty coffee shops had the greatest effect on the relation between dimensions of brand individuality and customer satisfaction in this study, while the interrelation between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty was not concretely supported in the preceding studies.

• 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.

• 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 the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.5 s.164
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• pp.826-835
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to identify factors evaluating beauty service and to find determinants of consumer satisfaction and intention to revisit a beauty shop for Korean men aged from 20's to 40's. The study was done by survey method. Data of three hundred were collected by on-line survey. Descriptive analyses, factor analyses, Duncan tests, multiple regressions, and path analyses were applied to analyze data. The results were as follows: First, factor analysis produced five factors on men's beauty service quality. They were store environments and convenience, employee's skill, service efficiency, store management methods, and service fee. Second, men's service satisfaction on beauty shop and on beauty shop employee were significantly affected by all the beauty service factors. Third, men's intention to revisit beauty shop and to revisit beauty shop employee were positively and significantly affected by all the beauty service factors and satisfaction on beauty shop employee. In conclusion, men's satisfaction and, in turn, intention to revisit beauty service were affected mainly by evaluation on beauty service. To increase customer satisfaction followed by store loyalty, comfortable shop atmosphere and outstanding styling quality service are likely to be most important. Beauty service quality could be perceived in comparing with service fee. Thus, diverse ways of price related promotion would be required to improve beauty service satisfaction.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.75-82
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• 2018

Purpose - As the role of salespersons in retail stores has expanded from selling products to sharing brand experiences with customers, the importance of research on the effects of salesperson-brand relationships has grown. The purpose of this research is to investigate the influences of salespersons' brand identification on conceptual fluency and customers' service and brand evaluations. It was supposed that salespersons' brand identification is affected by brand knowledge, which is a core dimension of internal branding. Research design, data, and methodology - The author developed a structural model in which salespersons' brand knowledge influences brand identification, hence customers' perception of salesperson-brand image congruence. And it is hypothesized that salesperson-brand image congruence influences conceptual fluency which affects customers' satisfaction and brand evaluation. Data were collected from five department stores in Seoul. Results - First, salespersons' brand knowledge was found to have a significant effect on brand identification. The more a salesperson knows about the affiliated brand, the higher her level of brand identification. Second, salespersons' brand identification influenced salesperson-brand image congruence. Third, salesperson-brand image congruence had a significant effect on brand conceptual fluency. Customers who perceive salesperson-brand image congruent are more likely to process information easily. Finally, conceptual fluency was found to be a significant determinant of store loyalty and brand value evaluation. Conclusions - The results of this study verify importance of salesperson's brand identification on customers' service and brand evaluations. To enhance salespersons' brand identification, retailers should emphasize the importance of internal branding and communication, especially by sharing brand vision, values, and identity with employees at customer contact points. Also, as brand conceptual fluency is a significant determinant of customer responses, retailers need to deliver consistent messages through various components of store environments, including salespersons' attitudes, appearances, and manners, as well as physical store design. With a deeper understanding of the effects of salesperson-brand relationship and brand conceptual fluency, retailers will be able to create more effective brand strategies to enhance their performances. Future studies should consider data from various retail types, such as discount stores, to generalize the findings.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1-18
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• 2015

Recent trends of mobile convergence has already brought about many changes in our digitally-powered society. Especially, taking advantage of strengths of existing mobile devices and smart phones have already been established as a primary standard in the business intelligence world. Such high-powered digital devices equipped with mobile convergence functions are getting more momentum as app stores are prevailing. Basically, the app stores are administered by smart phone manufacturers, creating a new business ecosystem among app developers and end-users. However, there are paucity of studies tackling an issue about how users' repurchase intention of the apps is influenced by the service qualities of the app stores. In this respect, this study aims to investigate the effect of app store service quality on users' satisfaction and repurchase intention. As the value of loyal customers is incomparably high in app commerce, winning customers' loyalty is vital to the success of app stores. In this study, a customer is defined as one who has purchased goods or services at least once from the app stores. The proposed research model includes a number of constructs such as app perceptions, customer service, perceived ease of use, design, promotion, perceived consumer risk and connectivity. Empirical results revealed that perceived consumer risk has a negative relationship with consumer's perceived repurchase intention. All the other variables-app perceptions, customer service, perceived ease of use, design, promotion, connectivity- are found to be positively related with the repurchase intentions.

• The International Journal of Costume Culture
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.113-124
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• 2006

The purposes of this study were to investigate the perceived risks and the purchase behaviors for luxury goods in internet shopping malls according to the shopping orientation. 254 questionnaires were distributed from April 10 to May 9 in 2006. For data analysis, frequency, percentage, factor analysis, cluster analysis, chi-square tests were conducted. The results could be summarized as follows. (1) According to cluster analysis of shopping orientation, respondents were classified into five groups: pursuit of pleasure, pursuit of fashion, price consciousness, planned shopping, brand and store loyalty, time-saving and convenience. (2) There were not significant differences in the perceived risks according to shopping orientation. (3) There were not significant differences in purchase reasons and were significant differences in no-purchase reasons.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.14 no.3 s.62
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• pp.366-380
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of shopping orientations on clothing purchasing behavior according to residence. The data was obtained from questionnaires filled out by 530 females living in Seoul and Jecheon. For data analysis, factor analysis, ANOVA, t-test, Cronbach's $\alpha$, Duncan's multiple range test and cluster analysis were used. For shopping orientation, five factors of orientation were found and labeled as hedonism, brand and store loyalty, conformity, economy and rationality factor. Based on five shopping orientation factors, women were classified into five clusters(self-centered and rational, recreational, economy and shopping low involvement, economical and conformative cluster). Each cluster showed significantly different clothing purchasing behaviors (problem recognition, information search and evaluative criteria) and had different demographic variables(age, income, marital status and school career). Finally, residence and shopping orientations have influenced various clothing purchasing behavior. In conclusion, residence was the important factor which influenced on shopping orientation and clothing purchasing behavior.