With the rapid growth and competitiveness in the South African apparel retail industry, retailers and marketers face numerous challenges to remain competitive. Contributing to the dynamic nature of this phenomenon is the impulsive nature and individual preferences of consumers when buying apparel, which necessitate retailers to be more responsive towards consumer needs and preferences in order to attract potential, and retain existing, customers. This can be done by formulating a retail strategy that will enrich consumers' total retail experience. When developing a total retail experience, all the elements that would encourage or inhibit the consumer to buy from the retailer should be considered, which among others include the store attributes applied within the store environment. This implies that apparel retailers, and especially those selling casual wear, should identify the importance attached to store attributes of their particular target market and how satisfied they are with the attributes offered. Since consumers use store attributes during store selection, it is essential for retailers and marketers to understand consumer behaviour, and more specifically the consumer decision-making process, since store attributes are used as evaluative criteria during this process. To satisfy consumer needs, retailers should meet consumer expectations in order to generate a positive attitude towards the store, which will increase the chances of repeat patronage. Consumer expectations form an essential part throughout the consumer decision-making process, which in the end will determine whether consumers experience post-purchase satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Since consumer expectations are formed by previous experiences, marketers should ensure that they offer the necessary store attributes consumers perceive as important when purchasing products, services or selecting a store. Evidently, this will influence both consumers' satisfaction towards a certain retail store, as well as future store selection. The primary objective of this study was to determine the importance of, and satisfaction with, store attributes to black Generation X consumers when choosing a store selling casual wear. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to survey 252 black respondents at a mall in Soweto. The questionnaire aimed to determine which store attributes are important to black Generation X consumers when selecting a store selling casual wear, and how satisfied they were with the store attributes offered by the store they most often buy casual wear from. Results identified 10 reliable Importance factors when determining which factors black Generation X consumers consider when selecting a store selling casual wear, namely service provided by salespeople; check-out points, dressing. rooms, store hours and proximity to store; display of casual wear and in-store advertising; store appearance, styles, sizes and quality of casual wear; physical facilities to enhance shopping convenience; offering cell phones and accessories; music played; price of casual wear; variety of brand names and credit card facilities; and the alteration of clothing and lay-buy services. It was also found that respondents were less satisfied with certain store attributes offered by the store they most often buy their casual wear from when compared to how important these factors were to them, including service provided by salespeople, check-out points, dressing rooms, store hours and proximity to the store. It is recommended that retailers who sell casual wear to black Generation X consumers should determine which attributes are considered as important to their target market and apply it in their retail and marketing strategies accordingly. It is also recommended that stores selling casual wear should conduct research to determine whether differences exist between their target markets' demographic profile with regard to the importance of store attributes as well as their satisfaction with those attributes offered by the store. Based on these results, marketers will be able to identify the attributes consumers are not satisfied with, which gives the opportunity for improving and amending strategies and gaining a competitive advantage. Future research can focus on the importance of store attributes to black Generation X consumers or other groups in other units of analysis, such as different retail formats and industries, as well as expanding the study to include more geographic areas. / Thesis (M.Com. (Marketing Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

This diploma thesis is focused on running an online shop in the Czech Republic. Online shopping is the fenomenon of modern age and had a strong infulence on consumer behavior. Customers can browse shops and order from shops all over the world at any time of day. In the first part of this work I am presenting theoretical background and basic principles on which online shopping is founded. I am also exploring its benefits, risks and possible limitations. Next, I am exploring the current situation of online shopping in Czech Republic and the prerequisites for further development. In the second part I am focusing on activities that are integral to the area of online shopping. This includes advertising systems, choice of software implementation, payment system, marketing campaigns or goods distribution. I am comparing possible options for every one of these areas and I am also suggesting advice tailored for different kinds of businesses. The overall aim of this work is to use my own experience to create a comprehensive guide on running an online store..

