• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.15-31
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to classify male consumers and examine their clothing consumption values and the perceived importance of store attributes. Using Internet-based research service, survey data were collected from 651 male consumers aged between 20 and 40. The questionnaire included questions regarding respondents' preference of different store types, clothing consumption values, perceived importance of store attributes. According to the results, the respondents were categorized into 5 distinct groups based on their store type preferences: discount store preference group, multi-channel preference group, store indifferent group, brand store preference group, online store preference group. Multi-channel preference group was the largest among these groups. The five store type preference groups statistically varied in clothing consumption values, i.e., epistemic value, brand/conspicuous value, and economic value. The groups also differed in the importance they placed in the store attributes of: service and product quality, promotion, fashionability, salesperson and store environment, store atmosphere, convenience, and website image. The results of this study have direct implication for retail marketers of fashion companies who are targeting male consumers. Marketers can apply findings of this study in implementing retail strategies for different types of stores.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.11-23
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• 2023

With the proliferation of the "Untact" culture (non-face-to-face society), advanced technologies have accelerated the cashierless systems in the retail context. Cashierless fashion stores are expected to grow rapidly in the same way automated convenience stores grew in popularity. Applying the extended technology acceptance theory, this study aims to investigate how the attributes of cashierless fashion store influence consumers' acceptance of it and to examine how consumer's technology readiness moderates the model. Two online surveys-preliminary and secondary-were conducted to collect data from consumers in their 20s and 30s who had experienced cashierless stores over the past year. To analyze a total of 423 responses, this study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis, a multi-group factor analysis, a multi-group structure equation modeling, and a descriptive analysis. The results demonstrate that convenience, trustworthiness, and price had a positive impact on perceived ease of use, while service quality had a negative one. Enjoyment, convenience, trustworthiness, and price positively influenced perceived usefulness. Both perceived ease of use and usefulness increased the intention to use. Furthermore, the multi-group comparison confirmed that the positive dimensions of consumer's technology readiness played a moderating role in the model. This study provides a research foundation for consumer acceptance of technologically advanced stores and offers practical implications to companies planning cashierless fashion stores.

• Fashion, Industry and Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2018

Recently China has become one of the major markets for luxury brands. In addition, practicing social responsibility by manufacturers of luxury brands has become ubiquitous because consumers' perception of such practices may affect their purchase decisions positively. This study explored Chinese shoppers' perception of luxury brands' social responsibility practices and their information seeking behavior. In this study, value congruence was used as a theoretical framework. Twelve participants were selected out of customers in a shopping mall in Beijing, and they were subject to in-depth interview. The interview consisted of open-ended questions about perception of luxury brands' social responsibility practices, sources to access such practices, and the degree of personal value congruence to such practices as well as demographic information. Qualitative approach was used to analyze the data. Half of the participants indicated their awareness of the social responsibility practices of luxury brands, which sets up a foundation for understanding importance of luxury brands' social responsibility practices. Approximately half of the participants preferred to learn about luxury brands' socially responsible practices online especially via social media. These findings imply that Chinese luxury shoppers' trust and preference for the companies would be enhanced by effective development and advertisement of companies' social responsibility practices, and thus provide luxury companies with useful information on marketing strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.763-774
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• 2016

Companies have recently become interested in the importance of long-term relationships with customers because business-based marketing ideas of the past have evolved into long-term relationship-based marketing. Establishing a relationship with customers to a company is not a simple method to form a market of consumers and provider; it is now understood as an important factor directly connected to the survival of a company. This study is to help Korean fashion brands in China build an efficient strategy for sales promotion and loyal customers through the analysis of the effect of familiarity with Korean fashion brands on satisfaction and brand loyalty in a rapidly growing Chinese fashion market. An online questionnaire covering Korean fashion brands in China was completed by 377 Chinese male and female customers aged 20 to 39 years old from March 20 to March 27, 2014. Data analysis was performed by factor analysis and path analysis using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS. Both direct experiences and indirect experiences influenced brand familiarity. It showed that brand familiarity had a significant direct effect and an indirect effect through satisfaction on brand loyalty. A competitive advantage in the present Chinese fashion market requires that loyalty builds and that brand loyalty increases by creating a long-term relationship with customers when familiarity about the brand is induced.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.908-920
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• 2014

As social networking service (SNS) users' needs and wants have become more diverse, SNS is designed to provide various services and functions. As a result, an image based SNS with the purpose of sharing various interests has emerged. More and more fashion companies are using image based SNS to use it as a medium to better communicate with their customers. This study investigates the effect of usage motivation of image based SNS with the emotion of pleasure as the mediator and its impact towards flow and brand attitude. In order to verify the research model and to test the proposed hypotheses, we conducted a pilot test on 8 image based SNS heavy users, and followed through with 215 questionnaires which were collected via online survey. The results of this study are as follows. Each usage motivation of image based SNS had significant effect on each pleasure. The visual impact had a positive effect on sensory pleasure and the common interest significantly influenced on user's affective preference. Curating, simplicity and interconnecting had a positive effect on cognitive pleasure. Affective and cognitive pleasures except sensory pleasure positively impacted the user on flow. The cognitive pleasure had a positive effect on the brand attitude. Lastly, flow had a positive effect on the brand attitude. This study is the foundation of the image based SNS academically in the new media research. Furthermore, it suggests managerial implications of a company to provide effective marketing strategy to make the best use of image based SNS.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.389-399
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• 2023

