With the increasing popularity and attention towards virtual stores, the present study examines how consumers' perception of spatial and human crowdedness affects consumers' behavioral and attitudinal intention to shop at the virtual store through positive emotional arousals. Using two between-subject experiments (crowdedness: low spatial x high; low human x high), 171 participants were randomly assigned to each condition. The results demonstrated highly crowded virtual space with more merchandise creates a consumer’s positive emotional arousal, which leads to a positive attitude and satisfaction. Further, consumers perceive positive social crowdedness (i.e., when other shoppers are present) develops excitement among consumers who may entice positive attitude and satisfaction. Findings suggest that retailers should develop stimulating virtual stores.

This paper focuses on the importance of rethinking the functionality of the fashion retail store and suggests transforming the retail store into a space to educate consumers regarding important societal and cultural issues. Consumption trends and changes in consumer habits reveal that people are continuously looking for brand offers beyond services and products. Consumers are shifting the traditional consumer brands dynamics and societal sustainable brands are gaining momentum where consumers are seeking strong and deep relationships with such brands while discarding others. Despite brands' increased investment in e-commerce platforms and digital technologies, the retail store is still a pivotal space for brands to build and maintain a strong relationship with their customers. However, the traditional functionality of the retail store needs to be reconsidered.

As the importance of online virtual spaces increases due to COVID-19, interest in online virtual spaces using 4th industrial technology is increasing. Accordingly, the metaverse that combines virtual and real is becoming an issue. In the fashion industry, marketing using online is gradually increasing, and various attempts are being made by converging with the metaverse to provide new and enjoyable experiences to customers. This study looked at the impact of customer experience of a luxury fashion brand pop-up store on customer satisfaction, affective commitment and brand loyalty in a metaverse environment where utilization is increasing due to COVID-19 and technological development. For the analysis data of this study, a survey was conducted on the users who experienced the metaverse platform Zepeto's ' BVLGARI World'. As a result of examining the effect of the customer experience of a luxury fashion brand pop-up store on customer satisfaction, affective commitment, and brand loyalty in a metaverse environment, some of the customer experiences affect customer satisfaction, and the proposed hypothesis was partially accepted. In addition, it was confirmed that customer satisfaction affects affective commitment and brand loyalty, and affective commitment affects brand loyalty. In this study, we examine the impact of the customer experience of a luxury fashion brand pop-up store on customer satisfaction, affective commitment, and brand loyalty in the metaverse environment, and identify what is needed for more active convergence and activation of the metaverse and fashion brands. Also, we provide practical implications to people who involved in the metaverse and the fashion industry.

Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) represents one of the major Ca2+ entry routes in non-excitable cells. It is involved in a variety of fundamental biological processes and the maintenance of Ca2+ homeostasis. The Ca2+ releaseactivated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel consists of stromal interaction molecule and Orai; however, the role and action of Homer proteins as an adaptor protein to SOCE-mediated Ca2+ signaling through the activation of CRAC channels in non-excitable cells still remain unknown. In the present study, we investigated the role of Homer2 in the process of Ca2+ signaling induced by the interaction between CRACs and Homer2 proteins in non-excitable cells. The response to Ca2+ entry by thapsigargin-mediated Ca2+ store depletion remarkably decreased in pancreatic acinar cells of Homer2–/– mice, as compared to wild-type cells. It also showed critical differences in regulated patterns by the specific blockers of SOCE in pancreatic acinar cells of Homer2–/– mice. The response to Ca2+ entry by the depletion in Ca2+ store markedly increased in the cellular overexpression of Orai1 and STIM1 as compared to the overexpression of Homer2 in cells; however, this response was remarkably inhibited by the overexpression of Orai1, STIM1, and Homer2. These results suggest that Homer2 has a critical role in the regulatory action of SOCE activity and the interactions between CRAC channels.

Marketers and retailers are increasingly interested in grabbing the opportunity to reach the consumer at the right time and place with a smart phone. Depending on Location Based Advertising (LBA) and associated sensors with the IBeacon technology, marketers can determined the consumer’s favorite products through his search history and previous purchase activities furthermore his location in-store. So, marketers and retailers pay more attention to in-store mobile LBA. In this work, the modified LBA in-store framework are constructed. This model proposed that the temporal time, type of information and the variety of receiver of mobile in-store LBA affect the Purchase intention in retail stores.

