International Journal of Consumer Studies ISSN 1470-6423

Influences of retail brand trust, off-line patronage, clothing

involvement and website quality on online apparel
shopping intention ijcs_871 627..637

Christie Jones and Soyoung Kim

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Keywords
Retail brand trust, apparel, online shopping,
website quality.
Correspondence
Soyoung Kim, Department of Textiles,
Merchandising and Interiors, University of
Georgia, 315 Dawson Hall, Athens, GA
30602, USA.
E-mail: soyoung@uga.edu
About the authors
Christie Jones graduated from the
Department of Textiles, Merchandising and
Interiors at the University of Georgia with a
Master’s degree. Her research interests are
in multi-channel shopping. Her mailing
address is 94 Lakeview Court, Monticello, FL
32344, USA.
Abstract
This study examines the influence of retail brand trust, off-line patronage, clothing involve-
ment, and website quality on online apparel shopping intention for young female US
consumers. Data for this study were collected from 200 young female consumers who
completed an online survey. Participants were asked to select one of three pre-determined
apparel retail brands that they have either had experience with or were familiar with.
Respondents were then asked to keep their selected retailer in mind when completing the
questionnaire and were also asked to briefly visit the retailer’s website shopping for a shirt
or blouse. Factor, correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to test our
hypotheses. Retail brand trust, off-line patronage, clothing involvement and two factors of
website quality (usability and information quality, visual appeal and image) were found to
significantly influence online apparel shopping intention. Off-line patronage was the stron-
gest predictor of online shopping intention. Implications for multi-channel apparel retailers
were discussed based on these findings.

Soyoung Kim is an Associate Professor in the

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and
Interiors at the University of Georgia. Her
research interests are in online apparel
shopping. Soyoung Kim is the corresponding
author and can be reached at
soyoung@uga.edu. Her mailing address is 315
Dawson Hall, University of Georgia, Athens,
GA 30602, USA.

doi: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2010.00871.x

56% of the surveyed consumers have used multiple retail chan-

Introduction
Multi-channel retailing is a combination of brick-and-mortar
stores, Internet storefront websites and catalogue or mail-order
operations. This mixed business model is designed to reach a
broader base of consumers. In 2008, 56% of the online sales
generated by top 500 US Internet retailers were reported by multi-
channel retailers (eMarketer, 2009). Multi-channel retailing is
growing rapidly at a rate of 30% a year in transaction value and,
according to a recent survey, multi-channel shoppers are heavy
shoppers spending almost twice as much as their single-channel
counterparts (eMarketer, 2009; Opinion Research Corporation,
2008; Palmer, 2009). A survey conducted in late 2008 revealed that
nels, most often purchasing a product in one channel after viewing
or researching it on another channel (Deloitte LLP, 2008). The
increasing incidence of multi-channel shopping has recently
prompted a number of studies (e.g. Kim and Park, 2005; Hahn and
Kim, 2009; Kim and Jones, 2009; Kwon and Lennon, 2009; Ver-
hagen and van Dolen, 2009) that explore the relationship between
consumers’ cross-channel experiences. These studies confirm that
consumer purchase behaviour is affected by perceptions of both
off-line and online outlets. Accordingly, to be successful, multi-
channel businesses cannot function as separate entities, but rather
must function as a well-integrated, coherent unit and must facili-
tate seamless transitions between channels (Berman and Thelen,

