• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.169-188
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• 2013

Established in 2006 as the forward integration effort by Taesung Industry, the major cosmetic packaging company, TONYMOLY has phenomenally grown to one of the major cosmetic brand companies in the submarket called, 'one brand-shop' of cosmetic market since 2008, after overcoming the crisis of 'going out of business' in a couple of early years. Within a relatively short period of time, TONYMOLY's performances have dramatically improved in terms of metrics such as growth in sales revenue, the number of stores, the average sales per store, transaction value per customer, the number of monthly transactions, the number of membership-based customers, and overseas sales. In this case study, we have examined TONYMOLY's recent marketing activities which may explain the plausible reasons behind the substantial growth of a small but smart cosmetic company. Above all, the first key success factor of TONYMOLY would be found in its adherence to the clear philosophy of the customer value proposition and/or the differentiated position of TONYMOLY as a brand of providing value. Second, this brand concept of value was first penetrated and welcomed among the foothold customer target group of mid and late teens with appropriate products, while the target groups were later expanded into the age group of twenties along with expansion of relevant products. Third, its differentiation efforts have been concrete and meaningful by utilizing unique ingredients in its product development and marketing efforts, unique fun packaging, and continuously introducing new hit-selling products as well as managing steady-selling products. Fourth, TONYMOLY has been smart enough to use its limited marketing money efficiently and effectively in its marketing communication activities. Viral marketing, PPL, and concentrated media planning and execution turned out to produce effective and efficient market-based performances such as awareness, word-of-mouth, and sales. Lastly, the marketing leadership of CEO and top management, emphasizing communications and interactions, was confirmed in the relationship quality with and trust level of its franchisees and internal employees. These key success factors may explain the recent phenomenal market performances of TONYMOLY. Despite recent successes, the major issues are presented for TONYMOLY to consider for maintaining its sustainable advantages and growth. The first issue concerns TONYMOLY's choice of growth philosophy between product/brand-centric marketing and customer-centric marketing. The second challenging issue relates to how TONYMOLY can cope with 'growing pains' plausibly accompanied with the rapid growth.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2004

This study was designed to identify how customers considered menu selection attributes on menu choice, and so the instrument for measuring that question was developed and menu selection behavior types were analyzed by customers' characteristics. Cronbach's alpha to assess the internal reliability of the developed scales was 0.8361, which indicated to be highly reliable. Construct validity was assessed by principal components factor analysis with a Varimax rotation to identify underlying dimensions of menu selection and then four factors explaining 55.618% of the total variance were found. These factors were labeled as 'quality of meals', 'attractiveness of meals', 'healthfulness of meals' and 'variety of meals', respectively. As a result of analysis on menu selection factors, 'quality of meals'(3.82 out of 5) was the highest consideration followed by 'variety of meals'(3.51), 'healthfulness of meals'(3.49) and 'attractiveness of meals'(3.34), so that menu marketing approaches in the perspective of quality of meals would do lead customers' selection rates, customer satisfaction and then sales highly. Frequent visitor selected menu indifferently but customers who were interested in food and menu highly, who perceived meals' quality highly, and who were satisfied with overall foodservice did with concern. On the basis of these results of study for the target of food court-style B ＆ I foodservice operation, which was introduced as an ideal model in future foodservice market by the concept of 'customer's selection right', the following study related with customers' meal patterns and perception of foodservice by menu selection attributes would be able to predict the chances for success of food court-style foodservice operations.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.425-431
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• 2007

This study focused on the attribution factors affecting customers' satisfaction and revisit behaviors related to ice cream stores. For this study, 180 ice cream consumers who were patrons of ice cream franchise stores were randomly selected. Among them, 31 did not completed the survey. Therefore, a total of 149 survey questionnaires were analyzed for the results. All results were carried out using the frequency, factor analysis, cross tabs, and regression procedure of the SPSS 10.0 package. The results indicated that customers who visit ice cream stores $2{\sim}3$ times per month have a preference for a particular ice cream store. Determinant factors for ice cream specialty stores were summarized as the extensiveness of the menu, advertisements and familiarity, economical benefits, convenience inside the store, location and accessibility, and kindness. Among these, four factors (extensiveness of menu, advertisement and reputation, economical benefits, location and accessibility) significantly affected the level of customer satisfaction.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.73-83
