Creating their brand images based on rich consumer experiences is becoming significant for retailers to differentiate themselves from competitors (Ailawadi and Keller 2004). Among multiple retailer attributes that have been argued by existing studies that influence overall image of the retailer, several researchers pointed out that personal encounters, such as those between employees and customers, may be more influential in communicating brand meaning than marketing-driven, mass-targeted messages (Cialdini 1993, Keller 2003, Sirianni et al. 2013) and referred to service employees as the “living brand” (Bendapudi and Bendapudi 2005).

• Salena Watanabe(Tanaka Optical Holding Company, Japan)
• Kenji Sera(Kobe University, Japan)
• Mari Yoshida(Ritsumeikan University, Japan)