• Archives of design research
• /
• v.18 no.1 s.59
• /
• pp.135-144
• /
• 2005

Consumers' awareness of product value, and their product preferences, are becoming increasingly influential in product development, particularly in corporations' efforts in manufacturing products with a competitive edge. Corporations conduct surveys on consumers' product satisfaction and preferences and conduct in-depth studies on consumer needs. They then manufacture products in accordance with the results of these surveys and studies. With the necessity and demand for digital door lock products recently growing, this research sought to explore product competitiveness reinforcement factors that could facilitate market penetration, and to formulate corresponding design strategies. In-depth consumer interviews were also conducted to identify consumer lifestyles and needs. Furthermore, consumer preference images, purchase and use-related patterns, and the status of door lock markets were studied. In the past, to design and manufacture consumer-oriented products, corporations primarily resorted to the improvement of the products' technological features. At present, the users' product preferences and the ways that they use these products are the factors that determine product design. Consumers today tend to adjust their lifestyles according to available products, and prefer products that have greater value in terms of lifestyle and culture. Strategic points for reinforcing competitiveness were presented in this study: first, offering different values that will enhance consumer satisfaction, second, positively developing bio-recognizable methods that will boost consumer preference, third, meeting the consumers' expectations that door lock products should not be mere 'entrance and exit control' systems, but network security systems and fourth, adopting convenient authentication methods backed by advanced technologies.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.104-116
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to conduct an empirical survey on consumer perception and consumption behavior in relation to local food and eco-friendly food. The survey was conducted using 266 consumers who have heard about or purchased local foods and eco-friendly foods centering on Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, and statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS (Version 23.0) to generate descriptive statistical values such as frequency and percentage and implement a Chi-square test. The results showed that consumers purchased local food in large shopping malls, supermarkets, and local food stores, whereas eco-friendly food were usually bought in large shopping malls, supermarkets, and eco-friendly food specialty stores. For local food, consumers bought fruits the most, followed by vegetables, whereas for eco-friendly food, consumers purchased vegetables the most, followed by fruits. The top reason for purchasing local food was its "fresh and high quality," whereas the top reason for buying eco-friendly food was "safety from pesticides and additives." According to results of the Chi-square test, women, unmarried people and younger people turned out to have more experiences in purchasing local foods and eco-friendly foods compared to men, married people and older people, respectively. Although local and eco-friendly food were completely different concepts, results of the study show that consumers were not able to make a clear distinction between the two. Consumer education, therefore, should involve defining the two types of food and spreading awareness on local and organic food to help them made the right choices when buying food.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.405-420
• /
• 2018

As the intelligent vehicle market continues to develop relevant technologies and services for consumers, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of potential consumers. The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the types of potential consumers of intelligent vehicle using the Q-methodology. A Q-frame was constructed using thirty six statements from intelligent vehicle related literature concerning core technology, technology acceptance and personal consumption value, legal system and policy and social awareness. Q-sorting and in-depth interviews were conducted using thirty nine P-samples snowballed. Analysis produced four types of potential consumers for intelligent vehicle: Smart Car Consumer, Reasonable Consumer, Safety Car Consumer, and Smart Device Consumer. Smart Car Consumer value the vehicle capability of intelligent vehicle as most important while Reasonable Consumer focus upon the economics of intelligent vehicle. Safety Car Consumer recognize the safety of intelligent vehicle as most important while Smart Device Consumer highly value the IT functions provided by intelligent vehicles. Across these four different types of consumers, preventing injuries of intelligent vehicle drivers turned out to be the most common critical factor in assessing intelligent vehicle. Implications for the intelligent vehicle market is discussed at the end with further studies needed.

• Management & Information Systems Review
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.29-46
• /
• 2019

O2O services, a form of mobile commerce, are increasing due to the widespread use of smartphones and the rational consumption trend of young consumers. In addition, the introduction of Social Commerce's O2O service has transformed customer experience into innovation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of O2O service characteristics and social commerce provider characteristics on the social commerce 's O2O service as a social psychological image that consumers have at the point of purchase and use time, as a smart shopper feeling and a cheapness shopper feeling. And the relationship between consumer satisfaction and intention to use through Structure Equation Modeling, and to suggest the implications for O2O service management that can provide greater satisfaction to consumers by identifying the process of creating satisfaction of O2O service. The results of the study show that price discounts and scarcity of social commerce's O2O service characteristics have shown that it increases smart shopper feeling. Also, it was confirmed that brand awareness and ease of purchase, which are characteristics of social commerce, confirms the increase of cheapness shopper feeling. We also confirmed the effect of smart shopper feeling and cheapness shopper feeling on satisfaction. This satisfaction has a positive effect on the intention to use. The result of this study is that it is necessary to reduce the cheapness shopper feeling of consumers and to emphasize the price discount and scarcity so that the smart shopper feeling occurs in order to satisfy the consumers who purchase O2O service products.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.245-276
• /
• 2008

