The Impact of Experiential Augmented Reality Applications on Fashion Purchase Intention

Utilizing the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of augmented reality (AR) (specifically augmentation) on consumers’ affective and behavioral response and to assess whether consumers’ hedonic motivation for shopping moderates this relationship. An experiment using the manipulation of AR and no AR was conducted with 162 participants aged between 18 and 35. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling and randomly assigned to the control or stimulus group. The hypothesized associations were analyzed using linear regression with bootstrapping. The paper demonstrates the benefit of using an experiential AR retail application (app) to positively impact purchase intention. The results show this effect is mediated by positive affective response. Furthermore, hedonic shopping motivation moderates the relationship between augmentation and the positive affective response. Because of the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalizability to other forms of augmentation. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed model using different types of AR stimuli. Furthermore, replication of the study with other populations would increase the generalizability of the findings. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for retailers of the benefits of using AR when attempting to optimize experiential value in online environments. The study contributes to experiential retail and consumer purchase behavior research by deepening the conceptualization of the impact of experiential technologies, more specifically AR apps, by considering the role of hedonic shopping motivations.Peer reviewe

Commerce, culture and experience convergence: fashion’s third places

Purpose This paper aims to examine the third-place phenomenon, within a fashion context, through the theoretical lens of servicescape and experiential retailing. It identifies third places’ typologies, evolution and adoption and explores the opportunities third places offer to retailers when attempting to connect better with consumers. Design/methodology/approach Taking a qualitative approach, research was conducted using secondary data sources, observation of 98 retail stores and the shopping-with-consumers technique with 42 informants. Manual thematic analysis and magnitude coding was conducted. Findings Third-place fashion practices are prevalent and growing. Their predominant functions include sociability, experiential, restorative and commercial. Variances inherent in third places are expounded and a third-place-dimensions model is proposed. Research limitations/implications Due to the chosen research approach, the results are limited in terms of generalizability to other settings. Several research directions are elucidated, including exploration of fashion third places on consumers’ place attachment within specific sectors; the impact of differing age, gender and geographies on third place meaning; virtual and hybrid forms; retailer motivations; and third-place alliances. Practical implications The preliminary study serves to support managers to understand how consumers perceive and experience the fashion third place and the potential of the third place to enhance consumer engagement. Originality/value The research makes a valuable contribution to the dearth of extant literature on third place within the fashion field. It offers a new theoretical perspective on form, function and benefits of third places as a conduit of social-, experiential-, and commercial-experience consumption

Fashion’s experiential convergence : reconceptualising the physical store within omnichannel retailing as Experiential retail territories

‘Fashion’s experiential convergence: reconceptualising the physical store within omnichannel retailing as Experiential retail territories’ is a PhD by Published Work that comprises seven published papers, completed over a five year period, and an evaluative commentary. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this body of work, integrates the theoretical antecedents of customer experience, the physical store (and its evolution), omnichannel retailing (physical and virtual places and their convergence), and retail in-store technologies, to offer a reconceptualisation of the physical store in the future. These theoretical antecedents are unified by taking a spatial perspective, essentially extending the territorology construct into the area of retailing, to propose original theorisation of customer-centric boundaryless Experiential retail territories. The thesis contributes new knowledge both in the aggregated contribution of the papers themselves, as well as in their synthesis. Firstly, it chronicles retail types of places and spaces that enable and enhance experience (papers 1,2 and 3). Secondly, it posits temporal perspectives to customer experience management and the customer journey mediated by retail technologies (papers 4 and 5). Thirdly, it advances reimagined conceptions of the role of the physical store within omnichannel retailing (papers 6 and 7). And finally, in its synthesis, the thesis proposes Experiential retail territories as a novel conception in the prognosis of future retail from which two theoretical models that depict its nature, ensue. Firstly, a reimagined holistic retail experience characterisation is presented. Secondly, a retail territories continuum is conceptualised, as a depiction of integrated retail territories. Each circle representing a path on a continuum of convergence orientated towards physical or digital spheres with complete coalescence in the centre. In doing so, augmenting that retail territories are complex colliding, converging and conjunct spatialities and temporalities. Collectively, the two models encompass the fluidity, openness and mobility of retail territories

Limited or Limitless? Exploring the Potential of NFTs on Value Creation in Luxury Fashion

Accelerated by the global pandemic, the speed of technology adoption has significantly increased, resulting in new business opportunities, channels, touchpoints and digital toolkits. One such burgeoning technology which is generating increasing attention is Nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Adopting an exploratory approach, this study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the value of NFTs from a luxury business and consumer perspective. Taking a qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with luxury experts and consumers, totalling 11 informants. Our findings revealed new technology acceptance and value dimensions in addition to the existing dimensions from literature, within a luxury context, from which two models ensue, NFT value creation and NFT digital strategies. The research makes a valuable contribution to the paucity of existing scholarly studies on blockchain and NFTs and their value creation within a luxury context. It serves to provide preliminary insight into perceptions towards and potential value creation of NFTs for both luxury industry and consumers to inform future luxury digital strategies