International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637 627

© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Online apparel shopping intention
2004). Some stores, such as Office Depot and Sam’s Club, allow
for orders to be placed online and picked up at the store. Other
retailers such as J. Crew and Coldwater Creek accept merchandise
returns to the stores from online and catalogue orders.
As part of their multi-channel strategies, retailers need to under-
stand the customer-brand relationship across channels, and spe-
cifically how consumers’ trust in a retail brand in a traditional
retail setting is transferred to a different channel. Retail branding
has become a top management priority for many retailers as a
result of the highly competitive nature of the industry. Retail
brands are much more complex than product brands in nature as
they rely on customers’ experiences with not only the retailers’
products but also their services, product assortment, pricing, pro-
motions and store environment (Chen and He, 2003; Ailawadi and
Keller, 2004). A retail brand constitutes the consumer’s idea of a
store or product and everything that the idea entails (Blackston,
1992). The customer–brand relationship is an important subject
for study for marketers because of the ability of a brand to encour-
age consumers to engage in personal and intimate relationships
with the brand (Esch et al., 2006). Customers assign certain per-
sonalized attributes to the brand just as they would to their partners
in their personal relationships (Blackston, 1992; Chaudhuri and
Holbrook, 2001; Delgado-Ballester et al., 2003). Just as in trusted
personal relationships therefore when consumers have trust in a
brand they are more likely to develop loyalty towards the brands
(Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Alemán, 2000; Delgado-
Ballester et al., 2003). As such, one major objective of this study
was to investigate how consumer trust in a retail brand influenced
shopping intention amongst young female consumers at the retail-
er’s website. In order to determine relative impacts of consumers’
trust in a retail brand, we also included other variables that might
affect online shopping intention, such as off-line patronage,
product involvement and perceived website quality.
This particular study focused on apparel retailers. Even though
apparel once was considered the least likely product to be sold
online given that consumers cannot physically evaluate fit and feel,
surprisingly it has become a fast-growing segment of e-commerce.
Online retailers traditionally were more successful selling stan-
dardized products such as computer software, books, and airline
tickets. Online apparel sales in the United States were estimated at
$27.8 billion in 2008 with apparel expected to replace computers
as the largest online sales category during the fiscal year (Just-
style.com, 2008). As sales in the apparel category have grown in
recent years, retailers are looking to better understand the buyer
behaviour of the multi-channel apparel consumer. Additionally,
researching branding issues has become particularly important for
apparel retailers as high levels of market concentration and stan-
dardized retail formats as well as a lack of product differentiation
in the fashion retail marketplace have made it difficult to distin-
guish most retailers from their competitors (Birtwistle and
Freathy, 1998; Brïdson and Evans, 2004). Some apparel retailers
such as Gap and Victoria’s Secret have sought to develop a com-
petitive advantage through the elevation of their store names to the
status of distinctive retail brands (Brïdson and Evans, 2004). An
examination of the role of retail brand trust in influencing shop-
pers’ shopping intention at the retailer’s website will help deter-
mine if consumer perceptions of retail brands, specifically as
measured in terms of retail brand trust, can offer a cross-channel
advantage for apparel retailers. Because this study specifically
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C. Jones and S. Kim
examined the apparel retail category, clothing involvement was
also selected as a potential determinant of a consumer’s intention
to shop online for apparel products. Goldsmith and Flynn (2005)
found that shoppers who were more involved with clothing were
more likely to purchase it through remote channels.
The variables studied in relation with online shopping intention
fall into three attitudinal categories: attitude towards the retail
brand (through retail brand trust and off-line patronage), attitude
towards the website (through perceived website quality) and atti-
tude towards the product (through fashion clothing involvement).
The idea that attitude guides behavioural intention which in turn
results in actual behaviour is supported by Ajzen and Fishbein’s
(1980) fundamental theory of reasoned action (TRA). Previous
studies have incorporated this theory into their hypotheses about
consumer behaviour (e.g. Kim et al., 2003; Shen et al., 2003; Kim
and Park, 2005). While this study does not intend to test, repro-
duce, or revise the TRA, the basic principles on which the theory
is based are applicable to this study as well. An attitude towards a
behaviour constitutes a positive or negative evaluation of that
behaviour and includes a person’s salient beliefs regarding the
perceived consequences of performing that behaviour (Kim and
Park, 2005). Correspondingly, attitude towards a retail brand con-
stitutes an individual’s positive or negative evaluation of the brand,
representing the person’s perceived consequences for purchasing
or using the brand. Likewise, attitude towards a website constitutes
a consumer’s positive or negative perception of the website, rep-
resenting the person’s beliefs about the experience of shopping at
the website. In line with the TRA, attitudes towards a given retail
brand and its associated website are together expected to guide a
consumer’s intention to shop from the retailer’s online business.
Meanwhile, the link between off-line attitude and online behav-
ioural intention may also be supported by Festinger’s (1957)
theory of cognitive dissonance. As most people have a strong
desire to be consistent in their cognitive attitudes and behaviours,
as proposed in this theory, it is reasonable to expect that consum-
ers’ attitude towards a retail brand based on off-line knowledge
and experience will be carried over to their behavioural intention
towards the retailer’s online business as well.
There have been numerous academic studies conducted on
brand trust (e.g. Lau and Lee, 1999; Delgado-Ballester and
Munuera-Alemán, 2000; Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Wang,
2002; Delgado-Ballester et al., 2003; Ha, 2004; Shang et al.,
2006), yet little research is known that applies the customer-brand
relationship to retail brands and explores it in the context of
multi-channel shopping. Furthermore, the majority of previous
studies concerning brand trust and online shopping have been