Brand equity is one of the most important concepts in business practice as well as in academic research. Successful brands can allow marketers to gain competitive advantage (Lassar et al.,1995), including the opportunity for successful extensions, resilience against competitors' promotional pressures, and the ability to create barriers to competitive entry (Farquhar, 1989). Branding plays a special role in service firms because strong brands increase trust in intangible products (Berry, 2000), enabling customers to better visualize and understand them. They reduce customers' perceived monetary, social, and safety risks in buying services, which are obstacles to evaluating a service correctly before purchase. Also, a high level of brand equity increases consumer satisfaction, repurchasing intent, and degree of loyalty. Brand equity can be considered as a mixture that includes both financial assets and relationships. Actually, brand equity can be viewed as the value added to the product (Keller, 1993), or the perceived value of the product in consumers' minds. Mahajan et al. (1990) claim that customer-based brand equity can be measured by the level of consumers' perceptions. Several researchers discuss brand equity based on two dimensions: consumer perception and consumer behavior. Aaker (1991) suggests measuring brand equity through price premium, loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations. Viewing brand equity as the consumer's behavior toward a brand, Keller (1993) proposes similar dimensions: brand awareness and brand knowledge. Thus, past studies tend to identify brand equity as a multidimensional construct consisted of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand knowledge, customer satisfaction, perceived equity, brand associations, and other proprietary assets (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Blackston, 1995; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Na, 1995). Other studies tend to regard brand equity and other brand assets, such as brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and so on, as independent but related constructs (Keller, 1993; Kirmani and Zeithaml, 1993). Walters(1978) defined information search as, "A psychological or physical action a consumer takes in order to acquire information about a product or store." But, each consumer has different methods for informationsearch. There are two methods of information search, internal and external search. Internal search is, "Search of information already saved in the memory of the individual consumer"(Engel, Blackwell, 1982) which is, "memory of a previous purchase experience or information from a previous search."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). External search is "A completely voluntary decision made in order to obtain new information"(Engel & Blackwell, 1982) which is, "Actions of a consumer to acquire necessary information by such methods as intentionally exposing oneself to advertisements, taking to friends or family or visiting a store."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). There are many sources for consumers' information search including advertisement sources such as the internet, radio, television, newspapers and magazines, information supplied by businesses such as sales people, packaging and in-store information, consumer sources such as family, friends and colleagues, and mass media sources such as consumer protection agencies, government agencies and mass media sources. Understanding consumers' purchasing behavior is a key factor of a firm to attract and retain customers and improving the firm's prospects for survival and growth, and enhancing shareholder's value. Therefore, marketers should understand consumer as individual and market segment. One theory of consumer behavior supports the belief that individuals are rational. Individuals think and move through stages when making a purchase decision. This means that rational thinkers have led to the identification of a consumer buying decision process. This decision process with its different levels of involvement and influencing factors has been widely accepted and is fundamental to the understanding purchase intention represent to what consumers think they will buy. Brand equity is not only companies but also very important asset more than product itself. This paper studies brand equity model and influencing factors including information process such as information searching and information resources in the fashion market in Asia and Europe. Information searching and information resources are influencing brand knowledge that influences consumers purchase decision. Nine research hypotheses are drawn to test the relationships among antecedents of brand equity and purchase intention and relationships among brand knowledge, brand value, brand attitude, and brand loyalty. H1. Information searching influences brand knowledge positively. H2. Information sources influence brand knowledge positively. H3. Brand knowledge influences brand attitude. H4. Brand knowledge influences brand value. H5. Brand attitude influences brand loyalty. H6. Brand attitude influences brand value. H7. Brand loyalty influences purchase intention. H8. Brand value influence purchase intention. H9. There will be the same research model in Asia and Europe. We performed structural equation model analysis in order to test hypotheses suggested in this study. The model fitting index of the research model in Asia was $X^2$=195.19(p=0.0), NFI=0.90, NNFI=0.87, CFI=0.90, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.083, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. In Europe, it was $X^2$=133.25(p=0.0), NFI=0.81, NNFI=0.85, CFI=0.89, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.073, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. From the test results, hypotheses were accepted. All of these hypotheses except one are supported. In Europe, information search is not an antecedent of brand knowledge. This means that sales of global fashion brands like jeans in Europe are not expanding as rapidly as in Asian markets such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Young consumers in European countries are not more brand and fashion conscious than their counter partners in Asia. The results have theoretical, practical meaning and contributions. In the fashion jeans industry, relatively few studies examining the viability of cross-national brand equity has been studied. This study provides insight on building global brand equity and suggests information process elements like information search and information resources are working differently in Asia and Europe for fashion jean market.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.145-155
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine the university students' awareness and attitudes on functional clothing materials, and to explore the effects of subjects' characteristics on the relationship between their attitudes to and images of the functional clothing materials. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to university students and 409 of which were used in data analysis. The data were statistically analyzed by frequency, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, t-test, ANOVA. The results were as follows: students thought that the first and foremost 'function' of functional clothing materials is their light-weight. The functions that consumers practically demanded are water-repellency and high absorbency & quick drying. It showed that students have an image that functional clothing materials have special, good and satisfactory qualities. Goretex and Coolmax were the most selected as brands of functional clothing materials which students knew. Attitudes to functional clothing materials revealed positively in the cognitive, behavioral and affectional attitudes. The attitudes had no significant differences according to sex and their major, but they had significant differences by subjects' amount of allowance, frequency of sports participation and sports ability. In other words, the more amount of allowance they get, the more frequently students do exercise, and the higher sports ability they have, the more positive attitude they have. The study says, in conclusion, that their conception of functional clothing materials has positive relations with their attitudes toward them.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.15 no.11
• /
• pp.447-455
• /
• 2015

