This study investigated how immersive VR store experience generated consumers’ urge to buy via self-imagery and pleasure. It also identified that the processing varied by the level of self-relevance to the VR store. The findings suggest that the impact of VR store experience can be expanded to impulsive/compulsive purchases.

The influence of tourists on the retail market continues to grow and China is destined to become the largest outbound-spending nation in the world; subsequently, the interest on Chinese tourists has increasingly grown. The advancement in information technology and increased usage of SNS allows Chinese tourists share a variety of information online before or after they embark on to others. Data from the Korea Tourism Organization indicates that, “shopping” is the most searched keyword for Korean tours in 2014. The main shopping item of Chinese tourists is fashion or beauty products and we need a better understanding of the consumption behavior of Chinese tourists in relation to Korean fashion. We should consider shared content by Chinese consumers to promptly respond to needs and concerns. This study researches actual attitude of Chinese consumers toward Korean fashion items and shopping tourism using content analysis based on Chinese SNS. We investigate the representative portal search site Baidu (百度) and Weibo (微博) SNS primarily used by Chinese. Our investigation is limited to posts or comments one month before and after China’s National Day. Our analysis used translations of Chinese into Korean. A total of 70 words were selected based on the mentioned frequency by R Program forthe final analysis. Words were divided into groups based on content analysis similarity and word connectivity was researched using the Net Miner program. A total of 70 words used for the analysis were divided into three groups: shopping item, shopping behavior, and shopping place. The relevance of content to shopping item accounted for 39% and most of the shared information was about where to find cheaper items, various styles, or the latest fashion products. Shopping behavior accounted for 17% and the shared information was about how to compare products before purchase, how to communicate with salespersons, and how to obtain refunds after purchase. Shopping places area dominant group with 43% and half of the words about retail trade. Significant information was available on the main characteristics of retail trade areas such as Dongdaemoon market or Myeongdong. More information was shared on underground shopping centers or general road shops than on traditional shopping places, department stores, or duty free shops. The trends are particularly notable and help in understanding how Chinese tourists are more interested in shopping places where they can have new experiences. This study confirms the shopping behavior of Chinese tourists in Korea using content analysis of Chinese SNS. The shopping trend changes; the average Chinese tourist age drops and the Chinese tourist pattern shifts from large group tours to individualized small group tours. Appropriate responses to Chinese tourists must be based on understanding of their changing shopping needs. This study is useful to understand the actual attitudes and needs of Chinese consumers toward Korean fashion based on shared online content.

With the sweeping popularity of Korean Wave across Asia, the number of Chinese tourists to Korea has rapidly been increasing over the last decade. Korea Tourism Organization estimates that the number of Chinese visitors exceeded 6 million in 2014, and Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade estimates that their spending in Korea surpassed KRW 7.67 trillion in 2013 alone. In particular, Chinese tourists spend most of their money in Korea on shopping. Since Chinese have become the major customers of the Korean market, it is critical to understand their consumption patterns and behavior. Previous studies looked into tourist destinations and shops that Chinese people frequently visited, and also researched on product selection criteria regarding their preference on fashion products. However, this study focuses on how Chinese tourists feel while they are shopping in Korea and how such emotions affect their evaluation on the purchased products. Planned purchase refers to the situation where the buying intention of a consumer has already been formed prior to entering the store based on the perception of purchase necessity. An unplanned purchase is not anticipated or planned before the customer enters the store, and products are bought without planning similar to impulsive buying. Oliver (1980) suggested that emotions are an important factor when consumers evaluate a product. Therefore, this study focuses mainly on the emotion created during the shopping. We conceptualized product attitudes based on the expected consumer satisfaction paradigms of Oliver and Desarbo (1988). This study also explores the product usage satisfaction of tourists as a post-purchase attitude. According to statistics, majority of Chinese tourists who buy fashion products are women. The survey is conducted on 550 women in the age group between 20 and 60 years who have visited Seoul before, using an online panel of respondents sampled by an international survey firm. 530 questionnaires are analyzed, with the remaining responses determined to be incomplete. For the demographic characteristics of the sample group, the average age is 33.5 years old, with 201 in their 20s (37.9%), 190 in their 30s (35.8%), 107 in their 40s (20.2%), and 32 in or over their 50s (6.0%). As for the average household income, RMB 10,000 to 20,000 is the most frequent (210 or 39.6%). For residential areas, Hua Dong (East China) is the most frequent (207 or 39.1%). Data are analyzed using structural equation modeling by AMOS 20.0. Respondents were asked to recall most impressive fashion product that they bought in Korea during their visit, and to answer whether it was planned or unplanned purchase.This study also attempts to measure the emotions they had during the purchase in order to understand differences in attitude toward the purchased products. Although emotions cannot persist over time, previous studies have measured emotions during consumption to evaluate the situation. The study categorizes respondents according to their purchasing power into heavy and light buyers to determine the moderating effects of purchase amount. In the literature, purchasing power is described in terms of the number of purchase and purchase amount. Based on previous studies on purchasing power, consumers can be categorized as heavy or light buyers. This study focuses on purchase amount in the context of tourism shopping. The results find that planned purchases tend to deliver positive emotions, which in turn enhances product satisfaction. Unplanned purchases, positive shopping emotions have positive impact on their attitude toward purchased products. Interestingly, unplanned purchases have negative direct impact on the product attitude without the mediating role of positive shopping emotions, showing the importance of positive emotions that consumers feel while shopping When it comes to the impact of purchasing power, the effect of unplanned purchases of light buyers on shopping emotions or product attitude was not significant. Only planned purchases trigger positive emotions, many of which induced positive impact on product satisfaction. For heavy buyers, on the other hand, even unplanned purchases have positive impact on their product satisfaction when positive shopping emotions are developed. This study is differentiated from previous studies in that it deals with how purchase types (planned vs. unplanned) affect shopping emotions and post-purchase product attitude of Chinese tourists who account for the significant share of the Korean tour industry. It is also notable that this study groups tourists by their purchasing power and identifies the impact of their purchasing power, considering the fact that tourists are increasingly influencing the domestic consumption market. The Korean government and companies may tap into the results of this study to provide better environments to trigger positive shopping emotions to tourists. However, it should be considered that the subject of this study is limited to Chinese female tourists, which should be complemented by future studies.