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• 2015

Purpose - Recently, many large retailers have been frequently purchasing commercial brands. Not only the quality of products purchased but also the brand images are of concern in this process. Based on this rising trend, commercial brands have become an important issue in the retail business world, along with increasing general interest as well. Thus, this study focuses on the factors affecting commercial brand images and clarifies the impact of the resulting factors as well. First, store images and familiarity, price sensitiveness, and knowledge are presented as the effect factors for commercial brands. Second, the study tries to clarify the effect of commercial brand image on the reliability and loyalty of customers. Research design, data, and methodology - To conduct the study methodology, 250 questionnaires were distributed to retailers who have used large discount stores located in Busan to purchase a commercial brand a total of 234 valid questionnaires were used in the final analysis. To verify the hypotheses, a structure equation formula using Amos 20.0 was calculated. First, prior to the verification of hypotheses, the reliability and feasibility of the questions were tested, and as a result, the value of Cronbach's alpha was higher than 0.7, thereby showing reliability. Additionally, for the verification of the feasibility of the questions, a confirmation factor analysis was implemented. Results - First, variances such as store images, familiarity, price sensitivity, and knowledge were presented as the factors of effect on commercial brands. As a result of the hypotheses verification, all the effect factors presented in this study were confirmed as important variables of commercial brand images. The hypotheses were drawn based on the studies relating to existing commercial brands, and thereby, a result similar to previous studies was produced. However, the effect factors of the commercial brand image presented in this study shaped a new study model based on the previous studies. Second, it was found that commercial brand images had positive effects on the reliability and loyalty of customers. This study presented reliability and loyalty as the resulting factors of commercial brand image because they are the most important factors in relation to customer behavior and variables that can suggest marketing points for distribution businesses. Conclusions - This study focused on clarifying the factors that are important effect factors for commercial brand images. As a result, all the hypotheses were confirmed in this study, indicating a meaningful result, and thereby suggesting many points that can be presented to distribution businesses. First, the proper strategies should be developed based on the hypothesis that a store image, the familiarity of customers with brands, and the price sensitiveness and knowledge level of customers have an important effect on the choice of commercial brands. Additionally, the formation of such favorable images will have positive effects not only in terms of customer trust in the commercial brands but also in terms of their loyalty.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to categorize the gap between coffee shop 'importance' (as perceived by customers before patronizing the coffee shop) and 'satisfaction' (perception of customers after patronizing the coffee shop) as positive or negative and to analyze the effect of these gaps on purchasing behavior. To do this, I used the gap between importance and satisfaction regarding the choice of a coffee shop as the explanatory variable and performed an empirical analysis of the direction and size of the effect of the gap on purchasing behavior (overall satisfaction, willingness-to-revisit) by applying the Ordered Probit Model (OPM). A previous study that used IPA to evaluate the effects of gaps estimated the direction and size of a quadrant but failed to analyze the effect of gaps on customers. In this study, I evaluated the effects of positive and negative gaps on customer satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Using OPM, I quantified the effect of positive and negative gaps on overall customer satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Per-head expenditure, frequency of visits, and coffee-purchasing place had the most positive effects on overall customer satisfaction. Frequency of visits, followed by per-head expenditure and then coffee-purchasing place, had the most positive impact on willingness-to-visit. Thus per-head expenditure and frequency of visits had the greatest positive effects on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. This finding implies that the higher the actual satisfaction (gap) of customers who spend KRW5,000 or more once or more per week at coffee shops is, the higher their overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit are. Despite the fact that economical efficiency had a significant effect on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit, college and university students still use coffee shops and are willing to spend KRW5,000 because they do not only purchase coffee as a product itself, but use the coffee shop for other activities, such as working, meeting friends, or relaxing. College and university students also access the Internet in coffee shops via personal laptops, watch movies, and study; thus, coffee shops should provide their customers with the appropriate facilities and services. The fact that a positive gap for coffee shop brand