The purpose of this study was to develop a lifestyle scale for one-person hair salon users and to identify differences in store choice factors and hairstyle pursuit behaviors according to lifestyle types. Data was collected by survey, with 225 responses being included in the analysis. Data analysis was performed using cross-analysis, factor analysis, Cronbach’s α, cluster analysis, ANOVA and the Duncan-test using SPSS 23.0 analysis software. The results of the study were as follows. First, one-person hair salon users were classified according to the following lifestyle groups: The rational appearance management group, the passive appearance management group, and the discriminative appearance management group. Second, store choice factors according to lifestyle group showed significant group-specific differences in relation to store atmosphere, accessibility, and promotion. Conversely, comfort of space in store and word-of-mouth recommendation message were high for all three groups, indicating that these are important factors in relation to store selection. Third, with regard to hairstyle pursuit behaviors according to lifestyle, the discriminative appearance management group showed the same characteristics as high involvement groups that regard all dimensions of hairstyle pursuit behavior as important. The results of this study can be used to suggest efficient operations for one-person hair salons and to suggest differentiated marketing strategies to increase the demand of one-person hair salon users.

[Purpose] It aims to suggest the differential factors to enhance the customer satisfaction and to activate the shopping in the convenience store (CVS). [Methodology] Convenience store service convenience (CVS SERVCON) was developed at the first time and the gap of relative importance level between the owners and the consumers was assessed by AHP analysis method..[Findings] First, the importance of access convenience was assessed as the first priority in both CVS owners’ group and the consumers’ group, while the detailed elements showed the differences which required the improvements. Based on the consumers’ assessment, the importance of location was relatively low. They assessed relatively high on 24 hours operation of CVS and personal services. Second with respect to the transaction convenience, CVS owners’ group rated it as the fourth priority while the consumers’ group rated as the second, which requires the improvement. Third in terms of benefit utility and value-added service of post-benefit convenience which are the sub-factors of benefit convenience, the rate on the importance from the consumers showed higher than that from the owners, which requires the improvement. [Implications] Based on this study results, CVS operating companies are anticipated to be able to satisfy the customers, moreover, to secure the loyal customers if they concentrate the resources to develop the differentiation strategy on the areas where the consumers’ demands are high while performs the maintenance strategy on the areas where their demands are low. In addition, this study contributed the theoretical expansion of SERVCON upon development of CVS SERVCON to comply with its definition.

This study aims to investigate the effect of the core capability of products in eco-friendly stores on perceived CSR and consumers’ purchasing behavior. It is also to verify the moderating mediation effect of store type (multi-category store vs. single-category store). The results indicate that generally, in eco-friendly stores, consumers perceive the core competency of the products, which increases perceived CSR and purchasing intention. In the single-category store (i.e., fashion only) compared to the multi-category store (i.e., food and fashion), consumers perceive that the core capability and CSR are higher and thus they have higher purchase intention.

Digital signage in a smart store would engage and invoke responses from consumers because good in-store experiences are more important than ever. Thus, the present study investigates consumer perceptions of interactive digital signage integrating technology acceptance model. Specifically, the current study examined 1) the effects of personal and fashion innovativeness on interactivity; 2) the effect of interactivity on perceived usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment; and 3) the effects of perceived usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment on intentions to use the products and the store, visit the store, and engage in word-of-mouth. As a pre-study, two researchers visited the smart stores of six brands in Seoul, all of which integrate various technologies in the fashion field. A video clip was developed as a stimulus to the study. A total of 214 responses were gathered and analyzed. The results were as follows. Personal innovativeness has a significantly positive effect on interactivity, whereas fashion innovativeness has no significant effect. Interactivity had positive effects on the perceived usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment. Consumer responses (i.e., intentions to use, visit, and engage in word-of-mouth) were predicted by usefulness and enjoyment, but not by ease of use. The findings of this study could provide the fashion industry and retailers practical and valuable insights into enhancing consumers’ in-store experiences through the use of interactive digital signage.

Hongdae, the region of Hongik University, has been the ‘must visit’ region in Seoul for decades, due to its aggregate of young Korean culture. Food, fashion, and music distinguishes the area from other regions of Seoul, creating the ‘The Feel of Hongdae’, the unique community brand. This research investigates urban condition of this region, trying to find how architecture affected its market. Architectural analysis of its urban interface resulted that former multi-family houses converted into shops benefited from its multi-level façade exposed to street, maximizing the accessibility to potential customers. The economic analysis of semi-basement floor and raised first(ground) floor shows buildings along Wausan-ro double up the ‘ground level’ shop values. Small no-brand shops in converted and split shops had been building the Hongdae community brand, transformed the building condition adapted to the market; adding external stairs, offering optimized store size to each level and optimized location of each shopping type. The analysis of economic value of split store properties reveals inter-relationships between shop sizes, stair locations, uses and the commercial value of the building, which presents how to maximize the commercial value of the street, while retaining the community brand, slowing down gentrification of the region.