undertaken with more standardized products. This study adds to
existing literature by specifically examining the high-touch
apparel product category and identifying determinants of online
shopping intention for multi-channel retailers.
Literature review
Brand trust
Brand trust is the relationship between the confident expectations
of the consumer and the resulting responsibility of the brand or
retailer (Lau and Lee, 1999; Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001).
Drawing from research on interpersonal trust, Lau and Lee (1999)
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C. Jones and S. Kim
argued that one’s trust in a brand is based on several brand char-
acteristics such as brand reputation and brand predictability. The
researchers described brand reputation as the commonly held
opinion of others that the brand is good or reliable. Lau and Lee
determined that, after usage, if a brand meets the consumer’s
expectations, then along with a good reputation it will reinforce
the consumer’s trust in that brand. Brand predictability occurs
when a consumer can accurately anticipate a consistent level of
product quality or service (Lau and Lee, 1999). Consumers’ past
experiences are directly associated with brand predictability
because predictions of future behaviour are based on past perfor-
mance (Lau and Lee, 1999).
Based on the literature, it can be assumed that a strong brand
reputation and positive brand predictability reflect brand trust. Past
research on brand trust have supported that a high level of trust in
a brand leads to brand repurchase, brand satisfaction, brand loyalty
and brand commitment (Lau and Lee, 1999; Delgado-Ballester
and Munuera-Alemán, 2000; Wang, 2002; Delgado-Ballester
et al., 2003; Ha, 2004; Shang et al., 2006). In addition, studies of
online shopping behaviour indicated that trust in a retailer is sig-
nificantly related to intention to shop at the retailer’s website
(Loiacono, 2000; Liao and Cheung, 2001; Gommans et al., 2001).
A recent study by Hahn and Kim (2009) found that consumers’
trust in an off-line apparel store was a significant predictor of both
their confidence in shopping at the company’s online store and
their intention to search product information online using the
company website. Both confidence in online shopping and infor-
mation search intention in turn significantly influenced online
shopping intention. Although no studies have confirmed the direct
link between off-line retail brand trust and intention to shop at the
retailer’s different business channel, given the positive impact of
brand trust on a consumer’s favourable reaction to the brand, as
well as the positive impact of off-line retail brand trust on per-
ceived confidence in shopping at the retailer’s website, it is
expected that if a consumer has trust in a retail brand he or she is
more likely to try shopping a different channel for the same retail
brand. Therefore, the following hypothesis was developed.
H1: Consumers’ trust in a retail brand will significantly influ-
ence their intention to shop at the retailer’s website.
Off-line patronage
While little is known about the impact of off-line patronage on
online shopping intention and online patronage, it is reasonable
to expect that off-line patronage could be important to building
an online consumer base. Kim and Park (2005) proposed a
model of consumer shopping channel extension and, using
college students, confirmed the effect of consumers’ prior atti-
tude towards purchasing from an off-line retailer on their attitude
towards the online channel of that retailer. Although a consum-
er’s attitude towards purchasing from an off-line retailer in this
study was measured in terms of the consumer’s feelings
(disagreeable-agreeable, unpleasant-pleasant, and negative-
positive) rather than in terms of his or her off-line patronage
behaviour, Kim and Park’s study strongly confirms a consistent
attitude shift from off-line store to online store. Farag et al.
(2006) observed that frequent in-store shoppers were also fre-
quent online shoppers and that in-store and online shopping
complement each other. Given that many consumers use multiple
International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Online apparel shopping intention
channels and frequently switch between channels (van Dijk
et al., 2006), a consumer’s degree of patronage to a retailer’s
traditional store may be a good indication of the likelihood of
the person’s shopping at the retailer’s online store. As indicated
by the concept of cross-channel synergy, two different channels,
when well coordinated, may enhance a consumer’s overall shop-
ping experience (Verhoef et al., 2006). For example, a consumer
may try out a clothing item in store but decide to order it online
later at a more convenient time. It is also argued that a positive
cross-channel synergy serves to enhance customer loyalty to a
retailer (Wallace et al., 2004). Accordingly, customers who
patronize a retailer’s traditional store may be more willing than
others to try out the retailer’s online storefront, either to comple-
ment their in-store shopping experience or because they expect
that their experience at the online store will be as satisfactory as
at the off-line counterpart. Therefore, it was hypothesized that:
H2: Consumers’ off-line patronage with a retailer will signifi-
cantly influence their intention to shop at the retailer’s
website.
Clothing involvement
Jensen and Hansen (2006) differentiated brand loyalty between
high-involvement and low-involvement products. Shopping goods
such as automobiles, fashion clothing, and furniture involve higher
levels of risk and effort than convenience goods such as fresh
produce and grocery staples, and are therefore considered high-
involvement products (Cho et al., 2003). Researchers (Dick and
Basu, 1994; Assael, 1998; Jensen and Hansen, 2006) argue that
true brand loyalty comes from repeat purchasing of high-
involvement products, whereas repeat purchasing of low-
involvement products simply represents habitual purchase
behaviour. Consumers seek more variety with low-involvement
products and are more willing to vary their purchase experiences
by switching brands (Jensen and Hansen, 2006).
Amine (1998) found that consumers’ commitment to a brand is
indirectly influenced by their level of product involvement. There-
fore, the level of brand loyalty may increase when a customer is
highly involved with a product category. A high level of product
involvement was also found to correlate with online purchase
behaviour (Goldsmith and Flynn, 2005). Goldsmith and Flynn
examined the behaviour of clothing buyers who purchased in
stores, online and through catalogues and found that consumers
who were highly involved in clothing were more likely to make
remote purchases of clothing. In this study, clothing involvement
was defined by the consumer’s level of interest in clothing
product-related information. Therefore, the third hypothesis in this
study proposed that consumers’ involvement in clothing will sig-
nificantly affect their willingness to buy from an apparel retail
brand’s website.
H3: Consumer’s level of clothing involvement will significantly
influence their intention to shop online for apparel.
Perceived website quality
Perceived quality of a retail website involves a customer’s percep-
tions of the retailer’s website and comprises consumer reactions
towards such attributes as information, entertainment/enjoyment,
usability, transaction capabilities, and design aesthetics (Loiacono,
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Online apparel shopping intention
2000; Kim and Stoel, 2004a; Kim and Lee, 2006). Providing
good-quality product information on apparel websites represents
an especially difficult task as clothing generally falls into the
high-touch product category (Levin et al., 2003), making it crucial
for customers to touch or experience the product before purchas-
ing. Apparel retailers have found creative ways to substitute for the
in-store sensory experiences of consumers when shopping for
clothes. One of these substitutions involves offering product infor-
mation (Park and Stoel, 2005) that describes the fabric, dimen-
sions, and other details. Another method being used by online
apparel retailers is image-interactivity technology (IIT) (Kim
et al., 2007). IIT technology varies and programme features are
becoming more advanced. Older versions offer a two-dimensional
view of a picture that can be manipulated to change colour or
views, while the newer IIT programmes can provide a three-
dimensional virtual model to showcase clothing (Kim et al.,
2007). Consumers are then able to evaluate fit, coordinate sepa-
rates, view garments from various angles and zoom in to see
details more clearly. Websites using IIT are simulating the product
experience shoppers would normally get in a traditional store. Kim
et al. (2007) determined that consumers showed higher levels of
shopping involvement and enjoyment and had a more positive
perception of online store environments when they were exposed
to a high level of website interactivity.
Finding enjoyment in website visits directly relates to the sticki-
ness of the site. Stickiness refers to anything about a website that
encourages a visitor to stay longer (Lin, 2007). A sticky website
not only gets visitors to stay longer but also encourages them to
frequently return to the site. By making Internet stores more enter-
taining and enjoyable, retailers are encouraging customers to stay
longer or come back more often. This encourages repeat purchase
behaviour, and ultimately brand loyalty (Soltani and Gharbi,
2008).
In addition to providing interactivity and entertainment, web-
sites need to be a functional place for retailers and consumers to
complete business transactions. Sites need to be fast, easy to
navigate and easy to search for pertinent information, secure for
monetary and information exchanges, and must offer a high level
of customer service. The available selection of goods, along with
the information provided about those goods, should be useful to
the shopper (Loiacono, 2000; Kim and Stoel, 2004a; Kim and Lee,
2006).
Design aesthetics is another important factor in website percep-
tion. Wang et al. (in press) found that the aesthetic appeal of its
website (the degree to which the website is perceived to be fasci-
nating and creative) determines a consumer’s satisfaction during
an encounter with a retailer. Consumers’ perceptions of the web
store’s aesthetics induce emotions, which, in turn, affect the con-
sumers’ attitudes towards the store and their purchase decisions
(Tractinsky and Lowengart, 2007). Not only does a website need
to be attractive, creative and aesthetically pleasing, it also must
represent the brand image. The design aesthetics must present the
brand and merchandise in a way that is consistent with the retail-
er’s other channels. This can be accomplished through the estab-
lishment and use of consistent visual brand identities using logos
and brand colours in text, menus and page backgrounds (Rowley,
2009). Because shoppers are unable to be physically immersed in
that environment, design aesthetics are responsible for communi-
cating that image through a computer screen.
630
C. Jones and S. Kim
Studies have shown that those who have a more favourable
perception of a website are more likely to shop at the site (Loia-
cono, 2000; Kim and Lee, 2006). Therefore the fourth hypothesis
proposed that:
H4: Consumers’ perceptions of an apparel retailer’s website
quality will significantly influence their intention to shop at the
site.
Methodology
Sample design
Data for this study were collected in 2008 from 200 female
college students between the ages of 18 and 25 enrolled at a
southern US university. This study group was selected not only
because of the convenience of obtaining the sample, but also
because of the fact that young women constitute a major market
for online apparel shopping (Goldsmith and Goldsmith, 2002;
Sullivan and Heitmeyer, 2008). By focusing on a limited age
group and the female gender only, this study also attempted to
control for the possible bias associated with age and gender dif-
ferences. Lee and Johnson’s (2002) Internet shopper demograph-
ics identified college students as a major segment of online
shoppers.
A preliminary study was conducted to aid the development of
the survey instrument. The preliminary study was used to deter-
mine female college students’ shopping preferences. Twenty-eight
students were asked to choose their favourite apparel retailer and
to state whether they had ever visited and/or purchased items from
that retailer’s website. The responses from the preliminary study,
along with consideration of retailers’ target markets and price
points, determined the three retailers that would be used in the
final survey instrument. Three retailers were chosen to represent
some of the currently most popular apparel retail brands amongst
female college students and also to represent the widest range of
styles and prices appealing to this particular population. The retail-
ers selected were Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters and Forever
21. Banana Republic and Forever 21 carry private brands exclu-
sively; whereas, Urban Outfitters offers a mix of both private
brands and popular national brands though focusing on private
brands.
Participants were asked in the beginning of the survey to select
one of three pre-determined apparel retail brand that they have
either had experience with or were familiar with. Respondents
were then asked to keep their selected retailer in mind when
completing the questionnaire. Prior to the website quality section
of the survey, respondents were asked to briefly visit the retailer’s
website, search the website for a shirt or blouse, select a colour and
size for the garment, and read the information provided about the
garment. This request was to ensure that the participants could
evaluate similar experiences with the websites although they may