In the highly competitive coffee market, it is important to understand consumer purchase mechanism. Although consumers repeat decision-making about coffee purchase, most studies on service management do not consider habit construct. This study identifies repurchase intention and service habit as key drivers of comsumer purchase. Moreover, thus study investigates the effects of consumer satisfaction, perceived service quality, and brand awareness on consumer's purchase behavior. Data collected from 233 female university students were empirically tested against a research model using partial least squares. The analysis results showed that service habit significantly influences comsumer purchase, whereas purchase intention does not affect it. Both consumer satisfaction and brand awareness play an important role on the formation of service habit. Moreover, the results found that perceived service quality significantly affects consumer satisfaction.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.112-127
• /
• 2009

In 2007, due to the outcome of the Korea-U.S. FTA negotiations, the opportunities for American beef greatly increased and a serious change in the domestic dining market is expected. The market currently faces issues such as the settlement of the beef origin declaration policy and the fulfillment of customer needs on domestic and imported beef. The following are the summary of the results of the aforementioned research and analysis. First, the consumer awareness level of origin declarations was comparatively low. Second, the reason behind the propensity for imported beef was the comparatively cheaper price despite the lower taste quality, and it was determined that there is a high level of distrust on domestic beef sold in general restaurants. Third, domestic beef showed a high valuation in taste, safety and freshness, while imported beef showed results which were below average. Concluding from the above research results, a dining environment should be created where consumers can trust what they eat through settlement of an origin declaration policy, and more efforts should be put into fulfilling consumer needs for both domestic and imported beef.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.438-447
• /
• 2012

This study investigates the effects of appearance-relative behaviors of adolescent female consumers on their awareness of heath harmfulness and skinny jeans purchasing behaviors and identifies the influential variables on the wearing satisfaction of skinny jeans. A survey was carried out with middle and high school female students and 386 responses were analyzed using descriptive analysis, factor analysis, a reliability test, and regression analysis. The results of this study were as follows, 1) From the results of the factor analysis on appearance-related behaviors and clothing benefits of skinny jeans for female adolescents, each of the variance assessments clearly showed factorial structures. 2) As a result of looking at the influences of appearance-relative behaviors on the clothing benefits of skinny jeans, respondents who paid more attention to their appearance tended to consider hygiene and activity comfort less important. In addition, respondents who had higher fashion concerns tended to consider aesthetic, practicability, desired trend, and activity comfort more important. 3) Respondents who had higher fashion concerns and considered activity comfort more important among skinny jeans benefits showed a higher level of satisfaction when wearing skinny jeans. However, respondents who thought aesthetic and health hygiene more important when buying skinny jeans showed a lower level of satisfaction when wearing skinny jeans. Female adolescents showed less satisfaction when wearing skinny jeans, as they perceived harmfulness about skinny jeans more.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.11-20
• /
• 2015

In this paper, we propose a context awareness system to transfer accurate information of the app store based on collective intelligence. By using collective intelligence the system minimizes the errors that could occur when an individual process the problems, recommends APIs for developers and builds the app store for not only customers but also developers. In addition, this system applies the ontology technique to aware the context of consumers, recommends the app suitable for the consumer and provides the information for app developers. By utilizing the deduction technique of the Jena, the context awareness system infers the context of a consumer and constructs the app store system which improves the existing app stores. In the point of service transfer and accuracy, the proposed app store system module show better performance than the existing app store.