ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339

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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

Influence of retail store environmental cues on consumer patronage

behavior across different retail store formats: An empirical analysis of
US Hispanic consumers
Yoo-Kyoung Seock
Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

This study examined the influence of Hispanic consumers’ perceived importance of apparel retail store
Keywords: environmental cues and demographic characteristics (i.e., age and the number of years lived in the US) on
Hispanics their apparel store patronage behavior across various retail store formats. Three apparel retail store
Retail store formats environmental cue dimensions were identified. Of the three dimensions, Customer Service appeared as a
Store environmental cues significant determinant in Hispanic consumers’ decision to shop at department stores, specialty stores, and
Patronage behavior mass merchant stores. Convenience was significantly, but negatively, related to the use of specialty stores.
Physical Atmosphere appeared as significant determinants of Hispanic consumers’ use of Internet websites.
The respondents’ shopping frequency at department stores, Internet websites, and catalogues was
significantly different based on the respondents’ age and number of years lived in the US This study offers
insights for apparel retailers in building effective retail store environments to attract Hispanic consumers.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and services than do non-Hispanics (HispanicTrends.com, March/

The US population has experienced remarkable growth over
the past half-century and is becoming more racially and ethnically
diverse with faster population growth among minorities than
Caucasians (Shrestha, 2006). The US Census Bureau (2007)
reported that the nation’s minority population reached 100.7
million in 2006, increased from 98 million in 2005, and Hispanics
accounted for almost half of the nation’s minority population
growth between 2005 and 2006. A more recent report by the US
Census Bureau (2008) showed that the US Hispanic population
reached 45.5 million on July 1, 2007, which accounts for 15.1% of
the estimated total US population of 301.6 million. The Pew
Hispanic Center report for US population projections revealed that
Hispanics will make up 29% of the US population in 2050, making
them the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority population
group in the US (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006). Moreover, according
to a report released by Hispanic Telligences, along with such
substantial population increases, Hispanic purchasing power
surged to nearly $700 billion in 2004, accounting for 8.5% of total
US purchasing power that year, and is projected to reach as much
as $1 trillion by 2010 (Broide, 2004). Although the median income
of Hispanic households is much less than that of non-Hispanic
white households (US Census Bureau, 2007), Hispanic households
spend a greater percentage of their disposable income on goods
E-mail address: yseock@fcs.uga.edu
April, 2005). More specifically, Hispanic households spent a
greater portion of their income in 2004 on groceries, footwear,
men’s and children’s apparel, gasoline and motor oil, and house-
hold textiles than other goods (HispanicTrends.com, January/
February, 2005).
As the population and purchasing power of this group grows,
understanding Hispanic consumers and appealing to them
becomes an increasingly important opportunity for retailers to
capitalize on the projected hundreds of billions of dollars of
annual sales potential. However, despite the mounting evidence of
Hispanics’ growing impact and influence on the retail market,
research has lagged behind in this area, and little has been done to
investigate this group and their shopping behaviors. Furthermore,
US Hispanics were found to exhibit strong ethnic identification
and attitudinal differences than other ethnic groups in their
shopping behaviors (Deshpande et al., 1986; Suro, 2006). Retailers
should not assume that marketing products to the Hispanic
population is no different than marketing to a general population
(Valdez, 2000). Marketers should know the preferences of this
consumer group compared to other ethnic groups and develop a
differentiated marketing plan. In order to shed light on those
preferences, the present study focuses on Hispanic consumers’
shopping behaviors.
Over the past decades, the retail business environment has
faced aggressive competition with rapid market entry of innova-
tive store concepts and formats (Maronick and Stiff, 1985). A
company’s success in financial performance and market shares