have chosen different retailers.
A total of 616 requests to visit the survey website were distrib-
uted to female students and 225 of the students participated in the
actual survey, resulting in a 36.53% response rate. Of those
surveys, 25 were discarded because of missing data and resulted in
200 usable surveys for analysis. A random drawing for a $50 gift
card to a local retail store was offered to the students as an
incentive for participation in the research.
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C. Jones and S. Kim
The average age of the participants was 21. A vast majority
(85.9%) of the participants classified themselves as Caucasian/
White. Two-thirds (66.5%) stated that their total monthly expen-
ditures were less than $1000; whereas, 27.5% reported a monthly
expenditure of more than $1000. Slightly over 20% of the partici-
pants reported having spent over $200 on clothing last month;
whereas, 39% spent less than $100. The majority of respondents
(45.3%) selected Forever 21 as the apparel retail brand with which
they had the most experience, while 38.7% selected Banana
Republic and 16.0% selected Urban Outfitters.
Survey description
All scale items except those measuring website quality are pre-
sented in Table 1. The website quality scale is shown in Table 2.
Many studies on brand trust have measured brand trust simply by
asking respondents about their overall trust in a brand (e.g. ‘I trust
the brand’ or ‘I rely on the brand’) (e.g. Chaudhuri and Holbrook,
2001, 2002; Ball et al., 2004; Ha, 2004; Esch et al., 2006). This
study, however, chose Lau and Lee’s (1999) the multi-dimensional
scale in order to better capture the complex nature of brand trust.
In Lau and Lee’s (1999) study, brand trust characteristics were
broken down into three scales: brand reputation, brand predictabil-
ity and overall brand trust. All three scales were adapted from Lau
and Lee’s (1999) study. While Lau and Lee proposed that brand
reputation and brand predictability were antecedents to overall
brand trust, correlation results showed that both brand character-
istics variables were highly correlated with overall brand trust,
with correlation coefficients over 0.85. Such high correlations
suggest that the two brand characteristics could well be considered
as sub-dimensions of the overall brand trust concept. It should be
noted that Lau and Lee also included brand competence as one of
the brand characteristics influencing overall brand trust. This vari-
able was omitted in the current study because the concept did not
seem to apply to retail brands: examples of the items measuring
brand competence were ‘This brand is the best one for this cat-
egory of products’ and ‘This brand is more effective than other
brands.’ The final scale of 16 items used in this study measured a
consumer’s notion of how a brand is known to be and what others
have said about the brand (e.g. ‘This retailer has reputation for
being good.’) as well as how reliable the brand is in terms of
quality and performance (e.g. ‘This retailer’s apparel performs
consistently.’). The responses were based on a five-point Likert
scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Principal compo-
nent factor analysis with varimax rotation supported the existence
of a single factor with an eigenvalue of 7.82. The factor explained
48.88% of the total variance. The reliability coefficient was 0.93.
Patronage behaviour for the retailer’s off-line store was mea-
sured using three questions adopted from a scale developed by Lau
and Lee (1999). This scale measured the behavioural intentions
of respondents, particularly their intention to keep buying the
brand and their willingness to wait if the brand was not
available. Responses were measured on a five-point Likert scale
(1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient was 0.61.
A combination of scales developed by O’Cass (2000, 2004) and
Mittal and Lee (1989) was used to determine the respondents’
level of involvement with fashion clothing and level of fashion
clothing product knowledge (e.g. ‘I am very interested in fashion
International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Online apparel shopping intention
Table 1 Scale items for retail brand trust, off-line patronage, clothing
involvement and online apparel shopping intention
Scale items
Retail brand trust
I trust this retailer.
This retailer’s apparel is not consistent in its quality.a
This retailer’s apparel performs consistently.
I feel secure when I buy apparel from this retailer because I know
it will never let me down.
This retailer is reputed to perform well.
I have heard negative comments about this retailer.a
This retailer has a reputation for being unreliable.a
Other people have told me that this retailer is not good.a
This retailer has a reputation for being good.
I feel I can trust this retailer completely.
I cannot rely on this retailer.a
This retailer’s apparel performance tends to be quite variable. I
can’t always be sure how it will perform the next time I buy it.a
Other people have told me that this retailer is reliable.
I can always anticipate correctly how this retailer’s apparel will
perform.
When I buy apparel from this retailer I know exactly what to
expect.
This retailer cannot be counted on to do its job.a
Off-line patronage
If another apparel retailer is having a sale, I will generally buy the
other retailer’s products instead of this one.a
If a garment is not available in the store when I need it, I will buy it
somewhere else.a
I do not intend to keep buying apparel from this retailer.
Clothing involvement
Fashion clothing is an important part of my life.
For me personally, fashion clothing is an important product.
I am very interested in fashion clothing.
Fashion clothing is important to me.
I am very much involved with fashion clothing.
I think about fashion clothing a lot.
I consider fashion clothing to be a central part of my life.
I am an experienced user of fashion clothing.
Online apparel shopping intention
I would be willing to buy apparel from this retailer’s website.
The likelihood that I would search for apparel on this retailer’s
website is high.
I would be willing to recommend this retailer’s website to my
friends.
a
Reverse-coded items.
clothing.’). The scales were extensively used in previous studies
and have proven to be consistently reliable (O’Cass, 2000, 2004;
Goldsmith and Flynn, 2005; Clarke, 2006; Kuenzel and Musters,
2007; O’Cass and Choy, 2008). Responses to eight different ques-
tions were measured on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly
disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Fashion clothing was defined as the
current style of dress. Factor analysis with varimax rotation
revealed that the concept of fashion clothing involvement was
uni-dimensional. The single factor had an eigenvalue of 6.86 and
explained 85.70% of the total variance. The reliability of this scale
was 0.98.
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Online apparel shopping intention C. Jones and S. Kim