Moving From the UK to China: The Case of M&S and How Fashion Brands Should Adapt Their International Strategy to Consumers

Case study published by Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases. Marks & Spencer (M&S) is a 136-year-old British retailer. It is recognized as a general merchandise retailer, including a mix of fashion and non-fashion goods within its product offer (Moore and Burt 2007). The retailer has eight decades of international experience, having started exporting in the 1940s. It opened its first overseas store in the 1970s in Canada but since has had a turbulent time of international expansion and retrenchment. M&S has become of increasing interest to academics such as its demise from one of the most successful British retailing companies to one facing rapid decline (Burt et al. 2002). The focus of this case is its specific decline and ultimate retrenchment from China.International retailing research has increased significantly since the 1970s, facilitated by the emergence of retailer super-brands that generated international appeal (Moore and Burt 2007). Fashion retailers are known to be the most international of all retailers (Doherty 2000). A key debate has been the internationalization strategy retailers adopt when entering new markets—either adaptation, to fully respond to the needs of local consumers, or standardization, to benefit from economies of scale (Levitt 1983; Salmon and Tordjman 1989). Whilst Levitt argued for standardization on the basis of worldwide convergence of consumer needs and wants, namely a global strategy, alternative strategies were identified, for example, a multinational strategy, which seeks to preserve brand image across markets but also adapts to fit local market conditions and consumers (Salmon and Tordjman 1989), to a fully localized strategy, where all facets of the firm are adapted.Even though studies are numerous on this topic, a large proportion of internationalization ventures result in failure, specifically fashion retailers (Burt et al. 2002). In particular, differences in consumer buying behavior and national culture are recognized as impacting firm success or failure (Ricks 1993; Steenkamp 2001) and standardized global strategies have been criticized for failing to recognize these country nuances (Moore and Burt 2007). This case study of Marks & Spencer’s entry into China aims to highlight some of the specific factors and asks students to consider the pitfalls and challenges at play for M&S in their strategic approach to tackling China, and how they might have adapted their strategy to succeed

Territorialising Retail: Towards an Alternative Spatiality?

Converging retail channels and the proliferation of customer touchpoints have had significant impacts on consumer behaviour (Barrera and Shah, 2023). Technological advances have allowed retailers to encompass otherwise interstitial space, merging physical with digital to offer ‘phygital’ environments to provide customers with immersive, interactive and distinctive experiences (Hänninen et al. 2021; Pangarkar et al., 2022). Sixty eight percent of consumers now seek out retailers that offer phygital experiences (Deloitte, 2022), and over 70% of retailers regard digital transformation as an essential part of retail’s future (Wahi and Medeiros, 2023 - see also Barrera and Shah, 2023; Neslin, 2022; Rahman et al., 2022). Such developments increasingly challenge traditional notions of retail space and place; specifically the confinement of ‘place’ to a particular location, delineated by finitude, boundary, function and materiality (Gieryn, 2000), manifested in a retail context in terms of where physical stores are sited, while ‘space’ has been likened to a “realm without meaning” (Cresswell, 2015:16), associated with online and virtual activities (Gieryn, 2000). In a retail context, the term ‘space’ is especially used to refer to the in-store selling area, such as in ‘space allocation’ and ‘space planning’ (Goworek and McGoldrick, 2015). In retailing, the treatment of place and space almost as synonyms has arguably contributed towards a sense of nomenclatural ambiguity, especially with increasing channel multiplicity and customer touchpoints. Klaus and Kuppelwieser (2023) note that there remains a dearth of research exploring if - or how - customers use and experience different types of retail places and spaces, with implications for future retail predictions and conceptual developments (See also Pangarkar et al., 2022). Indeed, given the rapidly evolving retailing industry, scholars more generally are recognising the increasing gap between academic research and retail practice, casting doubts on the saliency and alignment of traditional conceptualisations to ongoing developments (See Roggeveen and Sethuraman, 2018; Dekimpe and Geyskens, 2019; Hänninen et al., 2021). Consequently, more nuanced, contemporary and interdisciplinary theorisations are arguably required to help advance new retail and customer experience in meaningful ways (Picot-Coupey et al., 2016; Shi et al., 2019; Chevtchouk et al., 2021), not least in terms of the places and spaces where this activity occurs

Broadening the Conversation on Inclusive Retailing: An Exploratory Study on the Fashion In-Store Retail Experience of Parents with Autistic Children

Book chapter in Pioneering new perspectives in the Fashion Industry: Disruption, diversity and sustainable innovation

Exploring the role of experiential characteristics in fashion retail pop-ups on retail experience of UK Millennial consumers

In Brandstrup, M., Dana, L-P., Ryding, D., Vignali, G. and Caratù, M. (eds). The Garments Economy: Understanding History, Developing Business Models, and Leveraging Digital Technologies. Springer, Switzerland