Introduction Japanese convenience-store (CVS) chain retailers have grown by establishing store networks. In fact, Seven-Eleven, Lawson and Family Mart continuingly have opened about 1000 new stores per year. The reason for the rapid growth of their store-networks is that a key aspect of a chain retailer’s marketing strategy is the number of stores its needs to reach its customers (Srinivasan et al. 2013). In particular, CVS chain retailers seek to open new stores and obtain spatial dominance in a particular geographical area, which is called “area-dominance strategy,” so they can save on logistical costs, increase consumer proximity and loyalty, and prevent rival from opening new stores in the area (Ogawa 2004, Tamura 2014, Nishida 2014). Thus, a retailer’s decision of how to expand store-network in a given regional market is important to improve its sales. However, little attention has been paid to this problem in Japanese academic research. This study attempts to explain the influence of entry of rivals on a focal retailer’s store-network in regional markets of Japanese CVS industry. Especially, the author focuses on the regional competition between a focal retailer who is the first entrant and rivals who are late entrants in the region. First, we review prior research, and then propose hypotheses about the influence of entry of rivals, the degree of dominance of a focal retailer, and entry of rivals in multiple regions, on the number of the focal retailer stores. This is followed by an empirical analysis with panel data. Last, we discuss some implications and direction for future research. Literature Review and Proposed Hypothesis Entry of rival stores Prior research suggests that the existence of rival chain stores in the same market decreases the store-revenue of the focal retailer (Erickson et al. 2013, Nishida 2014).When rival retailers open the large number of new stores in a regional market, the focal retailer may be taken away their business of existing stores and latent new stores, so the focal retailer will be forced to close existing stores and slow down the pace of opening new stores. Then, we propose following hypothesis: H1: In a regional market, the higher the number of net increase of rival stores is, the lower the net increase of focal retailer stores is. Dominance of the focal retailer According to prior research, CVS chain retailers benefit from area-dominance (opening own stores aggressively in a given region), because it enables retailers to reduce their distribution and promotion cost, increase consumer loyalty and their power against manufactures (Ogawa 2004, Tamura 2014, Nishida 2014). If the focal retailer has already established a high density store-network, and had strong relationships with its customers and manufactures in the regional market, they will be less likely to suffer from entry of rival chain stores, and they will be able to continue expanding their store-network. These arguments lead to: H2: In a regional market, the higher the degree of dominance of the focal retailer is, the smaller the negative effect of entry of rival stores is. Entry of rival stores in multi-market Though H1 and H2 do not consider multi-market competition among chain retailers, this macro-level competition may have a great impact on their competitive action in a given region (Chen 1996). When a rival entries to multiple regions simultaneously where the focal retailer has already operated, the focal retailer will delay its decision making and competitive responses, so the impact of entry of rival will be larger (Poter 1980, Ferrir 2001, Boyd and Bresser 2008). Therefore, we propose following hypotheses: H3a: The higher the number of regions which rival entry is, the bigger the negative effect of entry of rival chain stores is. H3b: The higher the number of net increase of rival stores across the regions is, the bigger the negative effect of entry of rival chain stores is. Methodology To test the proposed hypotheses (see FIGURE 1), we collected panel data from the Census of CVS Market, which includes the number of stores of Japanese CVS chain retailers in each prefecture. Due to the restriction of data availability, we treated prefectures as the unit of regional market, and focused on the cases that Lawson was the first entrant, and Seven-Eleven and Family-Mart ware the later entrants in prefectures. Accordingly, the sample was limited in space to 17 prefectures, and limited in time to the period from the year that Seven-Eleven or Family-Mart opened their stores for the first time to 2014. Results We tested the hypotheses using panel date analysis by fixed effects model. The estimated results are shown in FIGURE 2. Regarding our hypotheses H1, involving the negative effect of rival entry on the focal retailer’s store-network, is not supported. However, the interaction of “the dominance of the focal retailer” with “rival entry” and the interaction of “rival entry in multiple regions” with “rival entry” are significant, although their signs of coefficients differ depending on whether the rival is seven-eleven or family-mart. Thus, hypotheses H2 and H3b are supported in part. Implication and Future Research Our findings have several important implications. First, our empirical results suggest that the effect of rival entry on a focal retailer’s store-network depends on (1) rival’s position in CVS industry, (2) the focal retailer’s dominance, and (3) rival’s multiple entry. Second, when a rival has a superior position than the focal retailer, dominance advantage of the focal retailer increases the negative effect of rival entry, which is contrary to our expectation. This implies that enhancement of the density of own store-network will cause cannibalization, so each store of a focal retailer may be highly vulnerable to entry by a rival who has superior competitive position (i.e. Seven-Eleven). Finally, multiple entry by a rival in superior position reinforces the negative effect of their entry on expansion of the focal retailer’s store-network in the regional market. Though this study was a rare attempt to explain regional competition among Japanese CVS chain retailers empirically, it did not include the prefectures that Seven-Eleven and Family-Mart were the first entrants. This may limit generality of the empirical results, hence it is valuable to take this problem into consideration in future research.