In-store communication is part of marketing communication. Importance of in-store communication is on the rise, since mass-media communication is loosing its efficiency. In-store promotion works with variety of instrumens, how to influence customers right in the place of sale. How these instruments work and influence customers is the main focus of this thesis.

South African clothing retailers are currently struggling to obtain and retain market share as a result of the challenging economic climate, new international market entrants and changes in consumer behaviour (MarketLine, 2018). In particular, consumer behaviour relating to men’s clothing is changing and for the first time in decades, menswear is dominating the South African clothing retail industry (MarketLine, 2018; Hastreiter & Marchetti, 2016). A lucrative market segment is the Millennial generation, born between 1980 and 2000 (Cham, Ng, Lim & Cheng, 2018; Cho, 2017). Consequently, knowledge on the clothing consumer behaviour of specifically Millennial men is crucial and the topic is still under explored, resulting in a research gap, which inspired this study. The store image perceived by the consumer has a direct influence on store choice and is important for retailer success. Since personal values ultimately drive consumer decision-making, an understanding of the personal values that motivate store choice may assist clothing retailers with their positioning (store image) to obtain customer loyalty and a sustainable competitive advantage. Gutman (1982) means-end chain (MEC) theory explains that consumers make choices based on the product/store attributes that they perceive as ultimately assisting them in reaching the desirable end-state (personal value). An MEC is a hierarchical structure that consists of three main interconnected levels, namely, attributes (means), consequences and personal values (ends), which are organised according to the level of abstraction. This study applied the MEC as a theoretical framework for exploring and understanding the role of Millennial men’s personal values in their perception of store image and their store choice. Laddering is a probing technique that is used specifically in MEC studies to uncover underlying motivations for behaviour. This technique can be used in qualitative studies (where it is referred to as soft laddering) and also in quantitative studies (where it is referred to as hard laddering). This exploratory mixed-method study started with an initial qualitative phase and the findings were subsequently used to develop the measuring instrument for the second quantitative phase. The second quantitative phase specifically used the Association Pattern Technique (APT), a hard laddering technique developed by Ter Hofstede, Audenaert, Steenkamp and Wedel (1998). Using a series of matrices, the APT reveals how consumers link desirable attributes, sought-after consequences and personal values. Using non-probability sampling methods (i.e. convenience-, snowball and quota sampling), 25 participants were recruited in the first phase and 408 workable questionnaires were obtained during the second phase. The personal in-depth interviews conducted during phase 1 used soft laddering and elicited the attributes and consequences that are pivotal in clothing store choice. Together with these attributes and consequences, the ten basic personal values of Schwartz (1992) and colleagues (2001; 2014) were used to develop the matrices for the measuring instrument used in phase 2. During this phase, data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire that was completed online. The findings of this study indicate that hedonism ultimately motivates store image and store choice. Although the personal values of “self-direction”, “achievement” and “power” were also indicated as motivational drivers within different demographic subsets and different types of clothing retailers, “hedonism” unequivocally was found to be the most relevant personal value. It is therefore hedonism that influences Millennial men’s clothing store image and store choice. From this study it is recommended that clothing retailers in South Africa, targeting the Millennial male, pay specific attention to hedonism in terms of the design and implementation of their marketing strategies to give credit to consumers’ need to associate with a store image that projects a pleasurable experience. Clothing retailers that can successfully position themselves accordingly, will most likely be favoured. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Consumer Science / PhD / Unrestricted

This diploma thesis is dedicated to the proposal of marketing strategy for educational mobile applications from developer Holucent. In the theoretical part of the thesis are described notions from the field of marketing strategies and online marketing. Based on the analysis of current state is consequently created marketing strategy which cornerstones are suggestions of specific marketing measures. The means of control and measurement of effectiveness of suggested measures are analytical tools. The main asset of this thesis is improvement of propagation of educational mobile applications from developer Holucent.

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This research aims to realize the relationship between store image and consumer purchasing behavior of coffee chain store in Kaohsiung city. In order to paint a vivid picture of consumer behavior in Kaohsiung coffee chain store, this research tries to analyze the importance of store image and customer¡¦s satisfaction. The research is only conducted in Kaohsiung area and the range includes some specific coffee chain systems that open above 5 stores in Kaohsiung. In this case, the research is focus on three coffee chain stores ¡GSTARBUCKS, DOUTOR and BRUNCH . A total number of 315 effective questionnaires are collected until the end of April in 2003 . In this research, some attributes of store image are grouped into six dimensions. They are products, services, atmosphere, convenience, advertising¡Aand promotion and solid equipment .The six-dimensional research structure contains 26 attributes which are measured by Likert Scale to understand the importance of store image ,customer¡¦s satisfaction and total store image . The following are the results of this research ¡Gone result shows the level of significance with regard to the differences between importance of store image and customer¡¦s satisfaction. This reveals that customers dissatisfy with some attributes when they patronize coffee chain stores. The whole store image has positive correlation and level of significance with consumption, frequency of purchase and Re-patronage but doesn¡¦t show the level of significance with staying time. The result shows significantly different with total store image and consumer¡¦s satisfaction but doesn¡¦t show significantly different with the importance of store image in different coffee chain stores. The research also reveals significantly the difference among consumption, re-patronage and companies yet the difference with frequency of purchase and staying time in different coffee chain stores. The last but not the least, in different coffee chain stores, the research has the education difference but not the difference with gender , marriage, age, occupation and income .

The spread and development of the Internet has not been last a long time, however, a plethora of global famous brands have been established, twisting it from the ever glooming situation to a dominant role in our life. Before that, an brand building takes time, but on the contrary, now an Internet brand takes only a few months to become a strong brand. This can be indicated from the census conducted by the Interbrand. Therefore, the subject of the research is to see how to build a Internet brand and hope this will benefit those interested with the management of a virtual store. The target of the research includes online beauty shop in Taiwan and U.S, to see how they build a successful virtual store brand and to compare the differences of the development history between those U.S and Taiwan virtual stores. The research adopts case study research, and after serious interviewing with each individual case of corporation, the following conclusion has been made that: 1. Customer management: to establish an encouragement mechanism for both new customers and frequent customers;; making good use of database in order to raise the loyalty of customers. 2. Website Establishment: a good virtual store is always easy to browse and providing an attractive user interface; making the style be able to reflect the core value Of the corporation. 3. Marketing Activities: no matter what kind of marketing activities, new idea and innovation is necessary. 4. Strategic Alliance: by means of strategic alliances to improve the brand¡¦s resource and power. 5. Core Value: to develop a unique characteristic and activity to provide core value for customers. 6. Trusted Transaction Mechanism¡G clearly claim the information, privacy policy, transaction methods and shopping routine, making customers have great shopping experience.

In recent years, due to the improvement of living standard and the increase of national income, the market size of department stores has been expanding constantly .In addition to the greater number of development cases, there are many new department stores and shopping malls being built in succession. These situations make department stores confront with gradually increasing challenges. In such competitive environment, these department stores have become so called¡¨ the stronger gets stronger and the weaker gets weaker¡¨. In Taiwan, seventy percent of the total sales in department stores are nearly taken by several groups of department stores, and single business running has become considerably difficult. However, it can be found that HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORE accounted for almost 37 percent of market sales which was in Kaohsiung in 2005 .Even HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORE¡¦ s sales got nearly three times as much as that of the second place in Kaohsiung. Although HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORE lacks abundant resources of chain stores, it can successfully take the sales top of department stores in Kaohsiung .In this case, its business model is worth exploring. Therefore, the object of this research is HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORE. The purpose of this research is trying to find out the key success factors of how to manage department stores by reviewing relevant literature and making interviews. I hoped that these research results will be useful for department stores to improve development in the future.