Sustainable fashion products have different characteristics from typical fashion products. Therefore, this study focuses on shoes while exploring the expansion and development of sustainable fashion consumption as well as consumers' perceptions of the sustainability approaches practiced by shoe companies. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 consumers, who had purchased sustainable shoes, in order to understand their purchase decision-making process and consumption characteristics, using the seven stages of the EBM model. In the "need recognition" stage, the survey participants' social background and family influences were categorized as macro factors, while their personal background influences were categorized as micro factors. In the "evaluation of alternatives" stage, participants reconfirmed whether or not to make a purchase based on the product's properties, such as price, brand value, and offered services. In the "purchase" stage, participants' purchase channels were determined according to their preferences as well as the selection pattern they followed until the final purchase within the chosen channel. In the "consumption" stage, the start of product ownership coincides with the start of using the products after making a purchase. In the "post-purchase assessment" stage, higher positive experiences led to a higher repurchase intention of sustainable shoes, while negative experiences caused participants to defer consumption and made them experience a sense of guilt for failing to consume sustainably. During the "post-purchase behavior" stage, which focused on the categories that the customers prioritized, many participants spread information about sustainable fashion to specific individuals through active online WOM behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.64-76
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• 2011

Consumers attribute human personality to products or stores as well as brands. As brand personality is imprinted to a consumer's mind, in e-commerce, the concept of store personality needs to be examined by comprehending the e-brand personality. Unlike the recent studies that focus primarily on the portal site, we attempt to identify e-brand personality of online shopping malls that sell fashion products. This study also examined the impact of the parent company's attributes on e-brand personality. A survey was conducted to 240 females and 240 males in their 20s or 30s. E-brand personality of three different types of the Internet shopping mall was evaluated by 160 respondents, respectively. As a result, we found that Internet shoppers perceive that e-brands have four distinct personality dimensions: young, reliable, sophisticated, and creative. Among the four dimensions, "young" and "reliable" showed the most significant influence on intention to visit the shopping mall site. Besides, e-brand personality varied with parent companies' attributes such as reputation, credibility, and fashion industry-relatedness. Especially, credibility of the parent company showed a strong positive relationship with e-brand personality.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.899-918
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• 2018

Upcycling is the process of repurposing abandoned resources or useless products into products of better quality or higher environmental value. Upcycling products are evaluated to be sustainable because they demonstrate environmental values. However, domestic upcycling companies are operating on a small scale with a slow growth rate. This study aims to examine the value and risk factors of upcycling products from previous literature and clarify the effect of these ambivalent characteristics on purchase intention. This provides direction regarding factors upcycling companies should focus on. The data were collected via an online experiment with women in their 20s and 30s residing in South Korea, nationwide. The data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0. Analysis of this data suggests that environmental, design, and self-expression value positively affect purchase intention. This extends previous upcycling literature by identifying design and self-expression value as important antecedents of purchase intention. However, in contrast to previous literature, no significant effect of performance or diversity risk was found. These results indicate that ethical attitude has a moderating effect on the relationship between environmental value and purchase intention. This study confirms that consumers intend to purchase upcycling products when they possess not only environmental value but also design and self-expression value.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.883-894
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• 2012

Fashion companies are faced with more severe competition with the emergence of new types of retail formats. Retailers are coming up with new shopping values to maximize their profits and benefits of customers. The aim of this study was to study shopping values and analyze differences in store selection criteria and store visits among. The respondents were males and females with ages ranging from the 20's to the 40's, residing in Seoul and the Gyeonggi area. Data were collected via both online and offline. Data from 427 respondents were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. Results indicated that there were three categories including hedonic, informative, and reliable shopping values from the factors for clothing shopping values. They form three types of consumer groups such as active, passive-reliable, and hedonic-informative shopping value groups. These three groups were different in terms of demographic characteristics. For the factor influencing store preference, the range of product selection and customer service were the two significant features that showed substantial differences in the shopping value groups store's atmosphere, salespeople, convenient location, price, and brand store did not have significant differences across groups. Retailers of each fashion retail formats have to consider consumers shopping values for their retail decision makings.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.76-95
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• 2020

Consumers want to express their original unique personality, and even are willing to endure high expenses in order to do this. One noticeable strategy in the market, used by companies to suit for this consumer sentiment, is that of employing limited edition marketing and limited free gifts. This study investigated the effects of limited free gifts on consumer response. Specifically, the present study examined how the need for uniqueness moderated the effects of limited free gifts on brand commitment and attitudes. The online survey method was used to gather the data and a total of 224 data were used to analyze data. The results of the research were as follows. The findings revealed four dimensions of limited free gifts: scarcity/specialty, not for sale, complementarity, and risk. Complementarity positively affected brand commitment, while all four dimensions of limited free gifts positively influenced brand attitude. In addition, the need for uniqueness was proven to be the strongest variable which positively influenced brand commitment and attitudes. Also, when the need for uniqueness was applied as a moderating variable, depending on the levels of the need for uniqueness, the effects of riskiness on the consumer's response were shown to be different. The findings of this study infer various academic and practical applications.