Table 2 Factor analysis results for website quality Table 3 Correlations among the variables

Factor V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6
Factors loadings
V1 1.00
Usability and information quality V2 0.31*** 1.00
The website labels are easy to understand 0.87 V3 0.17* 0.28*** 1.00
The display pages within the website are easy to 0.83 V4 0.42*** 0.48*** 0.45*** 1.00
read. V5 0.39*** 0.13 0.26*** 0.48*** 1.00
The information on the website is effective. 0.82 V6 0.41*** 0.18* 0.25*** 0.45*** 0.65*** 1.00
It would be easy for me to become skilful at using 0.79 V7 0.39*** 0.12 0.14* 0.24** 0.53*** 0.57***
this website.
*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.
I find the website easy to use. 0.79
V1, retail brand trust; V2, off-line patronage; V3, clothing involvement;
The website adequately meets my needs. 0.77
V4, usability and information quality; V5, visual appeal and image; V6,
The text on the website is easy to read. 0.67
interactivity and innovativeness; V7, online apparel shopping intention.
The information on the website is pretty much 0.64
what I would need to complete my purchase.
Visual appeal and image
The website displays a visually pleasing design. 0.81
modified to fit the current study. Modifications were made to the
The website is visually appealing. 0.81
original scale by replacing the term ‘product’ with ‘apparel.’
The website projects an image consistent with the 0.70
Responses were measured on a five-point Likert scale
retailer’s image.
The website fits with my image of the retailer. 0.67
(1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The reliability coeffi-
Interactivity and innovativeness
cient for this scale was 0.86.
I can interact with the website in order to get 0.82
information customized to my specific needs.
Results
The website allows me to interact with it to 0.79
receive customized information.
Correlation analyses
The website design is innovative. 0.74
The website is innovative. 0.73 Bivariate relationships among the variables were analyzed using
Pearson’s correlation and are shown in Table 3. The most signifi-
cant correlation existed between two factors of website quality
(usability and information quality and visual appeal and image)
Perceptions of the brand’s website were measured using a (r = 0.65, P < 0.001). Strong correlations were also found among
modified version of the WebQual™ scale (Loiacono, 2000). Of all three factors of website quality. Brand trust was positively
the original 21-question scale, 16 questions were adapted based correlated with clothing involvement (r = 0.17, P < 0.05) and
on factor analysis results in Kim and Stoel’s (2004b) study to all three factors of website quality (r = 0.39, P < 0.001 for usabil-
measure the concept of website quality for apparel retailers. The ity and information quality; r = 0.41, P < 0.001 for visual appeal
WebQual™ scale was chosen because it specifically measures and image; r = 0.39, P < 0.001 for interactivity and innovative-
website quality of retail websites in addition to serving as a ness). Off-line patronage was significantly related to brand trust
useful tool for gauging, even more specifically, the concept of (r = 0.31, P < 0.001), clothing involvement (r = 0.28, P < 0.001),
website quality for apparel retailers (Kim and Stoel, 2004a,b; and the visual appeal and image factor of website quality
Kim and Lee, 2006). Only those items that loaded high on one (r = 0.18, P < 0.05). Clothing involvement was positively corre-
factor and low on all others in the Kim and Stoel (2004b) study lated with all three factors of website quality (r = 0.26, P < 0.001
were used in the current study. Responses were measured on a for usability and information quality; r = 0.25, P < 0.001 for
five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). visual appeal and image; r = 0.14, P < 0.05 for interactivity and
Principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation innovativeness).
showed three separate dimensions for the variable (see Table 1).
The first factor of website perception included eight items mea-
Regression analysis
suring usability and information quality. This factor indicated a
high internal reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.94, A multiple regression analysis was then conducted to compare the
an eigenvalue of 8.50, and explained 53.08% of the total vari- impacts of brand trust, off-line patronage, clothing involvement
ance. The second factor included four items and was labelled and website quality on online apparel shopping intention. As pre-
visual appeal and image. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.88, viously noted, the website quality variable was divided into three
the eigenvalue was 1.84, and 11.48% of the total variance was separate factors: usability and information quality, visual appeal
explained by this factor. The third factor included four items and image, and interactivity and innovativeness. Using the enter
measuring interactivity and innovativeness. The reliability was method, retail brand trust, off-line patronage and clothing involve-
high with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.86, an eigenvalue of ment were added into the regression model as the first block with
1.16, and a total variance explained of 7.26%. the three factors of website quality entering as the second block.
Three items measuring online apparel shopping intention were Retail brand trust, off-line patronage and clothing involvement
adopted from the scale used by Chiang and Dholakia (2003) and explained 41% of the total variance in the respondents’ online