0969-6989/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.03.001
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
330 Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339
largely depended on the satisfied customers who are willing to
purchase products or services repeatedly (Siu and Cheung, 2001;
Raphel, 1999; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Srinivasan et al., 2002).
In this vein, understanding consumers’ store choices and their
patronage behavior have been identified as keys to the success of a
particular retail business and have become a premier objective for
marketers (Osman, 1993). Therefore, increasing consumers’ loy-
alty to the store has been a managerial challenge to marketers,
and gaining in-depth understanding and empirical estimation of
consumer loyalty behavior has been an important issue to
researchers. In the face of the recent demographic movement of
growing minority populations in the US, retailers are recognizing
that various ethnic groups have different store choice and
patronage behaviors (Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor,
2005a). According to the report released by Cotton Incorporated’s
Lifestyle Monitor, almost 25% of Hispanics tend to shop at
specialty stores and about 22% at chain stores, while Caucasians
and African-Americans shop primarily at mass merchants (29%
and 27%) and Asians at specialty stores (33%). Thus, retailers
should abandon the one-look-fits-all strategy and try to differ-
entiate stores that appeal to their target demographic group. More
importantly, researchers found that Hispanic consumers tend to
patronize the store more frequently once they develop a positive
perception of it (Saegert et al., 1985).
Much research showed that certain attributes of retail store
environment influence store choice and patronage behavior
(Baker et al., 2002; Darden et al., 1983; Darley and Lim, 1993;
Hu and Japer, 2006; Pan and Zinkhan, 2006; Roy and Tai, 2003;
Sherman et al., 1997; Sirgy et al., 2000; Spansenberg et al., 1996;
Thang and Tan, 2003; Thompson and Chen, 1998; Ward et al.,
1992). Moreover, a growing body of academic research also
supports the importance of store environment as a marketing tool
to affect shoppers’ approach behaviors (Fiore et al., 2000) as well
as a dominant market differentiator (Reardon et al., 1995; Roy and
Tai, 2003). Thus, effectively managing the retail store environment
encountered by customers has been identified as a viable retail
management tactic (Babin and Darden, 1995; Gilboa and Fafaeli,
2003) and has gained a growing amount of attention from both
industry and academia (Smith and Burns, 1996). Schlosser (1998)
noted that, in the face of increased market competition, retailers’
sole reliance on promotional techniques is inadequate; retailers’
efforts must turn from offering just price promotions to creating a
pleasant shopping experience. Researchers also asserted that store
environments can influence consumers’ willingness to purchase
or entice them to stay in the store for a longer period of time
(McDougall and Fry, 1974–75; Mano, 1999). In a survey conducted
by Drug Store News, a majority of respondents, almost nine out of
ten, revealed that a pleasant store atmosphere was either very or
somewhat important when they chose a store in which to shop
(Parks, 1998). According to Chain Store Age, retailers reported a
positive connection between improving the retail store atmo-
sphere and increasing sales (‘‘Store atmospherics,’’ 2005). As
consumers often infer retail store images from such environ-
mental cues (Bloemer and Ruyter, 1998), the store environment
may represent the most imperative channel through which
retailers can communicate with their consumers. In fact, retailers
have been spending millions of dollars every year for the design,
construction, and refurbishing of their stores in order to keep their
stores up-to-date and project an image that appeals to their target
markets (Roy and Tai, 2003).
To offer an attractive retail store environment – that is, to
effectively manage the relationship between the customer and the
retail store environment – retailers should know what their target
consumers consider important when they chose a store in which
to shop, and then design their stores to appeal to those targeted
markets, thereby drawing customers into stores and developing
customer loyalty. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to
examine the influence of Hispanic consumers’ perceived impor-
tance of retail store environmental cues on store patronage
behavior across various retail store formats. The study focuses
on apparel retail stores because Hispanic consumers spend a
significant share of their income on clothing items such
as footwear and men’s and children’s apparel. According to
HispanicTrends.com (January/February, 2005), Hispanic house-
holds spent, on average, $2097 for purchasing apparel items in
2004, which accounts for 6% of their annual expenditure based on
an annual income of $35 k. This statistic is consistent with DRI
McGraw-Hill’s projection in that Hispanics are expected to drive
significant growth in apparel and shoe purchases (Euro RSCG
Magnet, 2002). Hispanic consumers’ substantial expenditure on
apparel items may transform the existing apparel market and
redefine its future. However, the apparel industry is one of the
business sectors that invest the least amount of money to
Hispanics, according to Association of Hispanic Advertising
Agencies (2004). This study investigating Hispanic consumers’
patronage behaviors will provide practical information for apparel
retailers to penetrate this lucrative consumer market and earn
loyal customers.
2. Literature review
2.1. Hispanic-American consumers
Distinctiveness theory posits that a person’s ethnicity is a
distinctive and salient trait that differentiates behavior (Lee et al.,
2002; Steenkamp et al., 1999; Torres and Briggs, 2005; Usunier,
2000). Because the members of an ethnic group have shared
norms and beliefs, they conserve the common characteristics of
the national culture from which they originate (Steenkamp et al.,
1999; Usunier, 2000) and each ethnic group constitutes a unique
community with their own cultural values (Lee et al., 2002).
Existing evidence from research lends support to the notion that
ethnicity is an important trait in differentiating consumer
behavior, especially regarding apparel shopping. Researchers
suggested that Hispanics in the United States show strong ethnic
identification, which results in attitudinal and behavioral differ-
ences from other ethnic groups in their shopping behaviors
(Deshpande et al., 1986; Suro, 2006). According to a report
released by Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor (2005c),
Hispanic women were more particular about their appearance
than women of other ethnicities. Well over half (57%) of Hispanic
females, according to the same report, opted for style over
comfort, choosing clothing that looked attractive on them rather
than clothing that was comfortable. Only 45% of Caucasians and
46% of African-Americans held the same attitude. Furthermore,
while only 50% of Caucasians and 56% of African-Americans
bother to seek help while shopping for clothes, 60% of Hispanic
female respondents tended to seek some friendly advice or a
second opinion when shopping for apparel. Hispanic female
consumers spend significantly more time shopping than their
Caucasian and African-American counterparts (Cotton Incorpor-
ated’s Lifestyle Monitor, 2005b). They spend an average of
135.1 min in stores shopping for apparel, while Caucasian and
African-American female respondents recorded an average of 89.4
and 109.27 min, respectively. Statistics from the Cotton Incorpor-
ated’s Lifestyle Monitor (2005a) also show further evidence that
there are purchasing behavior differences among consumers of
different ethnicities. In all, 62% of Asians report that they enjoy
wearing denim, followed by Hispanics (56%), Caucasians (54%),
and African-Americans (45%). In all, 24.6% of Hispanics tend to
buy denim jeans primarily at specialty stores and 21.6% at chain
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Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339
stores, while Caucasians and African-Americans shop primarily
at mass merchants (29% and 26.9%, respectively) (Cotton
Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor, 2005a).
Recognizing the purchasing power of this market, many
retailers have been tapping into this consumer group for years.
Sears has advertised in the Hispanic community with customized
Spanish-language advertisements (Sears Press Release, 2005).
Moreover, in 2005, Sears launched Latina Life, a new line of
apparel, footwear, and handbags influenced by the style of
Hispanic women, and offered the merchandise in 425 stores
across the country, offering bilingual store associates and Spanish-
language signage to assist Hispanic customers (Sears Press
Release, 2005). Kmart and Kohl’s collaborated on clothing lines
with Latina superstars such as Thalia Sodi and Daisy Fuentes
(Duprey, 2004). In addition, fashion powerhouses such as Carolina
Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Narcisco Rodriguez and Louis Verdad
have been taking Hispanic fashions from the street to the runway,
filling the pages of Vogue, W and Elle more than ever before with
Hispanic inspired styles (Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor,
2005b). Therefore, Hispanic consumers’ distinctive apparel shop-
ping behaviors, along with a huge market potential, deserve
attention from apparel retailers who plan on reaching this
lucrative and ever-expanding market.
Researchers also noted that demographic and socio-psycho-
graphic background such as age, gender, country of origin, social
class and income status are critical to the success of interethnic
communications with the Hispanic population (Suro, 2006; Valdez,
2000). Meanwhile, previous research in marketing and social
sciences suggests that Hispanic consumers’ degree of assimilation
in American society is an important determinant that differentiates
their behaviors, indicating that the country of origin is not a key
variable in discerning individual differences within this population
(Deshpande et al., 1986; Donthu and Cherian, 1994; Sabogal et al.,
1987; Segal and Sosa, 1983; Webster, 1992). In addition, Korgaonkar
et al. (2000) found that assimilation level is a significant factor that
differentiates Hispanic consumers’ beliefs and attitude toward
direct marketing advertising. One of the factors that influences
assimilation level might be the number of years lived in the US
According to Suro (2006), approximately 70% of the Hispanic
population consists of immigrants and their children and the
numbers of years they lived in the United States vary greatly. Such
variation may result in a range of existing perceptual and behavioral
tendencies among this group because some may preserve prior
learning and pre-existing attitudes from their own culture more
than do others. Others may neglect the distinct cultural traits and
adopt the new cultural traits and values. In 2008, Seock and Sauls
found that age is an important determinant that differentiates
