Various non-face-to-face services are being activated due to the influence of the Corona 19 virus around the world. However, unlike the rapid development of delivery services, social awareness of delivery services is causing many problems. Therefore, in this study, we analyze the quality attributes of delivery services from the consumer's point of view, and based on the results, we try to derive a direction for service improvement. In this study, quality factors were established through interviews and surveys with actual consumers, and quality attributes were classified through the Kano model and Timko’s customer satisfaction coefficient. “Attractive” is (‘Ease of ordering, Accurate delivery to the designated place’), “One Dimensional” is (‘Variety of payment methods, Accurate delivery on time, Accurate delivery of ordered food, Degree of non-deformation of packaging conditions, etc., Convenience of use time’), “Must be” is (‘Kindness of the delivery person’), “Reverse” is (‘provision of services, service response to order discrepancies’). This study has academic significance in that it compensated for the disadvantage of not being able to interpret the mathematical meaning of the Kano model with Teamco’s customer satisfaction coefficient. It also has practical implications in that it provides an indirect clue to future improvement directions.

Food traceability (FT) is being developed while food traceability system (FTS) has become the hot topic for the food safety of the food supply chain (FSC), government regulations, and customer’s satisfaction. This survey explored the Korean consumer’s awareness, preferred information, and willingness to pay for the traceability of processed food. 35.2% of the respondents were not aware of FT whereas 77.5% did not know about FTS. The customer’s perception on the purpose of FT was as a consumer's right to know (51.8%), rather than as one enhancing food safety. The customers’ awareness of FT on processed and functional food was lower than that on agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products. The important stage of FSC that the consumers perceive was manufacturing and importing (51.5%), and the preferred information was related with raw materials. Only 7.2% of the respondents perceived FT as food safety-related certifications, which is much lower than HACCP (62.9%) and GMP (17.6%). The consumers had willingness to pay for FT at a premium of 5-10% higher than the regular price. Consumers are paying attention to food safety and quality but they are still unfamiliar with FT. Stakeholders in FSC should work together to increase consumer awareness of FT/FTS and improve consumers’ behavior.

Terror management theory (TMT) highlights the impact of death related thoughts on consumers’ decisions in everyday life (Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher, 2010) and the various coping behaviors they adopt to manage this terror-related anxiety. Individuals exposed to man-made (e.g. terrorist attacks, wars) or natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis) are obliged to mitigate the awareness of their eventual death or mortality salience (MS). MS plays a significant role in shaping individuals consumption behaviors, particularly in terms of materialism and ethnocentrism. This study aims to address (1) how MS-induced feelings impact consumers’ consumption criteria, preferences and behaviors, and (2) what contextual and cultural factors ought to be considered in this regard. Nineteen focus groups in total were conducted in Japan, Lebanon and the UK. Based on grounded theory approach, we found that consumers’ feelings based on their traumatic experiences exhibit some similarities and differences depending on their own historical, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. Future research should include more countries and take into account a variety of cultural backgrounds. Moreover, as Japan, Lebanon and the UK represent three of the most prominent religions, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity respectively, religiosity may be a relevant concept in defining and interpreting MS in a cross-cultural context.

Today’s consumers experience the brands within numerous in-store and out-of-store contexts, and tend to focus on their holistic experience with the brands across various retail scenarios. Companies, especially in the luxury industry where multiple retail settings contribute to the formation of the brand image, invest considerable funds to create entertaining, exciting, and emotionally engaging experiences. However, researchers have not yet examined how traditional luxury brand factors interplay with experiential factors across multiple retail settings of the brand. In marketing literature, researchers have devoted considerable attention to the effect of store environments on consumer behavior (e.g. Baker et al., 2002; Donovan & Rossitier, 1982; Kotler, 1973). At the same time, academic research has also been conscious of the central role of brand image in the consumer-buying process (e.g. Keller, 1993; Kwon & Lennon, 2009). More recently, these two streams are coming together. Practitioners and academics have argued that creating compelling shopping experiences across multiple environments, and along, and beyond, the entire path-to-purchase is a key challenge for maintaining a certain brand image (Interbrand, 2014; Verhoef et al., 2009). In a luxury brand context, whereas brand managers design most of the strategic implementations of the brand, retailers can increasingly craft value to the brand via the creation of multisensory retail experiences (Spence et al., 2014). Luxury brands, such as Chanel, are continuously growing their retail presence, and identifying ways to cultivate the tradition of the brand and create distinctive and unique brand experiences. However, the academic perspective of investigating luxury brand images in contemporary business contexts has been underdeveloped (Berthon et al., 2009; Miller & Mills, 2012). While this call for more comprehensive and holistic approaches to luxury brand experiences has been raised (Atwal & Williams, 2009), current research predominantly focuses on single aspects of the luxury brand experience, such as in-store multisensory factors (Möller & Herm, 2013), brand owner cues (Tynan et al., 2010), in-store environment cues (Baker et al., 2002), or luxury brand specific factors (Beverland, 2005). The evolving business world needs to implement more holistic and contemporary approaches. By employing the approach of three dimensions store atmospherics (Baker et al., 2002) to luxury brand experiences, this study investigates how consumers integrate traditional brand factors with new factors of consumption. The objective of this article is to understand how various retail settings affect emotional states, which, in turn, affect behavior toward luxury brands. This study addresses the relationship of luxury brand experiences in tight and less controlled retail scenarios, and the ways in which luxury experiences trigger effective successful brand experiences. Utilizing two qualitative studies, the authors consider the interaction between luxury brand experiences and store atmospherics. The paper concludes with relevant implications for academics and practitioners to enable new perspectives on luxury brand strategies, and consumer response to the luxury brand image in the challenging retail landscape.