The Metaverse’s virtual world is used in various industries and is expected to continue to grow in the future. In addition, the Metaverse is a new type of society that integrates various new technologies, and NFT products play an essential role. Therefore, NFT product characteristics and industry trends should be assessed to revitalize the NFT market. To this end, this study confirms the influence relationship between social presence and NFT product characteristics in the Metaverse environment and examines the impact of each characteristic on consumer satisfaction and continued engagement intention to NFT product. Statistical analysis such as exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) using IBM SPSS Amos was conducted on data collected through a survey targeting male and female Korean consumers in their age group 10 to 50. Study results indicate that social presence significantly impacted all characteristics of NFT products (authenticity, scarcity, rarity, collectability, and interactivity). Scarcity and authenticity significantly impacted consumer satisfaction, and both authenticity and consumer satisfaction significantly impacted continued engagement intention. Thus, effective product development and marketing strategies can be established only by presenting different emphasized characteristics depending on the type of NFT product and the Metaverse’s social presence.

This study investigates consumer experiences and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions in luxury brand pop-up stores, including standalone and department store setups. Grounded in experience economy theory, this study examines the experiential elements based on the types of pop-up stores and the relationships among consumer experience, pop-up store image, and WOM intentions for each type. Data were collected from 300 visitors to luxury brand pop-up stores between January and July 2023 and analyzed using Smart PLS 4.0. The findings reveal several key insights. First, standalone pop-up stores offer educational and escapist experiences, while pop-ups within department stores have a single identified factor of consumer experience. Second, regardless of the store type, luxury pop-up store experiences significantly influence pop-up image perceptions. Third, luxury pop-up store image drives WOM intentions for both standalone and department store pop-ups. Notably, the unique image significantly impacts solely department store pop-ups and does not influence standalone pop-ups. Moreover, image perceptions in both pop-up store types do not significantly affect brand WOM intentions. Finally, WOM intentions for pop-up stores significantly influence WOM intentions for brands. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of consumer experiences in luxury pop-up stores, providing practical insights for stakeholders in the luxury brand industry to enhance pop-up store image perceptions and WOM intentions.

With the digitalization of production and consumption environments, consumers are no longer merely targets of marketing, but key players in creating value jointly with companies by participating in various decision-making processes. Much virtual content in particular, such as fashion shows, exhibitions, games, social activities, and shopping, which fashion brands implement in virtual worlds, cannot be completed without consumers’ active engagement and interaction. Thus, this study considers consumers’ participation in virtual content provided by fashion brands as value co-creation in virtual worlds. This study aims to examine how consumer (i.e., consumer smartness) and fashion firm (i.e., perceived intellectual capital) factors influence value co-creation behavior intention in virtual worlds. Data were collected from 410 consumers in their 20s nationwide through an online survey, and a higher-order structural equation modeling analysis was conducted to test the research model. The results showed that both consumer smartness and perceived intellectual capital positively influenced customer participation behavior and citizenship behavior intentions. Specifically, perceived intellectual capital had a greater impact on value co-creation behavior in the virtual world than consumer smartness. The findings provide empirical evidence that the fashion firms’ intangible assets and consumers’ competence in the digital shopping environment encourage their intentions to co-create value in virtual worlds.

To reveal the mechanism of the effect of the saliency and content fit of implantable advertising of time-honored brands in Liaoning Province on consumer purchase intention, a three relationship model was constructed based on the S-O-R theory and empirically tested. Research has shown that both the saliency and content fit of implantable advertising have a significant positive impact on consumer purchase intention, and perceived value plays a significant role in the saliency of implantable advertising; There is a significant mediating effect between content fit and consumer purchase intention. This study reveals the complex mechanism of the impact of the saliency and content fit of implantable advertising on consumer purchase intention of time-honored brands in Liaoning Province, providing theoretical support for improving the promotional effect of time-honored brands.

This study aims to help companies with efficient investment and marketing strategies by empirically verifying the impact on satisfaction and purchase intention for artificial intelligence-based digital technology supported shopping assistants introduced in e-commerce. Frequency, factor, SEM, and multiple group analysises were conducted using SPSS 26.0 and Amos 26.0. As a result, first, motivated consumer innovativeness elements of AI shopping assistant were derived into a total of four categories: functional, hedonic, rational, and reliable. Second, in the order of hedonic and rational, satisfaction with the AI shopping assistant was significantly affected, and in the order of rational and functional, purchase intention was significantly affected. The satisfaction with the AI shopping assistant did not affect the purchase intention. Third, in the case of hedonic, the AI-preferred group had a more significant effect on satisfaction than the human-preferred group, and in the case of rational, there was no difference by group in purchase intention. Thus, it was found that consumers prefer AI shopping helpers for e-commerce because they can shop reasonably and are functionally convenient. Therefore, when introducing AI shopping assistants, it is essential to include content that can compare and analyze fundamental information, such as product prices, as well as search functions and payment system compatibility that facilitate shopping.