Hispanic consumers’ shopping tendencies and store evaluation
criteria. Seock and Bailey (2009) also found that Hispanic
consumers’ use of personal and impersonal information sources
for apparel shopping varied by age. Thus, this study investigates the
influence of such demographic characteristics as age and the
number of years lived in the US.
2.2. Retail store environmental cues
Underestimating the importance of the shopping experiences
within a retail store, retailers in the past preferred to entice
consumers into their stores by announcing sales incentives
(Kotler, 1973–1974; Saffer, 1996). However, retailers have come
to realize the importance of environmental cues and have tried to
develop effective retail store atmospherics in order to attract their
target customers and increase their profitability (Sirgy et al.,
2000). Turley and Milliman (2000) asserted that marketing
researchers have come to realize that the physical store environ-
331
ment experienced at the point of purchase influences consumers’
shopping behavior and, therefore, the practice of creating
influential atmospheres should be an important marketing
strategy for most exchange environments.
Since 1974 when Kotler suggested the term atmospherics to
refer to the ‘‘intentional control and structuring of environmental
cues,’’ marketing researchers and practitioners in the retailing area
have paid considerable attention to retail store atmospherics.
Lindquist (1974) identified nine categories of store environmental
attributes that contribute to consumer attitude toward retail
stores: merchandise, service, clientele, physical facilities, conve-
nience, promotion, store atmosphere, institutional factors, and
post-transaction satisfaction. Of all these factors, Linquist claimed
that the merchandise, service, and locational convenience aspects
were the most dominant environmental cues in formulating
consumers’ attitudes toward retail stores. Mark (1976) concluded
that the key factors of store attributes were fashionability,
advertising, convenience, outside attractiveness, salesmanship,
and service. Mazursky and Jacoby (1986) discovered that the
merchandise-related aspects (quality, price, and assortment),
service-related aspects (quality in general and salespeople service),
and pleasantness of shopping at the store are among the most
critical components of store image attributes. They also concluded
that retail store image has both core facets, such as price and
merchandise, and more peripheral facets, such as policy and
service. Bloemer and Ruyter (1998, p. 501) proposed that store
image can be explained as a function of the salient attributes of a
particular store that are evaluated and weighted against each
other; ultimately, they defined store image as ‘‘the complex of a
consumer’s perceptions of a store on different (salient) attributes.’’
2.3. Patronage behavior
Recognizing the importance of patronage behavior, researchers
have tried to define consumers’ store patronage behavior and
develop dimensions that measure patronage. Osman (1993,
p. 137) delineated five variables that measure the degree of loyalty
patronage from past studies: ‘‘(1) the percentage of purchases of a
specified product category at a chosen store, (2) the frequency of
visits to the store in relation to other stores during a certain period
of time, (3) the ratio of ranking between stores, (4) the propensity
to shop at the store in the future, and (5) the extent of the
customers’ willingness to recommend the store to their friends.’’ In
his study of patronage behavior, Osman (1993) proposed a more
simplified definition of patronage behavior: ‘‘the repeat purchase
behavior at a particular store for either the same products or any
other products’’ (p. 135). In a study of apparel store patronage
behavior, Shim and Kotsiopulos (1992) defined patronage behavior
as store choice behavior that represents an individual’s preference
for a particular store for purchasing products. More recently, Pan
and Zinkhan (2006) identified retail patronage as having two
dimensions: (1) store choice (a consumer’s choice to patronize a
particular store) and (2) frequency of visit (how often a shopper
patronizes that store). They also found that retail image was a
major predictor for explaining shopping frequencies. As discussed
above, the degree of store loyalty or patronage behavior can be
measured by using various variables. Past studies on store loyalty
or patronage behavior, however, have used either one or a
combination of several of these variables for this measurement.
2.4. Relationship between retail store environment and patronage
behavior
Evidence from the existing academic literature suggests
a theoretical and empirical connection between retail store
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332 Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339
environment cues, and consumer store choice and patronage
behavior. Earlier in 1961–1962, Fisk (1961–1962) presented the
six-category framework of store attributes relevant to customer
patronage: location convenience, merchandise suitability, value
for price, sales effort and store service, congeniality of store, and
post-transaction satisfaction. Bearden (1977) examined store
selection behavior among four department stores by investigating
the effects of the following seven salient store environmental
characteristics: price, quality, selection, atmosphere, location,
parking, and salesperson. Of those seven characteristics, atmo-
sphere, location, parking facilities, and friendly salespeople were
found to be significant attributes in store choice. Donovan and
Rossiter (1982) suggested that retail store image affects a
shopper’s ultimate choice of retail stores to be patronized.
Louviere (1984) also claimed that locational convenience and
attractiveness (including image) affect the choice of retail outlet.
An experiment performed by Mazursky and Jacoby (1986)
revealed that store attributes affected consumers’ inclination to
stores. In 1995, Kim and Kang noted that consumers’ perceived
importance of store attributes varies by retail store format and
consumer characteristics.
Reviewing retail store environmental aspects of previous
research, Sirgy et al. (2000) proposed five retail environment
cues that affect retail patron image: atmospheric cues, location
cues, merchandise cues, price cues, and promotion cues. Thang
and Tan (2003) investigated how consumer perception of the store
attributes affects their preference for stores based on their post-
visit ranking of the stores. The results from their study identified
the following attributes as significantly influencing consumer
preference: merchandising, accessibility, reputation, in-store
service, and atmosphere. They concluded that possession of
certain strong attributes increases the ability of the store to
attract consumers. Roy and Tai (2003) also asserted that unique
store environment can influence a shopper’s patronage decision.
They specifically noted that in-store elements such as color,
lighting, style, or music are likely to have more immediate effects
on a shopper’s purchase decision. More recently, Pan and Zinkhan
(2006) found that product-relevant and market-relevant retail
store attributes were major predictors for explaining store choice
and shopping frequencies. In their study, product-relevant store
attributes included selection, quality and price, and market-
relevant attributes included customer service, store atmosphere,
convenient location, convenient shopping hours, convenient
parking facilities, salespeople, and fast checkout.
Furthermore, some researchers claimed particular importance
for the locational convenience aspect of the store environment in
store choice or frequent visit to the stores, considering the fact
that shopping is often done in multi-purpose trips. Black (1984)
proposed that customers are likely to make their store selection
while considering a number of activities simultaneously. For
instance, customers may visit a store merely because it is near
Retail Store
Environmental
Cues
Demographic Variables
Age
No. of years lived in the U.S.
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework of the study.
some other facility that has to be visited and not because of
favorable attributes that the store may offer. In a similar vein, May
(1981) claimed that consumers tend to make more of their
patronage decisions based on the shopping complex instead of the
individual store. According to Gripsrud and Horverak’s (1986)
research, the presence of nearby complimentary services impacts
a consumer’s selection of food retailing outlets. Their findings
indicated that the proximity to other service facilities as well as
the opening hours are important determinants of store choice in
food retailing.
Clearly, considerable research efforts have been devoted to
identifying important retail store environmental cues that affect
consumer store choice and patronage behavior; the present study
of retail store environment and store patronage behavior does not
propose a new research paradigm. However, no study has been
done focusing on Hispanic consumers’ perceptions of retail store
environment and their store patronage behaviors. The lack of
academic foundations regarding the relationships between His-
panic consumers’ perception of retail store environmental cues
and patronage behavior often makes it difficult for retailers to
penetrate this consumer market. This study investigates the
relationship between them.
3. Conceptual framework
Earlier research suggested that store patronage or loyalty is the
result of consumers’ favorable image of the store, which is formed
by their perceived importance of store attributes (Donovan and
Rossiter, 1982; Hirschman, 1981; Osman, 1993; Sirgy et al., 2000;
Thang and Tan, 2003). According to Sirgy et al (2000), the retail
store environment provides informational cues that consumers
can use to form an impression of the store. They also noted that
consumers evaluate the store based on the perceived importance
of such environmental cues and develop a retail patron image that
influences their store choices and patronage behaviors. The
current study adopted retail store image paradigm in formulating
a conceptual framework of the study examining store patronage
behaviors. In addition to retail store image framework, the present
study also included two demographic variables; number of years
lived in the US, and age as independent variables in predicting
store patronage behavior. Because previous research suggested
that age (Seock and Sauls, 2008) and the number of years lived in
the US (Suro, 2006) are important determinants that differentiate
Hispanic consumers’ shopping behaviors. Accordingly, the con-
ceptual framework of the current study is suggested as shown in
Fig. 1.
From the previous literature on the distinctiveness theory,
ethnicity is revealed as a distinctive and important trait that
differentiates behavior because each ethnic group constitutes a
unique community with their own cultural values. As earlier
Retail Store
Patronage
Behavior
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Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339 333