had a positive effect on willingness-to-revisit implies that the higher the level of customer satisfaction, the greater the willingness-to-revisit. A negative gap for this factor, on the other hand, implies that the lower the level of customer satisfaction, the lower the willingness-to-revisit. Thus, the brand factor has a comparatively greater effect on satisfaction than the other factors evaluated in this study. Given that the domestic coffee culture is becoming more upscale and college/university students are sensitive to this trend, students are attentive to brands. In most upscale coffee shops in Korea, the outer wall is built out of glass that can be opened, the interiors are exotic with an open kitchen. These upscale coffee shops function as landmarks and match the taste of college/university students. Coffee shops in Korea have become a cultural brand. To make customers feel that coffee shops are upscale, good quality establishments and measures to provide better services in terms of brand factor should be instituted. The intensified competition among coffee shop brands in Korea as a result of the booming industry indicates that provision of additional services is needed to differentiate competitors. These customers can also use a scanner free of charge. Another strategy that can be used to boost brands could be to provide and operate a seminar room for seminars and group study. If coffee shops adopt these types of strategies, college/university students would be more likely to consider the expenses they incur worthwhile and, subsequently, they would be more likely to be satisfied with the brands of these coffee shops, with an associated increase in their willingness-to-revisit. Gender and study year had the most negative effects on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Female students were more likely to be satisfied and be willing to return than male students, and third and fourth-year students were more likely to be satisfied and willing-to-return than first or second-year students. Students who drink coffee, read books, and use laptops alone at coffee shops are easily noticeable. High-grade students tend to visit coffee shops alone in order to use their time efficiently for self-development and to find jobs. The economical efficiency factor had the greatest effect on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit in terms of a positive gap. The higher the actual satisfaction (gap) of students with the price of the coffee, the greater their overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Economical efficiency with a negative gap had a negative effect on willingness-to-revisit, which implies that a less negative gap will result in a greater willingness-to-revisit. Amid worsening market conditions, coffee shops located around colleges/universities are using strategies, such as a point or membership card, strategic alliances with credit-card companies, development of a set menu or seasonal menu, and free coffee-shot services to increase their competitive edge. Product power also had a negative effect in terms of a negative gap, which indicates that a higher negative gap will result in a lower willingness-to-revisit. Because there are many more customers that enjoy coffee in this decade, as compared to previous decades, the new generation of customers, namely college/university students, want various menu items in addition to coffee, and coffee shops should, therefore, add side menu items, such as waffles, rice cakes, cakes, sandwiches, and salads. For example, Starbucks Korea is making efforts to enhance product power by selling rice cakes flavored in strawberry, wormwood, and pumpkin, and providing coffee or cream free of charge. In summary, coffee shops should focus on increasing their economical efficiency, brand, and product power to enhance the satisfaction of college/university students. Because shops adjacent to colleges or universities enjoy a locational advantage, providing differentiated services in terms of economical efficiency, brand, and product power, is likely to increase customer satisfaction and return visits. Coffee shop brands should, therefore, be innovative and embrace change to meet their customers' desires. Because this study only targeted college/university students in Seoul, comparative studies targeting diverse regions and age groups are required to generalize the findings and recommendations of this study.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2012

This study seeks to understand how the choice of a coffee shop is related to a customer's loyalty and which characteristics of a shop influence this choice. It considers large-sized coffee shops brands whose market scale has gradually grown. The users' choice of shop is determined by price, employee service, shop location, and shop atmosphere. The study investigated the effects of these four properties on the brand attitudes of coffee shops. The effects were found to vary depending on users' characteristics. The properties with the largest influence were shop atmosphere and shop location Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the properties that could help coffee shops get loyal customers, and the choice properties that could satisfy consumers' desires The study examined consumers' perceptions of shop properties at selection of coffee shop and the difference between perceptual difference and coffee brand in order to investigate customers' desires and needs and to suggest ways that could supply products and service. The research methodology consisted of two parts: normative and empirical research, which includes empirical analysis and statistical analysis. In this