Central to retail therapy is the notion that stress can be eased by simple browsing, which produces immediate and positive psychological effects through shopping. In the Philippines, retailers are slowly adopting omnichannel strategies as a response to the fundamental shift to online retailing. However, during the pandemic, shoppers resorted to retail therapy to appease emotions and senses. This might explain how the Filipino deserve ko ‘to (I deserve this) mindset can be a form of self-gifting that may relate to retail therapy.

The study was aimed to investigate the operational meal costs by kindergarten size in Seoul and to analyze recognition for optimal meal prices. A survey (31.6% recovery rate) was conducted on all kindergartens (779 kindergartens) in Seoul on April 2021 using descriptive analysis, t-test, and dispersion method. A price sensitivity measurement (psm) method was used to determine optimal meal prices. Result showed an average food cost for kindergartens of 2,647 won, an average labor cost of 605 won, an average operating cost of 146 won, and the total meal cost of 3,506 won. Total meal cost decreased with increasing kindergarten size (p<0.001). On the other hand, kindergartens with more students decreased the ratio of food cost to total meal cost, and operating cost and labor costs (p<0.001) increased. The optimal price of kindergarten operators' meal cost (OPP) was KRW 3,673. Furthermore, the analysis showed the sensitivity of operators' meal costs to kindergarten size was insignificant.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the operators' perception of the allowable price range and the optimal price of kindergarten meals by using the PSM (price sensitivity measurement) technique and provide basic data on calculating kindergarten meal costs reflecting realistic meals. From April to May 2021, 779 kindergartens in Seoul were surveyed, based on 246 (31.6%) of the respondents. According to the survey, kindergarteners spent 3,506 won for meals on average, followed by 3,822 won for kindergarten attached to elementary school, 3,316 won for public kindergartens, and 2,896 won for private kindergartens (p<0.001). The allowed price range for the kindergarten meal service workers was estimated at 3,447~3854 won, 3,447 won for PMC (Point of Marginal Cheapness), and 3,854 won for PME (Point of Marginal Expensiveness). The appropriate cost of the kindergarten meal service provider was 3,950 won for kindergartens attached to elementary school, 3,425 won for public kindergartens, and 3,546 won for private kindergartens.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of the quality of school meals by parents of kindergarten children in Seoul, analyze the acceptance price and the optimal school meal cost using PSM (price sensitivity measurement) techniques, and provide basic data for improving the quality of kindergarten meals. The survey was conducted using descriptive statistics and PSM analysis of the responses of 1,272 parents of 779 kindergarten children belonging to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education from April to May 2021 and prior research analysis related to kindergarten meals. 74.1% of the parents surveyed were women, with 61% of children attending kindergartens attached to elementary schools, followed by private kindergartens (28.9%) and public kindergartens (10.1%). According to a study of the quality of meals, private kindergarten parents are highly satisfied with all the quality attributes of meals, such as “sanitation of dining environment” and “nutritionally balanced food” (p<0.001, p<0.01). The analysis of the acceptance price range and the optimal price for school meals showed that there was no significant variation based on the type of kindergarten establishment, with parents' acceptance price range ranging from 3,596 won to 4,454 won with an optimal price of 3,948 won.

In the context of Sunday brunch evaluation, this research found that US participants perceived a menu price with 15% customary tipping as less expensive than the same price with a 15% mandatory service gratuity. In addition, they expressed greater intent to patronize a restaurant when it is under voluntary tipping than when it is under a corresponding mandatory service gratuity. More importantly, the results showed that participants’ use of surcharge information and perceived surcharge fairness acted in parallel and with similar strengths as mediators of the relationship between surcharge policy and menu price perception. However, the relationship between surcharge policy and patronage intent was fully mediated by participants’ perceived surcharge fairness. The findings of the present research have important implications for the US food service industry as a growing number of restaurants have adopted mandatory service gratuity in place of voluntary tipping in recent years. Although the decision to switch to mandatory service gratuity is mostly driven by concerns about internal customers such as employee compensation, this research suggests that it may have a negative impact on external customers in terms of menu price perception and patronage intent. Consequently, restaurants, especially those targeting price-sensitive clientele, should think twice before jumping on the mandatory gratuity bandwagon.

Today, consumers are becoming more sensitive to price since price have been an essential motivation for them to choose the electronic retail venue. Recently, it is recognized that social commerce, with higher rate of daily active users, is ahead of traditional electronic mobile commerce in Korea. One of strengths in social commerce is attractive price deals for fashion brands, which positively lead to purchase probabilities. Therefore, fashion retailers should understand consumers’ price perception and their responses toward sales promotions on the social commerce. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of consumer price perception and choice heuristics on impulse buying behavior for sales promotion of fashion brands and to examine the moderating effect of an engagement level in the social commerce. A self-administered questionnaire was developed, and mainly included consumer price perception (e.g., price consciousness, sales proneness), choice heuristics (e.g., affect referral, price referral), engagement, impulse buying and demographics. An online survey was undertaken by a research agency. A total of 235 usable responses were obtained from Korean consumers who had purchased fashion brands from social commerce sites (e.g., Coupang, Wemakeprice, Ticketmonster, etc.) using mobile devices. Respondents represent more females (n=129, 54.9%) than males (n=106, 45.1%). They are aged from 19 to 39 years old (Means=29). Results showed that consumers’ sales proneness had a positive effect on affect referral and price referral heuristics, which positively lead to impulse buying behavior. However, consumer price consciousness had a negative effect on impulse buying at the social commerce sites. Also, the mediating effect of the engagement was significant in the relationship among sales proneness, choice heuristics, and impulse buying behavior for sales promotion of fashion brands in the social commerce sites. This study discussed marketing implications for social commerce to effectively manage promotional program in the social commerce market.