studies suggest that Hispanic-American consumers demonstrate completed incorrectly or missing too many questions and those
strong ethnic identification, they might exhibit distinctive pre- aged over 50, 332 surveys remained for use in the data analysis. In
existing perceptions in evaluating retail store environmental cues, this study, four respondents aged over 50 were dropped because
which affect their store choice and patronage behavior. Thus, the earlier studies on older consumers aged over 50 revealed that
following hypothesis was developed. these consumers exhibit distinctive shopping behaviors that are
different from other age groups (Carrigan, 1998; Lumpkin and
H1. Consumers’ perceived relative importance of retail store Hite, 1988; Tongren, 1988; Moschis, 1992; Moschis and Mathur,
environmental cues will consist of distinct dimensions. 1993). A summary of the respondents’ characteristics is shown in
As discussed earlier in the literature on the relationship Table 1.
between retail store attributes and consumers’ store choice and Half of respondents (50%) were female. A large proportion of
consumers’ store patronage behaviors, the researcher anticipated the respondents (39.2%) was aged less than 20, followed by those
that consumers’ store patronage behaviors across different retail aged between 20 and 30 (33.1%), and those aged between 31 and
store formats such as department stores, specialty stores, mass 40 (18.1%). Almost 43% of the respondents either attended high
merchant stores, Internet websites, and catalogues may vary by school or were high school graduates. However, approximately
their perceived importance of retail store environmental cues. 30% of the respondents did not report their education. Half of the
Furthermore, there is a possibility of existing perceptual varia- respondents’ annual income was $40,000 or less. In addition,
tions within this group as well. Because majority of the Hispanic 37.2% of respondents had lived in the US for 5 years or less and
population consists of immigrants and the numbers of years they 39.0% had lived in the US between 6 and 10 years. Only 18.9% of
lived in the US vary greatly, some may preserve prior learning or them had lived in the US for more than 10 years. The majority of
pre-existing attitudes more than do others. Such variations may the respondents’ (64.5%) country of origin was Mexico.
influence their store patronage behavior. According to the
previous studies, age might be another important determinant 4.2. Instrument
to influence Hispanic consumers’ store patronage behaviors.
Therefore, the following hypotheses were developed: In this study, a structured questionnaire was developed to
collect the data pertaining to Hispanic consumers’ perceived
H2. Consumers’ store patronage behavior across different retail
importance of apparel retail store environmental cues and their
formats will vary by their perceived relative importance of retail
patronage behavior at a particular retail store type. The first
store environmental cues and demographic characteristics of age
section was used to determine the respondents’ perceived
and the number of years lived in the US.
importance of apparel retail store environmental cues. Fourteen
H2-1. Consumers’ patronage behavior at department stores will
vary by their perceived relative importance of retail store Table 1
environmental cues and demographic characteristics of age and Profile of respondents.
the number of years lived in the US.
Frequency Percentage (%)
H2-2. Consumers’ patronage behavior at specialty stores will vary
by their perceived relative importance of retail store environ- Gender
Male 138 41.6
mental cues and demographic characteristics of age and the
Female 166 50.0
number of years lived in the US.
Age
H2-3. Consumers’ patronage behavior at mass merchant stores Under 20 130 39.2
will vary by their perceived relative importance of retail store 20–30 110 33.1
31–40 60 18.1
environmental cues and demographic characteristics of age and 41–50 24 7.2
the number of years lived in the US.
Education
H2-4. Consumers’ patronage behavior toward Internet websites Did not attend high school 28 8.4
Attended high school 56 16.9
will vary by their perceived relative importance of retail store
High school graduate 86 25.9
environmental cues and demographic characteristics of age and Attend some college 32 9.6
the number of years lived in the US. Some college graduate 22 6.6
Post graduate 6 1.8
H2-5. Consumers’ patronage behavior of using catalogues will
Income
vary by their perceived relative importance of retail store Under 20,000 78 23.5
environmental cues and demographic characteristics of age and 20,000–40,000 86 25.9
the number of years lived in the US. 40,001–60,000 22 6.8
60,001–80,000 6 1.8
80,001–100,000 2 0.6
Over 100,000 8 2.4
4. Methodology
Years lived in the USA
0–5 years 124 37.2
4.1. Sampling and data collection
5–10 years 130 39.0
10–15 years 26 7.8
A self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed 15–20 years 24 7.5
to a convenience sample of 400 Hispanic consumers living in a Over 20 years 14 4.4
Southeastern state of the United States. In order to collect data, Country of origin
the researchers first contacted various Hispanic organizations, Mexico 214 64.5
local churches, community English teachers, and retailers who Central America 36 10.9
South America 32 9.6
work directly with Hispanics, and a time was arranged to visit Caribbean 10 3.0
these organizations and professionals for the purpose of admin-
istrating the surveys. After eliminating the surveys that were Note: Percentage do not add to 100% due to missing values.
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334 Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339
items were used to measure respondents’ indication of the
relative importance of apparel retail store environmental attri-
butes, which were adapted from previous studies (Chen-Yu and
Seock, 2002; Eckman et al., 1990; Louviere, 1984; Pan and
Zinkhan, 2006). They were measured with a 4-point Likert-type
scale ranging from not important at all (1) to very important (4).
The response format of this study used a 4-point scale because the
researcher believed that this method may obtain more accurate
responses by deleting the neutral point. The second section of the
questionnaire was used to determine the respondents’ patronage
behavior at each different retail store format when shopping for
clothing items. As discussed earlier in the literature review, the
degree of store loyalty or patronage behavior can be measured by
using several variables, and past studies on store loyalty or
patronage behavior have used either one or a combination of
these variables for this measurement. Adopted from Pan and
Zinkhan’s (2006) patronage behavior measurement scale, patron-
age behavior at each of the different retail store format was
measured by asking the degree of using a particular retail store
format when shopping for clothing items. Respondents were
asked to indicate on a 4-point Likert scale (1 ¼ not at all; 4 ¼ very
much) how often they shop for their clothes at five different retail
formats, which included department stores, specialty stores, mass
merchant stores, Internet websites, and catalogues. In this study,
each different apparel retail store type was defined by the
definition provided by Keiser and Garner (2008). Department store
was defined as a retail store that provides a variety of product
lines, including apparel for men, women, and children; soft goods
such as sheets and towels for the home; and home furnishings
such as furniture and kitchenware in a range of prices near the
middle to upper price point. Based on the definition of department
store, the researcher investigated department stores in the area of
the present study, which met the criteria of the definition.
Businesses such as Macy’s, Belk, Sears, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Dillard’s,
Nordstrom, etc. were given as examples of department stores.
Specialty store was defined as an apparel-focused specialty stores
that carry a specific brand’s product line. Based on the definition
of specialty store by Keiser and Garner (2008) and a study of
apparel specialty stores doing business in the area of this study,
apparel retail stores such as Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle,
New York & Co., Ann Taylor Stores, Talbots, Aeropostale, J.Crew, L.L.
Bean, Eddie Bauer, etc. were provided as examples of apparel
specialty stores. Mass merchant store was defined as a retail store
that specializes in selling great quantities of merchandise at lower
prices, such as Wal-Mart, Target, etc. The last section of the
questionnaire inquired about the respondents’ basic demographic
Table 2
Apparel retail store environment constructs.
Shopping orientation factors Item
Total
Convenience (m ¼ 3.22) Convenient shopping hours
Easy to find what I am looking for
Convenience of store location
Pleasant dressing rooms
Physical atmosphere (m ¼ 2.80) Nice window display
Attractiveness of store layout
Nice product display in the store
Music played at the stores
Customer service (m ¼ 2.72) Salesperson’s assistance
Store reputation/store image
Flexible return/exchange policies
m: mean value.
characteristics such as age, gender, education, annual household
income, country of origin, and years lived in the US.
The instrument was pre-tested with 54 students. Based on the
feedback collected from the pre-test, the instrument was revised
to improve the clarity of the questions and to increase the content
validity of the measurement instrument. The questionnaire was
developed first in English and then translated to Spanish. Later,
the Spanish version of the questionnaire was translated back into
English to check its validity and reliability. The instrument was
administered in both English and Spanish.
5. Results
A principal component of factor analysis with varimax rotation
was conducted to identify the dimensions of Hispanic consumers’
perceived importance of apparel retail store environmental cues.
To set the criteria for the factor analysis, factors with eigenvalues
greater than 1.0 and items with rotated factor loadings of 0.50 or
greater were retained because factor loadings of 0.50 or greater
are considered statistically and practically significant (Hair et al.,
1998). To ensure that each factor would have only one dimension,
any items loading on more than one factor with a loading score
equal to or greater than 0.40 on each factor were eliminated from
the analysis. In addition, because communality of a variable
represents the amount of variance in the factor solution explained
by that variable (Hair et al., 1998), variables with communalities
less than 0.40 were deleted for reasons of insufficient contribution
to explain the variance. Variables that did not meet the above
criteria were excluded from the analysis. Of the total 14 items, 11
items of apparel retail store environmental cues were retained
for the factor analysis and three constructs were identified
(i.e., Convenience, Physical Atmosphere, and Customer Service) (see
Table 2). All three factors of apparel retail store environmental
cues had alpha values for reliability estimates greater than 0.7.
Thus, Hypothesis 1 was supported. Of the three factors,
Convenience received the highest mean value (m ¼ 3.22),
followed by Physical Atmosphere (m ¼ 2.80) and Customer Service
(m ¼ 2.72).
In order to assess the influence of perceived importance of
apparel retail store environmental cues and demographic char-
acteristics (i.e., age and the number of years lived in the US) on the
use of a particular retail store format when shopping for clothing
items, hierarchical multiple regression analyses using the enter
method were conducted. Five separate hierarchical multiple
regression analyses were implemented for each different retail
Factor loading Variance explained (%) Cronbach alpha
69.23 0.89
0.82
0.81 26.75 0.85
0.79
0.70
0.78
0.71 21.62 0.78
0.70
0.62
0.82
0.76 20.86 0.80
0.69
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Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339 335

