Store Personality Research Articles

Store personality and behavioral intentions of customers: a comparative study of retail industry in the Czech Republic and Sri Lanka

Brand personality is recognized as a key platform for developing a loyal customer base for service organizations. When it comes to the modern retail sector, self-service supermarkets are highly concerned about branding strategies for attracting customers to their stores. However, the impacts of brand personality of supermarkets can vary in different cross-cultural contexts. Hence, in this study, researchers examined this issue by selecting two samples: from Sri Lanka and from the Czech Republic, with the purpose of comparing the impact of brand personality on customer behavioral intentions in two different cultural contexts. For the first sample, 150 regular shoppers were randomly selected in Colombo (Sri Lanka), and data was collected from a researcher administrated questionnaire. The second sample was drawn from Zlin, (the Czech Republic) where data was collected from 120 customers via using a self-administrated questionnaire. Principle component analysis and multiple regressions were used for data analysis and for testing hypotheses. This paper concludes by explaining the implications for modern retailers in designing their branding strategies, and by comparing which aspects of brand personalities of supermarkets are important in two different contexts.

Impact of retailer personality on consumer‐based retailer equity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of retailer personality on consumer‐based retailer equity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a retailer personality scale and find its impact on consumer‐based retailer equity by adopting the scale developed by Pappu and Quester. A mall‐intercept survey was undertaken using a systematic sampling of department store shoppers of age 18 years and above in a metropolitan city, Kolkata, India. The questionnaire was used to collect data from seven department retail brands. The impact of each retailer personality dimension on each consumer‐based retailer equity dimension was explored, using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe study proposed a five‐dimensional scale to measure department store personality. Results indicated that the three dimensions of store personality, namely sophistication, dependability and empathy, have significant positive impact on each consumer‐based retailer equity dimension except one (empathy→retailer loyalty). The remaining two dimensions of retailer personality, namely authenticity and vibrancy, have no impact on each consumer‐based retailer dimension.Originality/valueThe paper is the first to propose a scale for measuring department store personality and to explore the link between retailer personality and consumer‐based retailer equity.

Store environment's impact on variety seeking behavior

This paper explores the influence of store environment on variety seeking behavior with a model incorporating various components of store environment (music, light, assortment, employee, and layout) and personality variables, optimum stimulation level (OSL) and deal proneness. Using a mall survey with shoppers in Dubai, the study establishes that store environment, OSL and deal proneness affect variety seeking positively. This paper extends extant literature by studying comprehensively the impact of store environment on variety seeking. This research suggests that retailers need to invest in the components of store environment to enhance variety seeking. Methodologically, the model incorporates the Schmid–Leiman factor structure to address the limitations posed by reflective models.

Am I cheap? Testing the role of store personality and self-congruity in discount retailing

This study examines whether consumer perceptions of store personality (SP) differ according to the store's format (hard-discount versus soft-discount and value retailing). A consumer survey (n = 306) is conducted in which respondents are asked to rate these retail formats on five SP dimensions and in terms of self-congruity (SC). The findings of both repeated measures ANOVA and hypothesis testing of proportion difference indicate that the three formats differ significantly in terms of all five SP dimensions. Moreover, consumers perceive a greater match between their self-concept and the value retailer's personality than the discounter's. A PLS model is estimated linking SP and SC to store loyalty and word-of-mouth intentions (WOM). The SP measurement model is only partially confirmed by the data. The effect of SC is found to dominate in explaining loyalty and WOM. These results provide valuable insights for optimising retail positioning strategies.

The effects of store image components on consumers purchasing retailer brands in Korea

Although a huge number of academic researchers have paid considerable attention to exploring both the degree to which store image influences retailer brand customers and how to develop store personality, they have overlooked the contemporary retail context in which retailers have developed many different types of retailer brands, that is, price-oriented or quality-oriented retailer brands. Rather than focusing on the latter, much literature has looked at the former. Accordingly, even though there are many articles related to store image, a few authors have shown their interest in identifying the extent to which store personality affects customers purchasing retailer brands at lower prices. As a result, their efforts have been to illustrate the relationship between store image and consumer behaviours buying retailer brands. In that multiple retailers over the world such as E-Mart, Lotte-Mart, Tesco Korea and Tesco UK have actively introduced not only the quality-focused retailer brands that quality is better than, or equal to national brands, and prices are slightly higher than, or equal to them, but also price-focused retailer brands, academicians should make an effort to investigate how store image affects customers purchasing a quality-oriented retailer brand, comparing with previous research results. That is why the authors illustrate the extent to which store personality components influence retailer brand customers, including particularly quality-oriented retailer brand customers through an empirical research. By adopting a questionnaire method as a research technique to illuminate the relationship between store image components and retailer brand customers, research validity increases and further, data gathered through a field survey are analysed through a few statistic analysis methods, in order to minimise statistical deviations. Compared with the prior research concentrated on price-focused retailer brands, the authors have significantly shed light on customer behaviours purchasing retailer brand products with higher quality. When it comes to store personality components, the research suggests the following five items: merchandise attributes, services, physical facilities, promotions, and institutional image, considering the subcomponents mentioned by the previous research. Proposing the conceptual research model which those elements are differently hypothesised, according to retailer brand types: PR (Price-oriented Retailer brand) and QR (Quality-oriented Retailer brand), the research is proceeded. Through empirical research, the authors found that amongst the five items, only promotion influenced retailer brand customers in the Korean retailing marketplace, unlike other countries explored by many researchers, such as UK. Although much literature emphasises that those elements are closely related to retailer brand buying proneness, it is completely not fit to the Korean market. Also, research findings provide new insights into the degree of store image effects on retailer brand customers for academicians and practitioners. Whether the retailer brand development program that a retailer has carried simultaneously both price-focused and quality-focused retailer brand types is practically profitable should be explored in the future.