study, a statistical analysis of the empirical research was carried out. The study theoretically confirmed the shop choice properties by reviewing previous studies and performed an empirical analysis including cross tabulation based on secondary material. The findings were as follows: First, coffee shop choice properties varied by gender. Price advantage influenced the choice of both men and women; men preferred nearer coffee shops where they could buy coffee easily and more conveniently than women did. The atmosphere of the coffee shop had the greatest influence on both men and women, and shop atmosphere was thought to be the most important for age analysis. In the past, customers selected coffee shops solely to drink coffee. Now, they select the coffee shop according to its interior, menu variety, and atmosphere owing to improved quality and service of coffee shop brands. Second, the prices of the brands did not vary much because the coffee shops were similarly priced. The service was thought to be more important and to elevate service quality so that price and employee service and other properties did not have a great influence on shop choice. However, those working in the farming, forestry, fishery, and livestock industries were more concerned with the price than the shop atmosphere. College and graduate school students were also affected by inexpensive price. Third, shop choice properties varied depending on income. The shop location and shop atmosphere had a greater influence on shop choice. The customers in an income bracket of less than 2 million won selected low-price coffee shops more than those earning 6 million won or more. Therefore, price advantage had no relation with difference in income. The higher income group was not affected by employee service. Fourth, shop choice properties varied depending on place. For instance, customers at Ulsan were the most affected by the price, and the ones at Busan were the least affected. The shop location had the greatest influence among all of the properties. Among the places surveyed, Gwangju had the least influence. The alternate use of space in a coffee shop was thought to be important in all the cities under consideration. The customers at Ulsan were not affected by employee service, and they selected coffee shops according to quality and preference of shop atmosphere. Lastly, the price factor was found to be a little higher than other factors when customers frequently selected brands according to shop properties. Customers at Gwangju reacted to discounts more than those in other cities did, and the former gave less priority to the quality and taste of coffee. Brand preference varied depending on coffee shop location. Customers at Busan selected brands according to the coffee shop location, and those at Ulsan were not influenced by employee kindness and specialty. The implications of this study are that franchise coffee shop businesses should focus on customers rather than aggressive marketing strategies that increase the number of coffee shops. Thus, they should create an environment with a good atmosphere and set up coffee shops in places that customers have good access to. This study has some limitations. First, the respondents were concentrated in metropolitan areas. Secondary data showed that the number of respondents at Seoul was much more than that at Gyeonggi-do. Furthermore, the number of respondents at Gyeonggi-do was much more than those at the six major cities in the nation. Thus, the regional sample was not representative enough of the population. Second, respondents' ratio was used as a measurement scale to test the perception of shop choice properties and brand preference. The difficulties arose when examining the relation between these properties and brand preference, as well as when understanding the difference between groups. Therefore, future research should seek to address some of the shortcomings of this study: If the coffee shops are being expanded to local areas, then a questionnaire survey of consumers at small cities in local areas shall be conducted to collect primary material. In particular, variables of the questionnaire survey shall be measured using Likert scales in order to include perception on shop choice properties, brand preference, and repurchase. Therefore, correlation analysis, multi-regression, and ANOVA shall be used for empirical analysis and to investigate consumers' attitudes and behavior in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.85-96
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• 2002

Entering the period of Mass Customization, and with the help of the Digital Textile Printing technology, the purpose of this study is to propose two customer involved design process models, based on the Digital Textile Printing technology, and to compare their efficiencies and appropriateness with those of the existing design process model, which would lead us to discover the possibilities of Mass Customized design process. By the result obtained from the survey of 166 females in their twenties and thirties, the second Mass Customized design process model which gave most choices to prosumers was preferred the most, while the existing design process which gave no choice seemed to be preferred the least, and among the design elements of textile, color appeared to be the most significant influential factor in the preference of the clothing by the consumers. In summary, it appeared that every aspect of the society requires a shift in the process of the thought from Mass Production to Mass Customization at this point, and a guideline was made from the Mass Customized design process suggested in this study.

