Help welcome or not: Understanding consumer shopping motivation in curated fashion retailing

Abstract

This study explores the motivational reasons for and against adopting curated retailing in fashion and apparel, which little extant research addresses. In curated fashion retailing, stylists create personalized outfits to assist consumers with their shopping. Because consumers vary in their demands, retailers must understand the different factors influencing individual adoption decisions. For this purpose, we conducted 54 semi-structured interviews with consumers and non-consumers of curated fashion as well as stylists. The study enhances knowledge of online shopping motivation in consulting-intensive retail sectors and provides further evidence of the influence of contextual factors on shopping motivations. Most notably, we identify unique factors of customized solutions, a characteristic feature of curated fashion retailing. From a managerial standpoint, our findings provide retailers a lens through which they can better target marketing activities and improve sales training.