From Armani to Zara: Impression formation based on fashion store patronage

Fine fashion and fast fashion are ever converging. Just as consumers buy luxury fashion brands to express or enhance their self-image, so also can they patronize fashion stores with a self-congruent personality positioning. This article addresses the following research question: Do people use store personality traits to infer store patron personality traits? Two studies following the continuum model of impression formation examine this question. The findings of a consumer survey (study 1) demonstrate that people do indeed associate particular stereotypes with a store's patrons. The experiment in study 2 shows that the impression of others may substantially differ depending on the shopping bag (i.e., external cue of store patronage) the other carries. Apparently, besides “dress to impress”, consumers may also well mind where they shop. Retailers can benefit from creating a particular store personality as a unique selling proposition: a trend for luxury brand managers to attend to.

Fashion Store Personality: Scale Development and Relation to Self-Congruity Theory

Abstract Over five decades ago, Martineau (1958, p. 47) introduced the notion of store personality (SP), which he defined as “the way in which the store is defined in the shopper’s mind, partly by its functional qualities and partly by an aura of psychological attributes”. The strategic role of these symbolic, humanlike attributes that can be attributed to stores, has been empirically demonstrated, with respect to customer satisfaction and perceived retail differentiation (Chun & Davies, 2006), as well as with respect to store patronage and loyalty behavior (Sirgy & Samli, 1985; Zentes, Morschett, & Schramm-Klein, 2008). A potential and reasonable explanation of the power of associations with humanlike personality, can be found in the self-congruity theory. This theoretical framework argues that if retailers can position their stores in such a way that the store’s personality is congruent with that of target shoppers, they are likely to succeed in attracting and retaining these consumers (Bellenger, Stein...

Determinants of fashion store personality: a consumer perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the main determinants of fashion store personality, as perceived by the shopper. It aims to discover factors that are responsible for specific store personality trait perceptions in order to understand how these humanlike personality traits are induced in a retailing context.Design/methodology/approachWith this end in mind, a qualitative exploratory study was undertaken. A total of 70 in‐depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of Belgian adult respondents to systematically assess the connotations of the 34 different store personality trait descriptors put forward by d'Astous and Lévesque. Respondents were asked which fashion stores they considered to embody these specific personality traits and they were probed for the sources of inference they used.FindingsThe findings reveal that the store environment and store design particularly is an important factor in determining the personality of fashion stores. Also, other factors such as corporate social responsibility, reputation, service level, the salespeople, the merchandise sold, price/quality perceptions and the consumer base determine perceptions of “genuineness”, “solidity”, “sophistication”, “enthusiasm” and “unpleasantness”.Practical implicationsA better understanding of the determinants of fashion store personality is essential for retail managers who wish to (re)position their stores. Retailers and store designers should be aware of the important role of “atmospherics” in this regard.Originality/valueApart from conceptual work, no empirical research has yet systematically investigated determinants of each of the main store personality dimensions.

A scale for measuring store personality

AbstractThe objective of this research study was to develop a scale for measuring store personality and to assess its psychometric properties. A preliminary study showed that store personality comprised five dimensions, termed sophistication, solidity, genuineness, enthusiasm, and unpleasantness. A follow‐up survey with 226 adult consumers confirmed the stability of the factorial structure of the 34‐item store‐personality scale as well as the reliability of each composite dimension. Some empirical evidence was gathered with respect to the scale's construct validity, because the proposed store‐personality scale was shown to behave in a manner consistent with self‐image congruence theory. Additional analyses revealed that a reduced scale including 20 items exhibited factorial stability and resulted in reliable measures of the five store‐personality dimensions. Finally, some empirical support was obtained in favor of using the proposed scale across different retail settings. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Exploring the concept of affective quality: Expanding the concept of retail personality

Recently, there has been increasing attention paid to the affective side of consumer and patronage behavior. Whereas previous store image studies have focused primarily on its traditional cognitive or functional antecedents, this paper more fully accounts for a store's personality by considering its perceived affective, as well as functional, quality. A study is described which provides evidence that affect associated with retail environments is an important element in defining more fully the meaning of an environment in consumers' semantic networks. In addition, the study demonstrates a fairly strong degree of relatedness between affective quality and consumer perceptions of a store's more tangible or functional characteristics. Implications and extensions of this exploratory research are discussed.