As a type of particular goods, clothing carries unique attributes which determine its untraditional online marketing model. Researchers worldwide have conducted many studies on CS towards online clothing shopping and created well-established measurement models according to various measurement indexes and theories. Based on previous studies and the unique attributes of clothing, this document proposes four factors (QE, SE, TR and RE) that affect CS towards online clothing shopping. Then, relevant elementary propositions and hypotheses are raised and proved through a questionnaire survey and quantitative research. Based on relevant theories, the following suggestions and hypotheses have been proposed.
In the context that today’s consumers have a growing demand for product & service experience, the CE of online clothing buyers and their reviews will directly affect CS and CL (Ye et al., 2017). The functions, quality, and sensory perception of products, which determine the functional, quality, and sensory experiment of consumers, are the fundamental factors affecting the experience and attitudes of consumers. Product & service experience, the core of which is CE (Smith, 1999), is actually a marketing strategy aims to increase CS by allowing consumers to observe, try products or services. Given the particular attributes of clothing, the best way for consumers to decide whether clothes fit them or not is trying them on; therefore, if prices are not considered, in-store shopping is the first choice of consumers. Marketing aesthetics holds that aside from product functions, the CE that consumers obtain from the aesthetic effects of products, such as product colors, appearances, advertising, shapes, patterns, affects their aesthetic experience and thereby their consumption choices(Rong et al., 1999). Mugger discovered that the functions and appearances of products had positive effects on CS and CL(Mugge et al., 2010). This document discusses how QE, and SE affect CS.
Given the above, it raises the hypothesis that “product experience has positive effects on CS towards online clothing shopping” which can be divided into the following two assumptions: