• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.17-37
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• 2021

This study aims to examine the effects of experimental attitudes and perceived personal information protection on satisfaction and loyalty for Chinese consumers who use unmanned convenience stores. The important results of this study are as follows. First, consumers' perception of the experimental servicescape of unmanned convenience stores in China has an effect on the consumer's experimental attitude. Consumers' perception of experimental diversity in unmanned convenience stores in China has an effect on the consumer's experimental attitude. Second, consumers' perception of the information quality of unmanned convenience stores in China has an impact on the consumer's personal information protection. Consumers' perception of the service quality of unmanned convenience stores in China has an impact on consumer's personal information protection. Third, consumers' perception of personal information protection in unmanned convenience stores in China has an effect on the consumer's experimental attitude. Fourth, consumers' perception of personal information protection in unmanned convenience stores in China has an effect on consumer satisfaction with experiments. Consumers' perception of the experiment attitude of unmanned convenience stores in China has an effect on the consumer's satisfaction with the experiment.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.411-424
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the location characteristics of convenience stores, a consumption industry that forms a new retail environment and implements unattended, and reveals the geographic factors that affect its location. For this purpose, we first examine the growth and regional distribution of manned convenience stores and then construct a gamma generalized linear regression model that explains the distribution of the unmanned convenience stores as well as the manned and unmanned combined convenience stores. As the result, it was observed that the unmanned convenience stores and the unmanned discount stores are located close to public transportation facilities and they have relatively little movement of the population but they are distributed in areas with a higher density of young residential population and densely distributed retail stores and restaurants. The effects of demographic factors on the location of the unmanned convenience stores and the unmanned discount stores differed according to the scope and characteristics of their sales items. Our findings provide an empirical basis for subsequent academic research as an initial study that identified geographic factors influencing the selection of opening locations for unmanned stores.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.101-120
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• 2024

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to examine the influencing factors on the revisit intention of unmanned convenience stores for Chinese consumers who use unmanned convenience stores. The effect of unmanned convenience store characteristics (operation system, store arrangement) on customers' perceived benefits and the effect of perceived benefits (convenience, speed, stability, playability) on revisit intention were verified. In addition, by using untact propensity as a control variable, the purpose of this study was to examine that the characteristics of unmanned convenience stores have a moderating effect on the perceived benefits of customers. Design/methodology/approach - The study collected 201 survey data from unmanned convenience stores in China. In order to analyze the data, Smart PLS was used to carry out empirical analysis. Findings - The results showed that operating systems had a positive impact on convenience, speed, and safety, while store layout had a positive impact on playfulness. Perceived benefits (convenience, safety, and playfulness) had a positive impact on their intention to revisit. Rapidity had a negative impact on the intention to revisit. Contactless tendencies regulate the effect of operating systems on convenience. Research implications or Originality - Unmanned convenience stores are striving to provide high-quality experiences to customers and increase customer satisfaction by utilizing cutting-edge IT technologies in stores such as AI, mobile device payment services, QR codes, and big data technologies. Recently, research on unmanned convenience stores has been active in the service and distribution industry-related fields, but research on the intention to revisit is insufficient. Also, few studies have used untact propensity as a control variable.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.101-111
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• 2023

Purpose: The first purpose of this study is deriving in-store characteristics that affect the experience of customers using unmanned stores and reveals the value of major services that customers feel and experience. Also, an empirical analysis is conducted on the effect of intelligent consumption value after using unmanned stores on consumption emotions and continuous use intention, and the modulating effect of customers' untact tendency on environmental characteristics and the value of intelligent services is verified. Research design, data and methodology: Samples were taken from 186 people who visited the unmanned store from April to June 2022 to investigate the research model. Results: It was found that the environmental characteristics of unmanned stores had a positive effect on the intelligent service value. Also, the higher the value of intelligent service, the stronger the influence on consumption emotions, and the higher the value of the intelligence service and consumption emotions, the stronger the impact on the intention to use intention. The untact propensity played a role in controlling the relationship between ease of using technology and the intelligent service value and the relationship between spatial arrangement and functionality and intelligent service value. Conclusion: In order to improve unmanned store service in the trend of spreading unmanned stores, it is necessary to not only improve the technology using convenience in terms of store environmental characteristics but also create innovative consumption experiences in terms of space layout, function, and convenience of payment.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.91-113
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• 2022

Purpose In the era of the 4th industrial revolution, the introduction of unmanned stores is rapidly spreading throughout the entire distribution market. Unmanned stores are stores where consumers purchase products on their own through machines and not through contact with people. As there are no managers in unmanned stores, Servicescape is expected to have many effects on the purchasing behavior of consumers. Therefore, this study aims to observe the effect of Servicescape on consumer behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach This study wanted to look at the relationships among Servicescape in unmanned stores, utilitarian values, hedonic values, satisfaction, and continuous use intentions. The collected(n=211) from individuals who have experienced in using unmanned stores was analyzed with SmartPLS2.0 to test proposed hypotheses. Findings The research results are as follows. First, it was shown that the space, convenience, and comfortableness of Servicescape have positive effects on utilitarian value, and cleanliness did not have significant effects on utilitarian value. Second, it was shown that space and comfortableness had positive effects on hedonic value, and convenience and cleanliness did not have significant effects on hedonic value. Lastly, it was shown that utilitarian values and hedonic values have positive effects on satisfaction, and satisfaction was found to have positive effects on continuous use intentions.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.9 no.12
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• pp.45-53
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• 2018

