Utilitarian Shopping Research Articles

Global e‐tailing: US consumers' intention to shop for cultural products on the internet

PurposeAims to investigate consumers' shopping values and web site beliefs that influence their intention to shop for cultural products.Design/methodology/approachUses the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as a framework to explain the structural interrelationships among internet shopping value, beliefs about the web site, shopping attitude, and shopping intention. A total of 203 persons responded to an invitation to participate in a web survey for the purpose of data analysis.FindingsConsumers' beliefs about the web site, especially with regard to merchandising, both directly and indirectly influenced their intention to shop for cultural products in the future. The proposed model supported the effectiveness of the extended TRA in the context of cultural product shopping on the internet. Overall, the findings confirmed elements of the TRA such as belief structures as determinants of attitudes and attitudes as determinants of behavioral intention.Practical implicationsConsumers who shop for cultural products on the internet have both hedonic and utilitarian shopping values and both these values must be addressed by internet retailers. Regular changes in products and presentation are vital for maintaining repeat patronage. Future research should explore how shopping values are related to web site attributes in different contexts of shopping.Originality/valueOffers valuable recommendations to internet retailers, if they are to retain customers in a very specialized arena.

A typology of Korean discount shoppers: shopping motives, store attributes, and outcomes

The internationalization of retailing is increasing throughout the global service markets. Among many retail formats, the discount store is one of the fastest growing formats actively engaging internationalization. In managing retail firms in other cultures, understanding of local customers’ perceptions toward the retail formats is especially important. Shopping motives may be a function of retail format, cultural, economic and social environment. Prior studies on shopping motives, however, have focused on Western cultures and on a shopping mall format. This study provides an exploratory examination of Korean discount shoppers’ shopping motives and their shopping typologies based on their shopping motives. A total of 624 questionnaires were administered to married female discount shoppers in Korea using the intercept survey method, and 467 completed questionnaires were available for data analysis. Factor analysis identified three shopping motives for patronizing discount stores: socialization, diversion and utilitarian. Four groups were identified using cluster analysis and labeled as leisurely‐motivated shoppers (n =152, 34.1 percent), socially‐motivated shoppers (n=49, 11.0 percent), utilitarian shoppers (n=132, 29.6 percent) and shopping‐apathetic shoppers (n=113, 25.3 percent). The four groups significantly differ in their appraisals of patronized store in some of store attributes, repatronage intention, and money spent in a shopping trip. Typologies of each cluster, discount retailing environments and managerial implications are discussed based on findings.

How Do In-Store Environmental Cues Influence Chinese Shoppers?

ABSTRACT This study employs Babin and Darden's (1995) shopping emotions model to investigate the emotional responses of Hong Kong hypermarket shoppers. By employing the structural equation modeling technique, the present study supports the general postulation that shopping emotions directly influence resource expenditure and shopping values. These results also corroborate previous findings of an indirect impact of shopping emotions on shopping values through the mediator of resource expenditure. In addition, a multiple group analysis further confirms the moderating role of self-regulation. Deviating from previous research, this study suggests a second-order factor structure for shopping emotions, a greater adverse impact of resource expenditure on utilitarian shopping values, and a negative relationship between resource expenditure and hedonic shopping values. In sum, this study helps advance the understanding of the unique mindset and emotional responses of Chinese consumers, and calls for a careful assessment of the net impact of environmental cues on both short-and long-term organizational performance.