Customer emotion evoked during shopping is closely linked to customers’ central attitude toward the brand. Few studies, however, have examined what type of customer emotion is triggered at what stage of shopping by what factors, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context. This study intends to fill this gap in the research.
To differentiate between customer emotions displayed before and after entering a luxury shop, we first identified what emotions are displayed at each stage and what factors triggered such emotions. We then examined the impact of customer emotions at each stage on customer responses, such as evaluations of service quality and brand attitude. Further, we attempted to identify patterns in the change in the type of customer emotions between before and after entering a luxury shop (i.e., from positive to negative or from negative to positive) and examined their effect on brand attitude.
We collected 298 valid responses through a self-administered survey among luxury shop visitors in a major duty free complex in Seoul, Korea.
The results show that customers display diverse emotions prior to entering a luxury shop. When customers were divided into four emotion groups (positive emotions only, mixed emotions, negative emotions only, no emotion), the positive emotion only group was the largest. As for specific emotions, happiness, contentment, and feeling comfortable were the three most experienced emotions. Negative emotions such as fear or shame were rarely experienced. Brand familiarity affected the type of emotion customers felt. While customers with high brand familiarity tended to feel privileged and comfortable, those with low brand familiarity tended to feel fear and shame. The emotions customers felt also differed by the shopping motive. When the motive was browsing only, customers tended to feel shame. When purchasing was a part of the motive, they tended to feel comfortable.
Customer emotions displayed after entering a luxury shop were also diverse. The positive emotion only group was the largest, but it was not as large in the case of emotions felt prior to entering the shop. The effect of the retail service quality (RSQ) dimensions on in-store emotions varied depending on the specific emotion. The RSQ dimensions of "reliability" and "physical aspect" influenced the greatest number of in-store customer emotions. The moderating effect of brand familiarity was significant. The number of emotions affected significantly by RSQ dimensions was higher with the group with low familiarity. The moderating effect of the shopping motive was also significant. The RSQ dimensions that influenced emotion differed by the shopping motive.
In terms of the effect of in-store emotions on brand attitude, it differed by the specific emotion. A significant effect was only present in three positive emotions (happiness, pride, privileged) and one negative emotion (anger). This implies that not all in-store emotions are equally influential on customer attitude.
As for the effect of emotion change pattern on brand attitude, due to a large difference in the sample size of the emotion change pattern group (positive to positive (PP), positive to negative (NP), negative to positive (NP), negative to negative (NN)), we could not conduct a meaningful statistical analysis but could only observe some directions and tendencies. The brand attitude of the NP group tended to be higher than that of the PP group.
This study contributes academically by extending the research on customer emotion, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context, in three ways. Firstly, we differentiated customer emotion before and after entering a shop. Secondly, we identified the triggers for specific emotions. Thirdly, we attempted to identify and examine the patterns of changes in customer emotion between before and after entering a shop and the impact of this pattern on customer responses. Managerially, this study contributes in two ways. Firstly, we demonstrated the importance of managing customer emotion at various stages of shopping at a specific emotional level. Secondly, we showed what factors should be managed for a particular customer emotion.
Our research could be further extended in several ways. Customer experience research has shown that other customers present in the service setting can influence customer emotion; hence, in a luxury retail store, the degree of customers’ sense of compatibility with other customers may affect customer emotion and therefore should be explored. Another factor for future consideration is gender. Extant research in a luxury setting shows that the characteristics of luxury consumption tend to vary by gender. Considering that males’ luxury consumption is increasing, the difference in customer emotions based on gender might be worth investigating.

• Sooyun Kim(Yonsei University)
• Geebum Park(Yonsei University)
• Yeonjoo Lee(Yonsei University)
• Sunmee Choi(Yonsei University)