store format. Three dimensions of retail store environmental cues
were first entered into the regression equation as a group and
then two demographic characteristics (i.e., age and the number of
years lived in the US) were entered into the equation. In this way,
the correlations between retail store environmental cues and
demographic characteristics were partialled out of the regression
analyses, allowing the researcher to determine the incremental
effects of demographic characteristics over retail store environ-
mental cues in predicting store patronage behavior. The degree of
using each store type (i.e., department stores, specialty stores,
mass merchants, Internet, and catalogue) was entered as a
dependent variable.
Multicollinearity was first assessed because multicollinearity
among the independent variables may be a threat to the
interpretation regarding the influence of the independent vari-
ables on the dependent variables in the regression analyses. When
the researchers checked the multicollinearity among the inde-
pendent variables, the Pearson Correlation matrix indicated no
multicollinearity because all of the correlation coefficients did not
exceed the cut-off value of 0.7 (Ott and Longnecker, 2001).
Multicollinearity was also examined by the ratio of the largest to
the smallest eigenvalue, which is called the condition number of
the correlation matrix. The condition numbers presented in the
Pearson Correlation matrix table ranged from 1 to 19.25, which
was not greater than the cut-off score of 1000. Thus, no
multicollinearity was found in this study. When the degree of
using five different retail store formats was first examined,
Hispanic consumers used the department stores most frequently
(m ¼ 2.80), followed by mass merchant stores (m ¼ 2.76) and
specialty stores (m ¼ 2.71). Internet website (m ¼ 1.39) was the
least frequently used retail format for Hispanic respondents.
In predicting the degree of using department stores when
shopping for clothing items, the regression model was significant,
with F (3, 314) ¼ 97.86 and po0.001, indicating that 63% of the
variance in shopping frequency at department stores was
explained by the three retail store attribute constructs and
two demographic variables (see Table 3). Thus, Hypotheses
2-1 was supported. The test of the relative contributions of
independent variables to explain Hispanic consumers’ use of
department stores showed that Customer Service (b ¼ 0.77,
po0.001) was the strongest and a significant indicator of
shopping frequency at department stores. Among two
demographic variables, the number of years lived in the US
(b ¼ 0.08, po0.05) appeared significant in predicting the degree
of using department stores. Both Customer Service and the
number of years lived in the US positively influenced frequency
of shopping at department stores.
In predicting the degree of using specialty stores for shopping
clothing items, the regression model was significant, with
F (3, 314) ¼ 90.85 and po0.001, and explained 61% of the variance
in Hispanic consumers’ use of specialty stores (see Table 3).
Hypothesis 2-2 was supported. The test of the relative contribu-
tions of the independent variables to explain shopping frequency
at specialty stores revealed that Customer Service (b ¼ 0.81,
po0.001) was the strongest and one of the most significant
predictors of their frequent use of specialty stores. Convenience
(b ¼ 0.01, po0.05) was another significant predictor, but with a
negative relationship. Although overall regression model was
significant, none of the demographic characteristics used in the
study, neither age nor the number of years lived in the US,
predicted shopping frequency at specialty stores.
For the degree of using mass merchant stores, the regression
model was significant, with F (3, 314) ¼ 41.82 and po0.001, and
explained 42% of the variance in Hispanic consumers’ use of mass
merchant stores (see Table 3). Thus, Hypothesis 2-3 was
supported. Customer Service (b ¼ 0.63, po0.001) was the stron-
gest and a significant predictor of frequent use of mass merchant
stores. However, none of demographic characteristics used in the
study were significant in predicting shopping frequency at mass
merchant stores.
For the degree of using Internet websites, the regression model
was significant, with F (3, 310) ¼ 6.31 and po0.001, representing
10% of the variance in Hispanic consumers’ use of Internet
websites (see Table 3). Hypothesis 2-4 was supported. Among
three retail store environmental cue variables, Physical Atmosphere
(b ¼ 0.20, po0.01) was the strongest and a significant predictor of
respondents’ frequent use of Internet websites. Both age
(b ¼ 0.16, po0.01) and the number of years lived in the US
(b ¼ 0.22, po0.001) were significant in predicting Hispanic
consumers’ use of Internet websites for shopping apparel items,
but they were a negative influence.
In predicting the degree of using catalogues for shopping
clothing items, the regression model was significant, with
F (3, 312) ¼ 5.00 and po0.001, explaining 8.0% of the variance
in use of catalogues. When three dimensions of retail store
environmental cues were first entered into the regression
equation as a group, this first regression model was not
significant, indicating none of the retail store environmental cue
variables predicted Hispanic consumers’ use of catalogues (see
Table 3). Later, two demographic characteristics (i.e., age and the

