Jewon Lyu, Kim Hahn and Hyun-Joo Lee
Fashion products such as clothes, accessories, bags and footwear created using 3D printed technology are referred to as 3D printed fashion (3DPF) products. This study investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
Fashion products such as clothes, accessories, bags and footwear created using 3D printed technology are referred to as 3D printed fashion (3DPF) products. This study investigates consumers' motivation to purchase 3DPF products. In particular, this study adopts a multi-dimensional approach to explore the effects of personality-related traits such as innate, domain-specific and actualized innovativeness, as well as examine the effects of perceptions toward 3D printing technology (3DPT) (i.e. perceived security risk, performance expectancy). Based on the concepts of consumer innovativeness and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the authors expect the effects of consumers' innovativeness and perception of 3DPT and confirm its significant effects on a positive attitude toward 3DPF products and future purchase intention of 3DPF products.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research design (i.e. survey) is utilized to examine the suggested relationships and application of existing theory in this study. All measurement items are adapted from previous literature and use a Likert-scale. The authors examined a total of 326 responses using a series of statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, structural equation modeling and conditional process modeling.
Findings
The results of this study confirmed that innate and domain-specific innovativeness are critical antecedents of creating a positive attitude toward using 3DPF products through perceptions toward 3DPT. In addition, 3DPF innovativeness, as actualized innovativeness, was validated to strengthen the relationship between personal innovativeness and attitude, providing evidence that innovation-related traits can predict behaviors. Interestingly, technological innovativeness was not found to be a predictor of perceived security risk. It may be due that 3DPF products are still novel to consumers.
Research limitations/implications
The study participants were people who were interested in technology, not consumers who had prior experience with using 3DPF products. Future studies are encouraged to include consumers who have actually purchased or used 3DPF products.
Practical implications
The findings of this study indicate that consumers' use of new technology is determined by personality and interest in specific product categories. Practitioners may use this information to segment/target consumer groups to introduce a new/unfamiliar product.
Originality/value
The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on consumer adoption of innovation by combining two approaches, the hierarchy of consumer innovativeness and the UTAUT, in the context of advanced technology adoption behavior.
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Purchasing behaviour across traditional retail and internet routes to market is becoming increasingly integrated. The positive and negative consequences of such behaviour for…
Abstract
Purpose
Purchasing behaviour across traditional retail and internet routes to market is becoming increasingly integrated. The positive and negative consequences of such behaviour for multi‐channel businesses have not been thoroughly examined – while an offline retail presence may reassure customers purchasing from an online channel, poor service online may negatively influence customer usage of an offline channel. This paper aims to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey of the online customers of four companies is employed and structural equation modelling used to investigate influences of demographic and behavioural variables (purchase involvement, loyalty, experience with the internet, company and product‐type) on positive and negative cross‐channel behaviour (CCB).
Findings
Strong evidence for both positive and negative customer CCB is found. Females, higher purchase involvement, higher loyalty and those with more experience of the company were more likely to display positive CCB; higher education, experience with the product type and online channel negatively influenced positive CCB. Increased age, education, occupation/class and purchase involvement lead to more negative CCB; product and company experience lead to reduced levels of negative CCB.
Research limitations/implications
As a first step towards understanding of customer CCB the research generates many insights; however, more research is required to explore in more depth each of the constructs discussed and measured.
Practical implications
Understanding how different customer groups display different tendencies for CCB can help companies shape fulfilment and delivery strategies across different channels to market.
Originality/value
The study makes contributions to customer cross‐channel customer behaviour, developing implications for future research as well as management practice.
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Selen Öztürk and Abdullah Okumuş
Nowadays companies are constantly changing their retail settings and strategies to keep up with technological developments and consumer needs. Digital transformation enabled one’s…
Abstract
Nowadays companies are constantly changing their retail settings and strategies to keep up with technological developments and consumer needs. Digital transformation enabled one’s shopping experience to be more efficient in terms of money, time, physical effort and other elements that determine the price a consumer has to pay. Channels of communication and distribution have evolved, increased in number and also became integrated. Mobile devices, mobile applications and location services help consumers in their shopping journey. These developments have led us to a new concept called omni-channel management. In theory, the omni-channel refers to a single and unified channel experience with multiple touchpoints, which include physical stores, online stores and direct marketing; mass communication channels (television, radio, print media, C2C, etc.), online channels (social media, search engines, comparison sites, e-mail, display etc.) and mobile channels (SMS, branded apps, etc.). Some examples of omni-channel practices are click-reserve, click-collect, tablets as in-store sales tools, in-store product order through mobile apps, etc.
In this chapter, the latest trends in marketing channels are discussed with enabling digital technologies and relevant success factors. Challenges and opportunities in implementing omni-channel strategies and several omni-channel initiatives from Turkey are reported.
A research was employed to present consumers’ preferences of touchpoints/channels for search, payment and delivery, and to find out the drivers that lead consumers to use more than one channel simultaneously and/or interchangeably in a buying process. The results will guide the readers to understand consumer behaviour in the new omni-channel world.
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Soyoung Kim and Christie Jones
The purpose of this paper is to examine how offline brand trust moderates: the relationship between consumers' general attitude toward the internet and their perceptions of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how offline brand trust moderates: the relationship between consumers' general attitude toward the internet and their perceptions of the quality of a retailer's web site and the relationship between their perceived web site quality and intention to shop from the web site.