Today, mobile advertising is an important tool as interactive communication has a great potential to promote market sales. This study is to examine the effect of price perception on behavioral intention to use mobile phone-based promotions, and compare the differences in choice heuristics between levels of the intention to use mobile promotions. Multi-item scales for price perception, choice heuristics and mobile-based promotions were either developed in our qualitative study or adopted from existing scales in literatures (Lichtenstein, et al., 1993; Bettman & Park, 1980). Based on behavioral intention to use, mobile promotions were classified into three types, such as sales promotion, reward program and brand ads. All items were measured on a seven point rating scale (1=very unlikely, 7=very likely). A pilot study was conducted in which 97 female consumers who had ever redeemed mobile promotions for purchasing fashion products. Respondents were aged from 18 to 35 years (average age=23.6 years). Factor analysis revealed that price perception extracted three factors, such as price consciousness (items =4, Cronbach’s α=.90), coupon proneness (items =5, Cronbach’s α=.89), and sales proneness (items =4, Cronbach’s α=.89). Regression analysis was used to examine the effect of the price perceptional factors on use intentions for mobile promotions. For sales promotion, price consciousness (β=.27, p<.01) and coupon proneness had significant effects on intention to redeem for sales or coupon (F=13.59, p<.001, Adjusted R2=.29); price consciousness (β=.22, p<.05) and coupon proneness (β=.36, p<.01) significantly affected behavioral intention to participate in reward program (e.g., QR code events, point mileage, free gift, etc.) (F=10.34, p<.001, Adjusted R2=.23); and intention to use brand ads was significantly affected by sales proneness (β=.26, p<.05) and price consciousness (β=.24, p<.05; F=9.18, p<.001, Adjusted R2=.21). For purchasing in mobile context, consumer choice heuristic was consisted of five rules: compensatory, lexicographic, price-based conjunctive, affect-referral heuristic and sequent elimination in the mobile context. It is found that consumer choice rule was differed by intention to use mobile promotions. There was a significant difference in lexicographic (MLow=3.89, MHigh=4.63, t=-3.54, p<.01), price-based conjunctive (MLow=3.64, MHigh=4.13, t=-2.12, p<.05), and affect-referral heuristic (MLow=3.31, MHigh=4.02, t=-2.95, p<.01) between high and low levels of use intention for redemption for sales or coupon; for reward program, there was significant difference in price-based conjunctive (MLow=3.45, MHigh=4.27, t=-3.72, p<.001) or sequent elimination (MLow=4.39, MHigh=5.00, t=-2.13, p<.05) between the high and low levels of use intention. Also, there was a significant difference in price-based conjunctive rule between high and low levels of use intention for brand ads (MLow=3.49, MHigh=4.30, t=-3.76, p<.001). The findings extended a consumer choice model under mobile promotional stimuli and discussed a managerial implication to build effective promotional strategy in the context of mobile commerce..

This study examines the effects of restaurant attributes on customers' perceptions of price and brand reputation. Four restaurant attributes were used to represent restaurant quality. Multiple regression was conducted to measure the relationships between the four restaurant attributes and price and brand reputation. Further, an independent T-test was used to compare differences between perceptions of locals and tourists with regard to restaurant quality under two categories (price and brand reputation) after they selected a restaurant. Results of this study revealed that residency did not have a significant impact on customers' perceptions of price or brand reputation, whereas restaurant attributes did have an impact. Taste was a predictor of perceived price, whereas service and atmosphere were predictors of brand reputation. In addition, comparison of restaurant attributes between locals and tourists showed that sanitation and service were significantly different in accordance with price and atmosphere, whereas taste and service were significantly different in accordance with brand reputation. Locals showed higher means for each restaurant attribute compared to tourists.

This study focuses on testing the validity of dimensions of restaurants’ menu prices. In addition, the effect of demographic variables on the perception of each price dimension was investigated. The subjects were people living in the capital region who have, at least on occasion, gone to family restaurants. The data were collected by self-administered questionnaires and analyzed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and the ANOVA t-test. The results were that consumers’ perception of restaurant menu prices is not uni-dimensional, but has six dimensions: price-price schema, pricequality schema, value consciousness, low price proneness, price mavenism, sales proneness. Demographic variables partially affect the consumers’ perception of each menu price dimension. The result of the t-test examining dimensions of price according to the demographic characteristic was that females have a higher sales proneness than males. The t-test result according to marriage indicated that married people were higher in price-price schema and quality proneness than unmarrieds. ANOVA according to age indicated that people between ages of 20 to 29 have a higher quality proneness than those of other ages.

The study aims to identify and measure factors affecting the perception of the selling price of luxury apartments in Hanoi. We conducted a questionnaire consisting of 29 observation variables with a 5-point Likert scale. Independent variables were measured from 1 “without effect” to 5 “strongly”. Based on the desk review and results of interviews, a total of 500 questionnaires were sent to research participants for collection; 458 of them met standard and were subject to be analyzed. This study employs Cronbach’s Alpha test, and regression model. The results of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) identify five main determinants influencing the perception of the selling price of luxury apartments in Hanoi, including Physical characteristics of a luxury apartment (PC); Location and position of an apartment (LP); Surrounding Area (SA); Quality of service provided by managers; (QS) and Demographics factor (DF). Based on the findings, some recommendations have been proposed to help the firm leaders design appropriate personnel policies for creating better price satisfaction for customers in the future. On this basis, the authors propose a number of recommendations to improve the quality of luxury apartments, thereby contributing to the development of the market for luxury apartments in Hanoi