Table 3
Hierarchical regression analyses results.

Variables Department stores Specialty stores Mass merchant stores Internet websites Catalogues (m ¼ 1.57)
(m ¼ 2.80) (m ¼ 2.71) (m ¼ 2.76) (m ¼ 1.39)

Model 1(b) Model 2 (b) Model 1 (b) Model 2 (b) Model 1 (b) Model 2 (b) Model 1 (b) Model 2 (b) Model 1 (b) Model 2 (b)

Convenience 0.02 0.01 0.10 0.10 0.09 0.10 0.18 0.14 0.15 0.13
Physical Atmospherics 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.20 0.20 0.04 0.04
Customer Services 0.78 0.77 0.80 0.81 0.63 0.63 0.08 0.11 0.05 0.01

Number of years lived in the USA 0.08* 0.07 0.01 0.16 0.20
Age 0.06 0.03 0.02 0.22 0.15

R2 0.62 0.63 0.61 0.61 0.42 0.42 0.04 0.10 0.03 0.08
F 157.48 97.86 148.74 90.85 70.03 41.82 3.32 6.31 2.15 5.00

Note: Independent variables: Merchandise/Convenience, Customer Service, Physical Atmosphere.

Dependent variables: Department Stores, Specialty Stores, Mass Merchant Stores, Internet Websites, Catalogues.
b: Standardized coefficient.
 po0.05.
 po0.01.
 po0.001.
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336 Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339

Table 4
Multivariate analyses of variance for retail store patronage across different retail formats.

