Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1029554 Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 2008 13 Pages PDF
Abstract

This study investigates two design factors of store atmosphere in relation to store image and consumers’ expectations of merchandise quality for web-based stores. We address this purpose through the use of the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model on which five hypotheses were drawn based on research conducted with brick-and-mortar and web-based stores. In order to test the hypotheses, four treatment combination stimuli were developed by two types of storefront designs (thematic/non-thematic) and two types of information display (picture-based/text-based). A total of 307 college student questionnaires were analyzed. The findings provide a better understanding of consumer's behavior toward web-based stores. Experiment results suggest that, consumers reacted more positively to web-based stores using a thematic and picture-based store design than web-based stores using a non-thematic and text-based store design. The methods of information display (picture-based/text-based) were positively related to a convenient store image and consumers’ expectation of merchandise quality. In addition, there was a mediating effect of store image between store atmosphere and consumers’ expectations of merchandise quality.

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Social Sciences and Humanities Business, Management and Accounting Marketing
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