• Korea Real Estate Review
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.91-104
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• 2014

This paper studied condo selection attributes that affected satisfaction, recommendation and revisitation, in particular, investigated gender and age differences. Research target is the group who revisited time-sharing condominium within one year. The paper seeks to understand factors that affect and contribute to customer satisfaction and intentions for reuse. This study model was analyzed by the basic statistical analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis and multiple analysis, using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0. We found that 5 condo selection attributes that have significant affect on user satisfaction: facility, service, product, accessibility and expense. Furthermore it was evident that user satisfaction has a significant effect on condo recommendation and intentions of reuse. With regard to sex, for male users expense, accessibility and service had a significant effect on their satisfaction level, while for female users, product was most important. User satisfaction both have a significant effect on recommendation and intentions of reuse but for females this was more evident. Regarding the age, for 20~30 age band, service and product factor had a significant effect on user satisfaction in order, whereas, for the age band of over 40s, expense, product and facility factors were important. User satisfaction of both have a significant effect on recommendation and intentions of reuse. In the meantime user satisfaction of 20~30 age band had a bigger positive significant effect on recommendation and intentions of reuse than the age band over 40s.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.67-88
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• 2019

Webtoon is a Korean-style digital comics platform that distributes comics content produced using the characteristic elements of the Internet in a form that can be consumed online. With the recent rapid growth of the webtoon industry and the exponential increase in the supply of webtoon content, the need for effective webtoon content recommendation measures is growing. Webtoons are digital content products that combine pictorial, literary and digital elements. Therefore, webtoons stimulate consumer sentiment by making readers have fun and engaging and empathizing with the situations in which webtoons are produced. In this context, it can be expected that the sentiment that webtoons evoke to consumers will serve as an important criterion for consumers' choice of webtoons. However, there is a lack of research to improve webtoons' recommendation performance by utilizing consumer sentiment. This study is aimed at developing consumer sentiment pattern maps that can support effective recommendations of webtoon content, focusing on consumer sentiments that have not been fully discussed previously. Metadata and consumer sentiments data were collected for 200 works serviced on the Korean webtoon platform 'Naver Webtoon' to conduct this study. 488 sentiment terms were collected for 127 works, excluding those that did not meet the purpose of the analysis. Next, similar or duplicate terms were combined or abstracted in accordance with the bottom-up approach. As a result, we have built webtoons specialized sentiment-index, which are reduced to a total of 63 emotive adjectives. By performing exploratory factor analysis on the constructed sentiment-index, we have derived three important dimensions for classifying webtoon types. The exploratory factor analysis was performed through the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using varimax factor rotation. The three dimensions were named 'Immersion', 'Touch' and 'Irritant' respectively. Based on this, K-Means clustering was performed and the entire webtoons were classified into four types. Each type was named 'Snack', 'Drama', 'Irritant', and 'Romance'. For each type of webtoon, we wrote webtoon-sentiment 2-Mode network graphs and looked at the characteristics of the sentiment pattern appearing for each type. In addition, through profiling analysis, we were able to derive meaningful strategic implications for each type of webtoon. First, The 'Snack' cluster is a collection of webtoons that are fast-paced and highly entertaining. Many consumers are interested in these webtoons, but they don't rate them well. Also, consumers mostly use simple expressions of sentiment when talking about these webtoons. Webtoons belonging to 'Snack' are expected to appeal to modern people who want to consume content easily and quickly during short travel time, such as commuting time. Secondly, webtoons belonging to 