If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractThis research presents the results of an initial investigation on``visual merchandising'' and its effects on purchase behaviour and brand recognition. The context is concessionary branded female fashion offerings within a department store. The research utilises semi-structured interviews with a small sample of female undergraduate students. The interviews incorporated the use of stimulus material ± photographs taken of concessions in a department store some 150 miles away from the research location. The results suggest that the themes that linked most strongly to purchase intention were: merchandise colours, presentation style, awareness of fixtures, path finding, sensory qualities of materials and lighting. Initial findings suggest that liking of display does not totally determine purchase, but does make it four times more likely. Electronic access
Focuses on customer-to-customer interaction between strangers. It begins by reviewing the literature in the field and establishing a number of roles that customers may play while participating in this type of interaction. The study then goes on to measure the frequency of interaction and the propensity of 467 garden centre customers to adopt the roles identified by the literature (namely helpseeker and help providers). From analysis of their responses the authors are able to produce typical role scripts associated with each of the roles identified. These will help those interested in managing and facilitating these potentially valuable interactions and give some structure for future research in the area.
Smell, Scent, Retail brand image, Retail environment, Human olfaction,
This exploratory study examines the underlying determinants as well as the dimensionality of in-store information searches for a Christmas clothing gift, focusing specifically on the differential effect of gender on information acquisition. A selfadministered survey, containing personality, situational and standard demographic measures, was administered to actual consumers in three Western countries, shortly after the Christmas season. Confirmatory factor analysis verified that in-store information is indeed a multidimensional construct, composed of three distinct factors: macro information search, micro information search and salesperson help. Consistent with expectations, compared to males, females tended to acquire macro and micro information to a greater extent; males were more apt to seek the assistance of store sales personnel than females. This pattern was generally robust across the three countries. Other observed gender and/or country-sample differences are discussed. Employment status Newman, 1977 (+,-) (+): positively correlated with search; (À): negatively correlated with search; (0): non-significant findings
Consumption benefitsEverybody shops! Catchphrases such as`s hop till you drop'' (Channel 4, 1997),``I shop, therefore I am'' (Firat and Venkatesh, 1993, p. 244) appear in everyday discourse as referents to an increasingly important facet of shared cultural awareness. They symbolize the extent to which consumption dominates the shaping of present day identities, increasingly eclipsing traditional value systems. This is illustrated by Campbell's (1997) discussion of the framing of the shopping experience as a leisure activity in its own right. Consumption has become``very much a social act where symbolic meanings, social codes, and relationships, in effect, the consumer's identity and self, are produced and reproduced'' (Firat and Venkatesh, 1993, p. 235). The transformation of consumption into a form of creative expression relates to both the product and process elements.In the acquisition of products, self-expression is achieved in a twofold manner.``The functions of the symbolic meanings of products operate in two directions, outward in constructing the social world: Social-Symbolism, and inward towards constructing our self-identity: Self-Symbolism'' (Elliott, 1997, p. 2). When considering social-symbolism, Warde (1994, p. 878) states that``F F F people define themselves through the messages they transmit to others through the goods and practices they possess and display. They manipulate or manage appearances and thereby create and sustain a`self-identity'''. He adds further that``F F F consumption offers security to individuals by confirming their self-image'' (Warde, 1994, p. 882). When discussing self-symbolism, Hirschmann (1992, p. 175) argues with the earlier ideas of Belk (as cited in Hirschmann, 1992)``F F F that consumers extend their identities and sense of self by incorporating larger numbers and types of products within a sense of personal possession or control''. Thus conspicuous consumption becomes an internalized marker of self-worth and a condition for external social acceptance and status.Beyond the material utility and exchange value of products, consumption as process is about the enjoyment of products and the images they carry as commodity-signs, a creative engagement with the symbolic contents of a fantasy world.``What is important is not the material possessions themselves or the
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