Design/methodology/approach
Two hundred young female consumers participate in the study. Each selected one of three pre‐determined apparel retailer brands that she has either had experience with or are familiar with. Participants are then asked to keep their selected retailer in mind when completing an online questionnaire. They are also asked to browse the retailer's web site in search of a shirt or blouse. Factor and multiple‐regression analyses are conducted to test hypotheses.
Findings
Offline brand trust exerted a significant moderating effect in the relationship between the efficiency factor of attitude toward the internet and the usability and information quality factor of web site quality. Offline brand trust also played a moderating role in the relationship between the interactivity factor of web site quality and online shopping intention. Implications for multi‐channel apparel retailers are discussed.
Originality/value
While a great deal of research has been conducted to study brand trust, most has focused on product brands not on retail brands. Furthermore, none of the studies on brand trust has questioned nor investigated the moderating role of retail brand trust in the relationship between consumer characteristics and their attitudes and behaviors toward the company's new business format. This paper seeks to contribute to the extant literature on brand trust and multi‐channel retailing by exploring the role of offline brand trust in shopping at a multi‐channel retailer's web site.
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Mohammad Ahmad Al‐hawari and Samar Mouakket
Although many studies have analysed the impact of online factors on the online behaviour of customers', there is also a need to consider the influence of offline factors on…
Abstract
Purpose
Although many studies have analysed the impact of online factors on the online behaviour of customers', there is also a need to consider the influence of offline factors on customers' propensity for online services use. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how offline factors trigger online continual usage by customers' of airline e‐ticket booking services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes a conceptual model of the relationship between offline factors and customers' online continual usage behaviour. A convenient sample consisting mainly of undergraduate students was selected. The primary data were collected through a pencil‐and‐paper survey, and AMOS 18 was used to test for the hypothesised relationships.
Findings
The results revealed that employee‐based service quality has a positive and direct relationship with pre‐existing offline trust and image, and no direct relationship with online continual usage. Surprisingly, and contrary to current literature, pre‐existing offline trust had no direct relationship with online continual usage. However, both pre‐existing offline image and subjective norms confirmed the literature and had a direct significant relationship with online continual usage.
Research limitations/implications
This study used a sample of mainly university students to test the proposed conceptual model. Thus, it might not be possible to generalise the application of the outcomes of this study to different populations.
Practical implications
The results of this study confirm the importance of offline factors as a vital tool that support organisations' attempts to encourage their customers to continue using online channels, which are both efficient and convenient. The paper also offers decision makers general guidelines on managing offline factors to stimulate customers' online continual usage behaviour.
Originality/value
The key contribution of this paper is a conceptualisation of predictors of customers' usage of online booking services, that takes into account the most researched offline factors cited in the literature.
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Marta Frasquet, Alejandro Mollá Descals and Maria Eugenia Ruiz-Molina
The purpose of this paper is to understand loyalty in the multichannel retail context. The paper analyses the interplay between offline and online loyalty and the direct and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand loyalty in the multichannel retail context. The paper analyses the interplay between offline and online loyalty and the direct and indirect effects on loyalty of brand trust and brand attachment, in a cross-cultural study.
Design/methodology/approach
Online survey answered by 761 multichannel apparel shoppers in two countries (UK and Spain). Structural equation model multigroup analysis is performed to test the hypothesized relations and the role of culture as a moderating variable.
Findings
Online loyalty is largely driven by offline loyalty, which is also positively affected by brand trust and brand attachment. These relationships hold across the two different cultures.
Research limitations/implications
The findings confirm the validity of applying the theory of cognitive dissonance to explain multichannel shopping behaviours. The authors did not find culture that affects the relationships in the model; however, the validity of these findings should be tested considering other cultural variables different from nationality.
Practical implications
Multichannel retailers should focus on building trust and attachment towards the brand if they want to get online and offline loyalty. The efforts to build stronger bonds between the customer and the retail brand translate into higher loyalty, particularly towards the offline channels.
Originality/value
This paper extends the literature on the interactions between online and offline behaviour by focussing on the power of the brand to build strong customer bonds. The model considers the role of brand attachment together with brand trust in offline and online loyalty simultaneously.
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Hanna Lee, Lori Rothenberg and Yingjiao Xu
The purpose of this paper is to explore and examine the relative impact of product and channel attributes on luxury product shopping in the multi-channel environment.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and examine the relative impact of product and channel attributes on luxury product shopping in the multi-channel environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A D-optimal discrete choice conjoint design was used. The data were analysed using a multinomial logit model and desirability indices.
Findings
Findings indicate that low price was the most important factor that influenced young consumers' preferences. After price, young luxury consumers placed a greater importance on channel attributes such as human-assisted service and virtual fitting rooms.
Research limitations/implications
The sample consisted of young consumers in their 20s and 30s, who utilise both online and offline channels. Hence, the income level was relatively low. Also, the results cannot be generalised to all luxury consumers.
Practical implications
Providing preferable channel attributes is more crucial to young luxury fashion shoppers than focusing on improving product attributes, with the exception of price.
Originality/value
The paper proposes the optimal combination of key product and channel attributes that is most preferable to young luxury fashion consumers in the multi-channel environment.