Prior research shows that in-store displays have a significant effect on product sales, but no study so far has measured this effect using a qualitative approach that considers the size of the in-store display or its general theme. In this study, a smartphone-based user generated contents (UGC) was used to encourage consumers to post about the in-store displays they liked. This study investigates the relationship between the qualitative content of in-store displays and the sales of the products featured in such displays, and the relationship between posts or likes and the sales of the products featured in the posted liked display. We examine the effects of the contents of in-store display on sales and the mediation effect of the POST or LIKE on these relationship. As the result, this study is the first to explicate the difference of the mediation effect of post on sales by the type of the content of the in-store display. Specifically, the following three aspects were elucidated: (1) “Seasonality” drives user posting on UGC and such posts contribute to increased sales, (2) “Mass” both directly contributes to increased sales and also promotes user postings on UGC, which contribute to increase sales, and (3) “Character” directly influences sales but does not contribute to sales through postings. This study also provides important managerial implications. The results highlight the role of the content of in-store displays in promoting sales. Specifically, if the goal is to simply increase sales, a character themed in-store display will suffice. If the goal is to induce postings to UGC, which will result in increased sales, then a seasonally themed in-store display will work. In this way, expanding consideration to the qualities of in-store displays makes it possible to develop a more strategic understanding of their effects rather than the simple on/off or numerical frequency approach of the past. It must be taken into account that the type of in-store display content that is called for will differ according to whether the objective is to simply increase sales or to also attempt to create WOM promotion.

Shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores is considered highly experiential. An ability to experience and physically interact with a product is a key benefit of shopping at offline stores. In an online shopping context where sensory experience is absent, researchers have looked at how mental imagery as an alternative to in-store sensory experience impact consumer decision-making (Yoo & Kim, 2014). However the role of mental imagery has been largely overlooked in the context of offline store shopping. While it is true that shopping at offline stores facilitates sensory experience, evidence from cognitive neuropsychology literature supports that visual perception impacts visual mental imagery (Bartolomeo, 2002). Therefore, it is reasonable to posit that sensory experience in stores is related to mental imagery. Yet the relationship between actual sensory experience and mental imagery in the context of store shopping has not been studied. To fill a gap in the current literature, this study aims to examine the process by which sensory experience and mental imagery facilitate purchase decision-making in the context of offline stores. Based on the model of recursive relationships among consumers’ emotional, cognitive, perceptual and behavioral responses (Scherer, 2003) and a review of previous literature, this study posits that actual sensory experience and mental imagery related. It is further posited that both actual sensory experience and mental imagery influence consumers’ affective (anticipatory emotion) and cognitive responses (e.g., decision satisfaction, perceived ownership and decision satisfaction). This study employed an online survey in Korea. Apparel shoppers who shopped and purchased apparel at brick-and-mortar stores during the last six months were recruited. To facilitate a retrieval of in-store experiences, a series of questions about their specific shopping trip and purchases were asked at the beginning of survey. The current study consists of measurements adopted from the existing literature with adequate reliabilities. All the items were measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale. A total of 455 respondents completed the online survey questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were examined to assess reliabilities of the measures, and reliability coefficients were acceptable for all constructs (.78 ~ .92). Results of the SEM revealed that all the model-fit indexes exceeded their respective common acceptance levels, suggesting that the proposed model fitted the data well (2 = 627.38, df = 175; NFI = .92; IFI = .94; CFI = .94; RMSEA = .075). All the direct relationships among variables were significant except for the effect of sensory experience on perceived ownership, the effect of mental imagery on decision confidence, and the effect of perceived ownership on behavioral intention. This study provides new insights into consumer in-store shopping experiences and theoretical and practical implications. Sensory experience and mental imagery are complementary in facilitating consumer in-store shopping experiences. In addition to the importance of sensory experience, this study provides empirical evidence to support the vital role of mental imagery in the context of in-store shopping. Visualizing a situation through vivid mental imagery combined with actual sensory experience will lead consumers to positive shopping outcomes. Further research is warranted to better understand how to optimize actual sensory experience and mental imagery to offer excellent in-store experiences.