Effects Retail store patronage Means Mean square df F

Number of years lived in the USA (years) 0–5 Over 5–10 Over 10
MANOVA-Pillai’s Trace – 10 3.74
Univariate F tests
Department stores 2.53a 2.89b 2.93b 5.15 2 7.21
Specialty stores 2.61 2.81 2.63 1.31 2 1.50
Mass merchant stores 2.68 2.82 2.67 0.81 2 0.90
Internet websites 1.54a 1.28b 1.30b 2.44 2 4.60
Catalogues 1.76a 1.50b 1.33b 4.18 2 6.87

Age Under 20 20–30 Over 30

MANOVA-Pillai’s Trace 10 3.83
Univariate F tests
Department stores 2.60a 2.74b 3.00c 3.90 2 5.28
Specialty stores 2.57 2.80 2.72 1.61 2 1.77
Mass merchant stores 2.66 2.80 2.77 0.59 2 0.68
Internet websites 1.63a 1.30b 1.26b 4.58 2 8.25
Catalogues 1.74a 1.58b 1.39b 3.09 2 4.92

a,b,c
Variation represents a significant difference among groups; a consistent superscript represents no significant difference between groups.
 po0.05.
 po0.01.
 po0.001.

number of years lived in the US) were entered into the equation,
then the overall model was significant. Thus, Hypothesis 2-5 was
partially supported. Both age (b ¼ 0.20, po0.01) and the
number of years lived in the US (b ¼ 0.15, po0.05) were
significant, but negatively influenced shopping via catalogue,
implying that shopping from catalogues decreases when age and
the number of years in the US rises.
Pillai’s Trace multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) was
used to identify the differences of retail store patronage behavior
in relation to the number of years that the respondents lived in
the US and their age (see Table 4). Pillai’s criterion was used to test
for significance because it is more robust than other multivariate
test criteria (Hair et al., 1998). The results of the MANOVA test
supported the results of hierarchical regression analysis
conducted in the study to test the hypothesis, showing that the
participants’ shopping frequency at each different shopping
channel significantly varied by the number of years that they
lived in the US and age (see Table 4). The results showed that the
respondents’ shopping frequency at department stores, Internet
websites, and catalogues were significantly different based on the
number of years lived in the US and age. Univariate F tests showed
that the respondents who lived in the US for 0–5 years shopped at
department stores significantly less often than the other two
groups, but had significantly higher shopping frequency on the
Internet websites and catalogues than others (see Table 4). The
results also showed that young Hispanic consumers who were
aged under 20 shopped significantly less at department stores
than older shoppers, but more frequently shopped via Internet
and catalogues than the other age groups.
6. Discussion and implications
The present study examined the influence of Hispanic
consumers’ perceived importance of retail store environmental
cues and two demographic characteristics (i.e., age and the
number of years lived in the US) on their store patronage behavior
across various retail store formats. The results support the overall
models of regression analyses testing the relationships between
aforementioned variables. The exploratory factor analysis of retail
store attributes identified three dimensions: Convenience, Physical
Atmosphere, and Customer Service. Of the three factors, Convenience
received the highest mean value, followed by Physical Atmosphere
and Customer Service. This result suggests that when Hispanic
consumers shop for clothing items, they place the highest
importance on the convenience of the store’s location, shopping
hours and store layout, and pleasant dressing rooms. However,
results of this study also suggest that they value nice store
displays (e.g., informative, entertaining, and neat displays) with
music playing at the store, as well as customer service aspects
such as assistance from the sales associates and store policies that
allow for exchanging and returning items.
When examining the degree of using five different retail store
formats by comparing the mean values, Hispanic consumers
used department stores most frequently, followed by mass
merchant stores and specialty stores. As discussed earlier in the
literature review (May, 1981), consumers may be involved in
multiple activities when shopping and may make their store
selections accordingly. Thus, the proximity to other shopping
facilities might be one of the possible determinants of consumer
store choice and their patronage behaviors to the store. One
possible reason for Hispanic consumers’ more frequent use of
department stores and mass merchant stores than other types
of retail formats is that department stores and mass merchant
stores carry a wide variety of product categories beyond apparel
items, so consumers can accomplish multiple purposes of their
shopping trip by visiting one place. This result is not consistent
with the report released by Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle
Monitor (2005a), indicating that Hispanics tend to most fre-
quently shop at specialty stores. The result also shows that
Internet website was the least frequently used retail format
for Hispanic respondents. Enabling consumers to obtain informa-
tion for potential purchases as well as making actual purchases,
the Internet has become a major shopping channel. However,
the Internet might be the least effective channel in reaching
Hispanic consumers. Considering Hispanic consumers’ lower
average income level when compared to the national average
income, low computer ownership among Hispanic consumers
might be one reason that Hispanics tend not to shop for clothes
online. Another possible reason why Hispanic consumers do not
use the Internet as a major shopping channel could be due to a
language barrier; most Internet websites offer information only in
English, while many Hispanics are more comfortable with
information in Spanish. By offering their websites in Spanish,
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339
retailers may be able to multiply the effectiveness of selling
products online.
Five separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted
to examine the influence of Hispanic consumers’ perceived
importance of apparel retail store environmental cues and two
demographic variables on the degree of using five different retail
store formats when shopping for clothing items. In this study,
Customer Service appeared as the strongest and most significant
environmental cue in the respondents’ use of traditional brick-
and-mortar retail stores, including department stores, specialty
stores, and mass merchant stores, when shopping for clothing
items. The results of the study support the previous findings that
suggest the significant influences of customer service aspects,
such as salespeople, in-store service and store reputation and
image, on store patronage behavior (Bearden, 1977; Louviere,
1984; Thang and Tan, 2003). That is, customer service aspect is
one of the most important retail store environmental cues in
determining both general US consumers and Hispanic consumers’
store patronage behavior. However, being different from general
US consumers, the results of the study suggest that customer
service is the key environmental cue for Hispanic consumers’
frequent visits to the brick-and-mortar apparel retail stores,
regardless of the store format. The findings also imply that
employees’ attitudes toward their customers and store policies are
crucial to Hispanic consumers’ frequent or repeat visits to apparel
retail stores when shopping for clothing items. These findings
could provide fundamental guidelines for department, specialty,
and mass merchant store executives and managers who attempt
to resurrect or improve their retail store’s environment in order to
attract Hispanic consumers. Sales personnel’s attitude and
manner toward their customers, as well as their knowledge
regarding the products on sale, might be of great importance in
encouraging Hispanic customers’ repeat visits to the store and
eventually insuring purchase behavior at the store. To attract
Hispanic consumers to their stores, apparel retail stores should
provide more personal assistance with services such as ushering,
locating items, explaining functions and uses of products, and
carrying preferred products for them. Thus, hiring sales associates