Purpose - The purpose of the study was to investigate operation system of current convenience store and competing retail store and to find out development of unattended convenience store. Operators can save labor cost and solve labor seeking when opening shop under suitable environment and commerce area, and assure of employee's safety. Customers are allowed to select commodity comfortably without disclosure of face and to shorten standby time at simple store opening, buying and paying and to produce convenient living environment by financing, delivery and goods control. This study examined effect and problems of operation of existing and unattended convenience store from point of view of visual merchandising to find out model of unattended convenience store and to strengthen competitiveness of convenience store business. Research design, data, and methodology - Research procedure of accomplishment of goal of the study was: The study investigated state of distribution business, and role and definition of VMD. First, VMD played an important role of promotion and competitiveness of unattended convenience stores. Second, the author investigated research and cases of unattended convenience stores 14 months, that is to say, from August 15, 2017 to October 15, 2018. Third, the author investigated on-the-spot three of common convenience stores, three of unattended convenience stores and three of retailers one month, that is to say, June 1, 2018 to July 1, 2018. The subject was convenience stores and retailers selling similar type of products at Seoul and metropolitan area. Results - Layout, selling place, brand identity, goods assortment, authentication system, product information cognition and control, buying and payment system, security system, salesmen, promotion and other services should be improved from point of view of merchandising. Structure, furniture, lighting, voice, façade, VP, PP, IP and POP should be developed. Conclusions - Unattended convenience stores saved operating cost and lessened labor and gave visitors convenience and comfortable shopping and made use of resources effectively. Further studies with quantitative analysis shall find out strategic conditions for promotion of unattended convenience stores.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.587-600
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was performed to analyze customer needs for the operation of unmanned food stores on a university campus. Methods: A total of 329 responses were collected from customers who had purchased food at the stores. Statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS program for frequency analysis, χ2-test, t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Duncan's multiple range test. Results: On average, the overall satisfaction score for lunch and the eating location was 3.91 out of 5 points. Overall satisfaction was significantly higher for home cooking, and lower for eating at convenience stores (p < 0.001), and the score for eating with family was significantly higher than for eating alone or with friends (p < 0.001). On average, the intention to use an unmanned store received a score of 3.98 out of 5 points, while 'home cooking (3.76)' was significantly lower than other eating locations and eating at 'convenience stores (4.38)' was significantly higher than other eating locations (p < 0.05). The desired time of use for unmanned food stores was 'lunch (54.1%)', 'dinner (46.2%)', and 'afternoon snack (41.9%)', and the desired foods were 'doshirak (62.0%)', 'sandwich (56.2%)', 'fruit cup (54.4%)', 'salad (51.7%)', and 'kimbap (50.5%)'. There were significantly more opinions that single-person households would use unmanned food stores for dinner more than family households (p < 0.05), and significantly more willingness to purchase fruit cup (p < 0.05). The average prices (Korean won) that the subjects were willing to pay for the purchase of food were 4,991 for doshirak, 3,403 for salad, 2,745 for fruit cup, 2,609 for sandwich, and 2,235 for kimbap. Conclusion: For the successful operation of the unmanned food stores on the university campus, the store manager should grasp the customer's needs in real-time and establish an effective marketing strategy.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.41-61
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• 2023

The universal form of life in the era of the 4th industrial revolution can probably be summarized as the keyword "non-face-to-face". In particular, in terms of consumption activities, face-to-face contact is gradually changing to a system that minimizes, and offline stores are rapidly changing to non-contact services through kiosks and robots. The social structure is also changing with the passage of time, and most fundamentally, our dietary consumption patterns are changing. In particular, the increase in single-person households and the aging population are having a great impact on changes in the food service industry, which is closely related to dietary life. The HMR (Home Meal Replacement) market has grown significantly as the labor of cooking at home has decreased and the use of substitute foods has increased. As the size of the market has grown, the types of businesses that provide products have also diversified. The development of technology, non-face-to-face culture, and corporate management efficiency are intertwined, and unmanned stores are spreading recently. In this study, service quality attributes of HMR unmanned stores, where competition is gradually intensifying, are classified, and service quality classification using the Kano model and Timko's customer satisfaction coefficient are calculated to provide implications for service management based on customer satisfaction. As a result of the analysis, 'products with short cooking time' and 'variety of products (menu)' were classified as attractive qualities, and 'cleanliness inside/outside of the store' and 'products at reasonable prices' were classified as unified quality. In addition, 'convenience of self-checkout process' was classified as a natural quality, and 'convenience of in-store passage' was classified as an indifferent quality. Furthermore, when the service factor was satisfied within the HMR unmanned store, the factor with the highest satisfaction coefficient was 'product (menu) variety', and the factor with the highest dissatisfaction factor was 'convenience of self-checkout process'. Through the results of this study, it is intended to derive priorities in service quality management of HMR unmanned stores and provide strategic implications for related businesses.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.109-114
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• 2018

In general, the simple items we need to live in are purchased through retail stores such as supermarkets near our home. In the store, not only the items but also the management personnel and the payment instruments for the store management are located in one space called the store. Such a general store environment is gradually changing into an 'unmanned market' as a result of the development and fusion of information and communication technology (ICT). An unmanned market is an environment in which no one runs a market as the word has. An example of a typical change is Amazon's Unofficial Amazon Store. In addition, the usage and prospects of unmanned market in China are growing very meaningfully. In this study, the present situation of the unmanned market is examined in the US and China markets, and the development prospects are described. It also describes the key milestones necessary for the unmanned market.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.389-394
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to suggest guideline for better user experience of unmanned store focusing on the Seven Eleven signature. The case study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of unmanned stores in the US and China, and to conduct comparative studies with the Seven Eleven Signature Store. As a result, I was able to derive 7 items, Easy, Simplified, Accessible, Findable, Informative, Flexible, Credible that help to improve the shopping experience. We hope that the follow up study will help to improve the unmanned store in Korea and improve the experience.