632 International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637

© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
C. Jones and S. Kim
apparel shopping intention. The addition of website quality factors
increased the R2 coefficient to 0.50. The analysis of variance for
the model including all variables was F(6, 192) = 32.10 with a
significance at P < 0.001. Retail brand trust, off-line patronage and
clothing involvement were all found to be significant predictors of
online apparel shopping intention at P < 0.001 (retail brand trust
b = 0.27, P < 0.001; off-line patronage b = 0.31, P < 0.001; cloth-
ing involvement b = 0.32, P < 0.001), and retained their signifi-
cances after the three website quality factors were entered into the
regression (retail brand trust b = 0.16, P < 0.01; off-line patronage
b = 0.31, P < 0.001; clothing involvement b = 0.24, P < 0.001).
These results provided support for H1, H2 and H3 indicating that
retail brand trust, off-line patronage and clothing involvement
significantly influenced online shopping intention. Of the website
quality factors, two factors, usability and information quality
(b = 0.28, P < 0.001) and quality visual appeal and image
(b = 0.16, P < 0.05), were significant predictors of online apparel
shopping intention at P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, respectively.
Interactivity and innovativeness did not significantly influence
online shopping intention. Therefore, H4 was partially supported.
Discussion
The first hypothesis of the study proposed that consumers’ trust in
a retail brand will significantly influence their intention to shop at
a retailer’s website. This hypothesis was supported by the positive
and significant relationship identified between off-line retail brand
trust and online apparel shopping intention. For the purposes of
this study, the concept of brand trust encompassed brand reputa-
tion, brand predictability and overall brand trust. Those consumers
who perceived that a retail brand had a good reputation and could
predict a favourable experience proved more willing to shop on
that retailer’s website. Retail brand trust is particularly important
in the apparel category because a customer is often unable to
evaluate the quality and fit of a garment prior to purchase. A higher
level of trust in a retail brand may reduce the level of perceived
risks associated with online shopping and ultimately allow a cus-
tomer to be more comfortable with making remote purchases over
the Internet. Additionally the results may suggest that consumers
do not see a retailer’s brick-and-mortar stores and online business
as separate entities but as an integrated system. Therefore multi-
channel apparel retailers wishing to promote their online store-
fronts should recognize that their success online relies not only on
their online performance but on their off-line performance as well.
Thus said, they should seek to build off-line retail brand trust
among their customers by achieving a good reputation and offer-
ing consistent and reliable performance in product quality and
services. Kwon and Lennon (2009) assert that prior off-line brand
image of a multi-channel retailer biases consumers’ perceptions of
the retailer’s online business, in turn affecting their perceived risk
and loyalty intention towards the online business. While in Kwon
and Lennon’s study off-line brand image was measured in terms
of the consumer’s overall attitude towards the retailer (bad-
good, unpleasant-pleasant, unfavorable-favorable, dislike-like),
the current study focused specifically on the consumer’s trust in
the retailer. Nonetheless, the current study corroborates the finding
of Kwon and Lennon’s study in that consumers tend to maintain
consistent off-line and online attitudes in order to avoid or reduce
cognitive dissonance.
International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Online apparel shopping intention
Researchers have maintained that branding, not only through
product offerings but also through the total store experience, is
particularly important for apparel retailers as it offers a sustainable
competitive advantage in a marketplace suffering from a lack of
differentiation (Birtwistle and Freathy, 1998; Brïdson and Evans,
2004). Brands, most specifically apparel brands, have the ability to
be distinctive enough to be extended to new retail formats as well
as the ability to provide added value to consumers, both of which
help retailers achieve greater market differentiation (Birtwistle and
Freathy, 1998). The results of this study confirm the importance of
retail branding for apparel retailers by suggesting that establishing
a trustworthy and reputable retail brand can build a competitive
edge for multi-channel retailers.
While supporting the second hypothesis linking off-line patron-
age to online shopping intention, off-line patronage emerged as the
most significant predictor of online shopping intention, confirming
a strong link between off-line and online behaviours. This finding
suggests that customers who patronize a retailer’s off-line store are
important targets for the retailer’s online store, emphasizing the
need for retailers to coordinate their efforts across channels. Off-
line patronage was more significant than off-line brand trust in
predicting online shopping; it is interesting to note therefore that
the relationship between off-line patronage and online shopping
remained the strongest even when retail brand trust and other
variables were controlled. To restate the case, among those con-
sumers who demonstrate the same level of trust towards a retailer,