who can speak Spanish could help attract more Hispanic
consumers to the store because Spanish-speaking sales associates
may be better equipped to communicate effectively with some
Hispanic consumers. In addition, they should offer flexible store
return and exchange policies in Spanish because they prefer
Spanish in their shopping environment and often read only
Spanish (MarketingVOX, April 06, 2006). They also need to
consider the convenience of their store location, and offer
convenient shopping hours. By doing so, they may be able to give
their retail stores a unique and positive image and, thus, appeal
strongly to this group of consumers.
In addition, Convenience was significantly, but negatively
related to the respondents’ use of specialty stores for shopping
clothing items, suggesting that Hispanic consumers who place
high importance on the convenience features of retail stores do
not tend to shop frequently at specialty stores. This finding
implies that they may perceive specialty stores as less convenient
than department stores and mass merchant stores, possibly due to
the limited product categories carried by the specialty stores. This
finding is understandable when considering the mean scores for
the degree of visiting different retail store formats in the earlier
discussion, which suggests that Hispanic consumers use the
department stores and mass merchant stores more frequently
than specialty stores.
Although the lowest mean score of the degree of using Internet
websites suggests that this retail format might be the least
effective shopping channel to reach Hispanic consumers, Physical
Atmosphere appeared as a significant predictor of the frequent use
337
of Internet websites when shopping for clothing items. The result
also showed that Physical Atmosphere was positively related to the
degree of using Internet websites. The findings of the study
suggest that Hispanic consumers who place high importance on
the physical atmosphere of a retail store, such as window display,
store layout, product display, and music playing at the store, tend
frequently to visit Internet websites when shopping for clothing
items. Thus, applying physical atmospheric cues from the
traditional retail stores to Internet websites, thus creating a
visually appealing Internet website design with well organized
product display and music playing online, might be crucial for
apparel retailers to increase Hispanic consumers’ repeat visits to
websites when shopping for clothing items.
Between the two demographic variables, the number of years
lived in the US predicted Hispanic consumers’ use of department
stores, Internet websites, and catalogues for shopping apparel
items. The longer the respondents lived in the US, the more they
tended to shop at department stores. However, the number of
years lived in the US negatively influenced the use of Internet
websites and catalogues. For those who just arrived in the US,
communication with the people in the store and transportation
might be critical deterrents in going out for shopping. Thus, it
might be easier for them to stay home and place orders online or
through the catalogues. Considering the language barrier for those
who just arrived or lived only for a short period of time in the US,
apparel retailers need to consider offering their websites or
catalogues in Spanish to encourage those consumers to shop
through those channels. This strategy also will be of help in
attracting other Hispanic consumers because Hispanics, in
general, prefer Spanish in their shopping environment and often
read only Spanish (MarketingVOX, April 06, 2006). Age was
another significant predictor in using Internet websites and
catalogues for shopping clothing items. Age negatively influenced
the frequency of shopping via Internet and catalogues. This result
is understandable in that young people are more technology savvy
than older people, and technology and the media are significant
parts of their lifestyle (Harris Interactive, 2004). The results of this
study suggest that Hispanic consumers who lived in the US for a
comparatively short period of time and young people under age
20 are the major users of Internet websites and catalogues as
shopping channels. However, they are vulnerable consumers in
terms of their living circumstances and age. Considering the
prevalence of Internet shopping and the potential for its future
growth, apparel retailers should provide a safe shopping environ-
ment via the Internet and catalogues in order to protect these
consumers. For example, possible dangers and risks related to
online and catalogue shopping such as fraudulent credit card
payments and privacy issues should be explained in Spanish on
the websites and catalogues. In addition, safe and secure shopping
guides such as keeping a record of transactions and checking the
limit of a credit line before using it could accommodate sound
consumption pattern.
The results of this study, focused on Hispanics, are consistent
with earlier studies of the influence of retail store environment on
store patronage behavior (Bearden, 1977; Donovan and Rossiter,
1982; Louviere, 1984; Mazursky and Jacoby, 1986; Thang and Tan,
2003). This study has practical implications for apparel retailers
regarding how to position their stores and how to allocate their
resources in creating attractive and optimized apparel retail store
environments in different retail store formats in order to attract
Hispanic consumers. The findings from the study could serve as an
important benchmark for retailing strategy, and retailers will be
able to effectively redesign their retail stores to attract Hispanic
consumers and eventually increase sales. As the results of this
study suggest a strong and significant influence of customer
service aspects on Hispanic consumers’ store patronage behaviors
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
338 Y.-K. Seock / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 16 (2009) 329–339
at brick-and-mortar stores including department stores, specialty
stores, and mass merchant stores, further study investigating their
perceptions or preferences of specific service quality features is
recommended.
Although this research offers insights to apparel retailers in
building an effective retail store environment and differentiating
their stores from others, the study has some limitations. Despite
the significant results of the multiple regression analyses, only a
small percentage of the variances in Hispanic consumers’ use of
Internet websites and catalogues were explained by the three
retail store environmental cue constructs. This result may be
partly because of the Hispanic consumers’ significantly less
frequent use of those retail formats than brick-and-mortar stores
when shopping for apparel items. Moreover, the items used in this
study to measure retail store environmental cues were more
appropriate to measure brick-and-mortar stores rather than direct
shopping channels such as the Internet and catalogues. Future
study that investigates Hispanic consumers’ evaluations of
Internet website- and catalogue-specific store environmental cues
is recommended. Such research could help apparel retailers
increase their retail channel efficiency in targeting Hispanic
consumers. In addition, using one item scale to measure patron-
age behavior may raise concern for validity issue of the study.
Thus, use of multiple item scale is recommended for future study.
As the present study was conducted with a convenience sample in
the southeastern part of the US, the research results cannot be
generalized to the entire US Hispanic population. Future research
is needed to gather a sample of Hispanic consumers from various
areas across the United States in order to generalize their use of
information sources in their apparel shopping activity.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the University of
Georgia Research Foundation. Special thanks go to Dr. Patricia
Hunt-Hurst, Head of the Department of Textiles, Merchandising
and Interiors at the University of Georgia, for her continuous
support while conducting this research and helpful comments in
preparing the manuscript.
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