Abstract
With the appearance of many new types of fashion stores in Korea, competitions among fashion store types art fiercer than ever before. As consumers alternatives in fashion store selection increase, they select different store types to purchase different product types. Therefore, the probability of patronage mix behavior according to product type increases. Understanding consumers patronage mix behavior, finding out the determinant attributes of fashion stores for each product type, and analyzing competitive structures among fashion stores are important to retailers and marketers for building a successful merchandising and marketing strategies. An empirical study was conducted to analyze the competitive structure among the store types by consumers' patronage mix behavior. A questionnaire was developed and data were collected from 464 adult women living in Seoul area in Korea. Factor analysis, paired t-test, ANOVL Duncan test, and discriminant analysis were employed to analyze the data. Data regarding patronage mix behavior by product type proved that certain store types had ‘natural dominance’ in a particular product type as Hirschman(l978) pointed out. Also, a new analytic method of the competitive structures among fashion store types was suggested in the study, by which a specific store type retailer can analyze his/her own customers' patronage mix behavior by product type. The analysis will enable retailers to distinguish which of their competitors are substitutive, selling same product types, and which are complementary, selling different product types. Retailers have to concentrate on the strategies for the substitutive competitors rather than complementary competitors because their marketing abilities and resources are limited.
