Consumer Attitudes and Shopping Intentions toward Pop-up Fashion Stores

Abstract Pop-up retail refers to the practice of opening a transitory, short-term, and often unannounced retail sales space. Such a space may be set up in a movable container or in an existing structure to offer consumers experiential shopping and face-to-face interaction with brand representatives. The retail industry has rapidly embraced pop-up retail as a feasible distribution channel for reaching consumers, launching new products, and testing niche markets. Pop-up stores may also be operated as promotional events; the purpose of which is to increase brand awareness rather than to make sales. Researchers have compared consumer behavior in the context of such varied retail outlets as traditional brick-and-mortar stores and online stores. However, researchers have not heretofore investigated consumer behavior associated with pop-up fashion stores, even though a wide range of retailers utilize the pop-up format. Since pop-up retail is a distinct type of retail outlet, consumers’ attitudes and shopping intentions toward pop-up stores may differ from those they harbor toward traditional brick-and-mortar stores or online stores. The research goal of identifying variables that influence consumers’ attitudes and intentions relative to pop-up fashion stores is important to developing effective pop-up retail strategies that will, in turn, allow fashion brands to diversify their distribution channels and thus reach more consumers and better promote their brands. Six hypotheses were proposed based on the review of literature: fashion involvement positively affects fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior (hypothesis 1a) and attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores (hypothesis 1b). Similarly, the need for hedonic shopping experiences positively effects impulse buying behavior (hypothesis 2a) and attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores (hypothesis 2b). Finally, fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior positively effects attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores (hypothesis 3), which in turn, effects shopping intentions at the stores (hypothesis 4). The data was collected from 245 consumers at the airports in two major cities in the West and Southwest regions of the US. The sample was comprised of women (60.8%) and men (39.2%) with an average age of 34.1 years. The fit statistics of the measurement model confirmed an excellent model fit: χ2=252.82 with 160 df at p-value<0.001; RMSEA of 0.047 (90% CI for RMSEA=0.035-0.058); CFI of 0.99; and NFI of 0.97. Cronbach’s alpha for latent constructs ranged from 0.88 to 0.98, and factor loadings were in the range of 0.71 to 0.96 with p-values<0.01. The construct reliability ranged from 0.84 to 0.97, and the average variance extracted ranged from 0.58 to 0.90. The overall fit indices of the research model indicated a good model fit: j2=288.67 with 163 df at p-value<0.001; RMSEA of 0.053 (90% CI for RMSEA=0.042-0.063); CFI of 0.99; and NFI of 0.97. Fashion involvement had a positive effect on fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior, supporting Hypothesis 1a (7=0.54, p <0.001). There was no significant positive effect of fashion involvement on attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores, rejecting Hypothesis1b. The need for hedonic shopping experiences had a significant positive effect on fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior and attitude toward pop-up fashion stores, supporting both Hypotheses 2a (γ =0.31, p <0.001) and 2b (γ=0.32, p 0.001). Fashion-oriented impulse buying had no significant positive effect on attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores, rejecting Hypothesis 3. Positive consumer attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores increased participants’ shopping intentions with regard to the stores, supporting hypothesis 4 (β =0.72, p<0.001). Operating pop-up fashion stores may be an effective retail strategy for suiting the interests of hedonic consumers. The idea of stores “popping-up” unexpectedly may be appealing enough to catch some consumers’ attention but attention alone may not be sufficient motivation to get consumers to take the next step, that is, shopping at a given store. Although pop-up stores are meant to be open for only a short period of time, retailers should attend to such considerations as the quality of merchandise, store layout and ambience, window displays, and customer service so as to create a desirable shopping environment and experience. The non-significant association between fashion involvement and attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores suggests that consumers, even those who are highly interested in fashion, may not be entirely aware of the benefits or even the concept of pop-up fashion stores. This study also revealed no significant positive effect of fashion-oriented impulse buying on attitudes toward pop-up fashion stores. The lack of connection was probably due to lack of experience with pop up retailers. Therefore, retailers could focus on increasing consumer awareness of pop-up retail as an innovative and exciting retail distribution channel by utilizing social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter to facilitate immediate word-of-mouth promotion to create buzz about pop-up stores. Global fashion brands may apply a pop-up retail strategy to retail internationalization and test the potential of entering markets before committing to the markets. Established global fashion brands may use pop-up stores to identify ideal locations for future permanent stores in foreign markets and as promotional events to engage in interactive brand communication with the consumer. For emerging global fashion brands, pop-up stores could function as a means to understand the consumer. By interacting with the consumer in pop-up store settings, fashion brands can scrutinize consumer responses to brand positioning and product offerings and increase brand awareness. They could also increase their presence in the global market through setting up stores in a pop-up shopping mall.