비건 화장품 시장이 급성장하는 가운데, 소비자의 환경 및 윤리적 가치 지향이 강화되고 있지 만, 이에 관한 연구는 제한적이다. 본 연구는 비건 화장품의 구매의도에 영향을 주는 소비자의 가치 인식과 환경 동기, 그리고 지각된 장벽 간의 관계를 분석하였다. 300명의 비건화장품 사용 경험이 있는 여성을 대 상으로 PLS-SEM 분석을 진행한 결과, 금전적 가치, 사회적 가치, 브랜드 가치, 감정적 가치, 품질 가치, 그리고 환경 지식이 구매의도에 큰 영향을 주는 것으로 확인되었다. 조절 효과 분석에서는 이미지 장벽과 가치 장벽이 중요한 요인으로 나타났다. 중요도-성능 지도 분석을 통해, 감정적 가치가 비건 화장품의 구 매의도를 강화하는 전략적 결정에 중요한 핵심 요인으로 드러났다. 본 연구는 비건 화장품 시장의 경쟁력 강화와 지속 가능한 소비 태도 활성화에 대한 이론적 및 실무적 기여를 제공한다.

The online shopping market is expanding, with online shopping malls now subdivided into personal computer(PC) and mobile versions. Meanwhile, various efforts to promote online sales are being carried out in a bid to improve performance, and detailed research is required to inform such strategies. The purpose of this study was to classify online shopping mall types into PC fashion malls and mobile fashion malls with the aim of assessing sales promotion satisfaction and investigating the relationship between sales promotion satisfaction and consumers’ behavioral intentions. Data were collected by a survey firm in June 2023, and 248 copies of the data were used for analysis. SPSS 28.0 was used to process the data, and frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and regression analysis were performed. The satisfaction factors for various sales promotions used by PC and mobile fashion shopping malls were empirically subdivided in consideration of consumer perspectives, and potentially effective marketing strategies were presented. Differences were observed in the type of satisfaction with sales promotion between PC fashion shopping malls and mobile fashion shopping malls and in the effect of sales promotion satisfaction on behavioral intention. Based on the study’s findings, effective sales promotion strategies that can increase satisfaction and enhance behavioral intention may be developed and implemented through the use of various and different sales promotion strategies in PC and mobile fashion shopping malls.

In this study, the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB) was applied to analyze consumers’ intention to purchase meal kits. The perception of ESG management practiced by companies was used as a moderating variable to investigate its influence and moderating effects between each variable. An online survey was conducted over 4 days in January 2023 on consumers aged 20 years or older who had purchased meal kits within 6 months. Hypotheses were tested using IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 and AMOS 24.0 programs with an effective sample size of 324 copies (100%). Attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived sustainable package, and price sensitivity of the theory of planned behavior toward meal kit products had a significant positive effect on purchase intention, and all research hypotheses were accepted. The moderating effect of consumers' perceptions of ESG management practiced by companies had a positive and significant effect on attitude and perceived behavioral control.

In the rapidly changing online shopping environment, resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are implementing sales promotions, such as offering various discount coupons, to increase consumers' product purchase volume. They are also attracting consumers through low-price appeals, with the expectation of improving sales. However, sales promotions issued by companies have numerous usage conditions, and consumers need to make appropriate efforts to meet the stated conditions. Previous research on promotions and consumer behavior has primarily focused on analyzing monetary promotions (such as full discounts) or non-monetary promotions (such as reward points) individually, with little attention paid to a comparative analysis of the two. Additionally, the type of promoted product can impact consumer behavior.

The rapid advancement of technology has created unprecedented opportunities for brands to engage with their existing and potential consumers through digitally enriched products. One such technology that enables the digital enrichment of analog products is augmented reality (AR). Through AR, consumers are able to directly interact with brands, for example, by scanning a product to unlock animated digital content that prompts them to take reciprocal actions. Recognizing that technologies that fail to actively engage consumers may struggle to realize their full potential, our study incorporates consumer brand engagement as a key factor of investigation. Consumer engagement with the brand signifies a higher level of commitment and aids in building lasting and beneficial relationships, as well as enhancing brand knowledge, ultimately positively influencing consumer-based brand equity.

Given the conundrum of moral washing in CSR communication, this research examines the effectiveness of narrative richness using storytelling in marketing. In the process, the moderating role of moral imagination is further explored. An online experiment with a 2 (Narrative Richness: High vs. Low) x 2 (Moral Imagination: High vs. Low) between-subjects factorial design was conducted with two well-known companies (Shell vs. Facebook) suffered from a reputation crisis as the target brands. The results (N = 287) showed that the effects of narrative richness on consumer responses, including positive emotion, negative emotion, and behavioral intention, were significant for Facebook whereas its effect on positive emotion was significant for Shell. Most importantly, the two-way interaction between narrative richness and moral imagination on attitude toward the brand was significant for Shell, indicating that the effect of narrative richness on attitude toward the brand was augmented by moral imagination. In other words, consumers with high moral imagination view narrative-rich messages with virtuous thoughts to figure out the conundrum of CSR communication for the company, and vice versa. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.