'Drama' are expected to evoke realistic and everyday sentiments rather than exaggerated and light comic ones. When consumers talk about webtoons belonging to a 'Drama' cluster in online, they are found to express a variety of sentiments. It is appropriate to establish an OSMU(One source multi-use) strategy to extend these webtoons to other content such as movies and TV series. Third, the sentiment pattern map of 'Irritant' shows the sentiments that discourage customer interest by stimulating discomfort. Webtoons that evoke these sentiments are hard to get public attention. Artists should pay attention to these sentiments that cause inconvenience to consumers in creating webtoons. Finally, Webtoons belonging to 'Romance' do not evoke a variety of consumer sentiments, but they are interpreted as touching consumers. They are expected to be consumed as 'healing content' targeted at consumers with high levels of stress or mental fatigue in their lives. The results of this study are meaningful in that it identifies the applicability of consumer sentiment in the areas of recommendation and classification of webtoons, and provides guidelines to help members of webtoons' ecosystem better understand consumers and formulate strategies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.5-13
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• 2011

This study provides analysis of the effectiveness of domestic marketing strategies of the Korean coffee shop "Caffe Bene". It bases its evaluation on statistical outputs of 'choice attributes,' "market segmentation," demographic characteristics," and "satisfaction differences." The results are summarized in four points. First, five choice attributes were extracted from factor analysis: price, atmosphere, comfort, taste, and location; these are related to coffee shop selection behavior. Based on these five factors, cluster analysis was conducted, with statistical results classifying customers into three major groups: atmosphere oriented; comfort oriented; and taste oriented. Second, discriminant analysis tested cluster analysis and showed two discriminant functions: location and atmosphere. Third, cross-tabulation analysis based on demographic characteristics showed distinctive demographic characteristics within the three groups. Atmosphere oriented group, early-20s, as women of all ages was found to be 'walking down the street 'and 'through acquaintances' in many cases, as the cognitive path, and mostly found the store through 'outdoor advertising', and 'introduction'. Comfort oriented group was mainly women who are students in their early twenties or professionals, and appeared as a group to be very loyal because of high recommendation to other customers compared to other groups. Taste oriented group, unlike the other group, was mainly late-20s' college graduates, and was confirmed, as low loyalty, with lower recommendation activity. Fourth, to analyze satisfaction differences, one-way ANOVA was conducted. It shows that groups which show high satisfaction in the five main factors also show high menu satisfaction and high overall satisfaction. This results show that segmented marketing strategies are necessary because customers are considering price, atmosphere, comfort, taste, location when they choose coffee shop and demographics show different attributes based on segmented groups. For example, atmosphere oriented group is satisfied with shop interior and comfort while dissatisfied with price because most of the customers in this group are early 20s and do not have great financial capability. Thus, price discounting marketing strategies based on individual situations through CRM system is critical. Comfort oriented group shows high satisfaction level about location and shop comfort. Also, in this group, there are many early 20s female customers, students, and self-employed people. This group customers show high word of mouth tendency, hence providing positive brand image to the customers would be important. In case of taste oriented group, while the scores of taste and location are high, word of mouth score is low. This group is mainly composed of educated and professional many late 20s customers, therefore, menu differentiation, increasing quality of coffee taste and price discrimination is critical to increase customers' satisfaction. However, it is hard to generalize the results of study to other coffee shop brand, because this study have researched only one domestic coffee shop, Caffe Bene. Thus if future study expand the scope of locations, brands, and occupations, the results of the study would provide more generalizable results. Finally, research of customer satisfactions of menu, trust, loyalty, and switching cost would be critical in the future study.