Subhro Sarkar, Arpita Khare and Amrut Sadachar
The purpose of this paper is to validate the consumer styles inventory (CSI) scale for understanding the decision-making styles of shopping app users. The validated scales are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to validate the consumer styles inventory (CSI) scale for understanding the decision-making styles of shopping app users. The validated scales are used to examine the relationship between consumers’ decision-making styles and factors affecting the use of mobile shopping apps.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 428 valid responses are collected from the users of the five most popular shopping apps. The mobile shopping apps are selected based on a popularity study. Data are collected from mobile app shoppers through an online survey.
Findings
Findings reveal a new set of factors that can be used for understanding use of mobile shopping apps. Decision-making styles influence the adoption of mobile apps for shopping. Factors responsible for the adoption of mobile shopping apps such as usefulness and risk perceptions differ across consumers with different decision-making styles.
Practical implications
The findings would facilitate online retailers in building focused marketing strategies for segmenting and targeting the consumers having different decision-making styles.
Originality/value
The current research is the first of its kind to examine the applicability of the CSI scale in the context of mobile app shoppers in an emerging economy. The findings enrich the existing literature by providing empirical support to the relationship between decision-making styles and factors affecting adoption of shopping using mobile apps.
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Arpita Khare, Subhro Sarkar and Shivan Sanjay Patel
The exponential growth of organised retail has led to competition among mall retailers with the use of promotions to increase traffic to the stores. The footfall in the malls is…
Abstract
Purpose
The exponential growth of organised retail has led to competition among mall retailers with the use of promotions to increase traffic to the stores. The footfall in the malls is dependent on the sales generated by various retail stores located in the malls. The current research analyses the role of promotions used by the retailers located in Indian malls in improving consumers’ commitment towards the mall. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of culture, personality traits like value consciousness, price consciousness and coupon proneness, and promotions used by retailers in malls on consumers’ commitment towards the malls.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight malls from six cities were selected by popularity and footfall. Mall-intercept technique along with systematic sampling was used to collect data from 453 mall shoppers using a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Retailer promotions were categorised under discounts, promotional offers and loyalty cards. The findings suggest that cultural values of long-term orientation and masculinity have an impact on consumers’ perceptions towards discounts, promotional offers and loyalty programmes. Different promotional strategies had varied responses from consumers.
Practical implications
Mall retailers can use the findings to design promotions according to the cultural values of masculinity and long-term orientation. Loyalty programmes can symbolise status and long-term relationship with retailer. Commitment towards retailers and consequently malls could be enhanced through discounts and promotional offers. Different promotional strategies can be used to target price-conscious consumers and increase footfall in the stores. The linkages between cultural dimensions and promotional techniques would be helpful in targeting different consumer groups by designing promotions which are in line with cultural values.
Originality/value
The research extends the existing literature on mall retailing by analysing the importance of cultural dimensions on sales promotions strategies used by retailers in malls. The study establishes that perceptions towards retailer promotions differ across cultures. Different promotions offered by retailers generate varied response from consumers across different cultures which would influence their commitment towards malls.