those who more strongly patronize the retailer’s off-line store are
expected to be more likely to shop at the retailer’s website. This
finding implies that online shopping intention may result not only
from a consumer’s trust towards the retail brand but also from a
degree of familiarity obtained through repeated patronage. In other
words, customers of a retailer’s traditional stores may be more
willing to shop at the retailer’s website because they are already
familiar with the products, having tried out many of them in the
retailer’s traditional store and also knowing that they can easily
return to the store any online purchase they decide not to keep.
Accordingly, apparel retailers should identify frequent shoppers of
their brick-and-mortar stores as strong potential customers of their
online businesses and should develop appropriate marketing strat-
egies in order to promote cross-channel sales amongst them. For
example, retailers might email their frequent store shoppers to
notify them of special online offers or to suggest the convenient
online purchase of other products that might complement their
recent off-line purchases. More studies investigating the relation-
ship between retail brand trust and off-line patronage and their
respective impacts on online shopping are needed to establish a
better understanding of the dynamics amongst the aforementioned
variables.
In support of the third hypothesis, clothing involvement was
shown to have a significant impact on online apparel shopping
intention. This result supports the finding of Goldsmith and Flynn
(2005) that shoppers who are more involved with fashion clothing
are more likely to purchase through remote channels. Previous
studies suggested that clothing is a high-involvement product cat-
egory (Jensen and Hansen, 2006) and that a commitment to a
brand may increase when a customer has a high level of involve-
ment with a product category (Howard and Sheth, 1969; Amine,
1998). The fact that the impact of clothing involvement remained
strong even when retail brand trust and off-line patronage were
633
Online apparel shopping intention
controlled suggests that its influence was because of a set of
characteristics not associated with a consumer’s trust and behav-
ioural loyalty to the retailer. Probably highly involved consumers’
willingness to shop online may result from their strong sense of
confidence, in turn reducing the level of perceived risk in online
shopping. Therefore, retailers targeting consumers who are
strongly involved with fashion clothing may become more suc-
cessful in converting visitors to their websites to active shoppers.
By way of attracting highly involved consumers, apparel websites
should consider incorporating a feature such as a fashion commu-
nity or a fashion newsletter that might appeal to those who con-
stantly look for new fashion and trend information and those who
enjoy discussing fashion with others.
In support of numerous previous studies and the fourth hypoth-
esis of this study, website quality was found to significantly influ-
ence online shopping intention. Usability and information quality
was the most significant predictor of online shopping intention
emphasizing the importance of the user-friendly website with
appropriate and effective information in increasing online sales.
Usability can be improved by creating a page layout and labels that
are easy to read and understand. Additionally, information quality
for apparel websites can be enhanced by providing more accurate
virtual color swatches, clearly showing the detailing of a garment,
and offering precise measurements to determine fit and cut. Visual
appeal and image was also significant, yet much less so than
usability and information quality. The interactivity and innova-
tiveness factor proved to be insignificant. Interactive and innova-
tive websites may be effective in creating a strong first impression
but are not necessary in order to encourage apparel shopping. In
order to convince visitors to linger and shop at a site the site in
question should be able to provide all necessary product informa-
tion efficiently and to maximize the ease with which visitors may
browse and search the site.
Both similarities and differences are noted in the factor structure
of the website-quality concept revealed in the current study and in
studies by Loiacono (2000) and Kim and Stoel (2004b). Loiacono
proposed a hierarchical model of website quality including 12
first-order factors which represent five second-order factors. Loia-
cono argued that two of the first-order factors, ease of understand-
ing and intuitive operations, together form a second-order factor
named ease of use; in the current study the two dimensions were
combined with yet another first-order factor, informational fit-to-
task, into a single factor named usability and information quality.
Loiacono also proposed that two other first-order factors, visual
appeal and consistent image, constituted a second-order factor
named entertainment. In the current study, those two factors were
merged into one factor named visual appeal and image. In Kim
and Stoel’s study, visual appeal, ease of understanding and intui-
tive operation emerged as one factor. In the current study as well
as in Loiacono’s study, however, visual appeal did not load on the
same factor as ease of understanding and intuitive operations.
Additionally it is only in the current study that tailored commu-
nication and innovativeness merge into a single factor named
interactivity and innovativeness. The differences may reflect the
differences in the nature of the selected online businesses as well
as in the samples. Loiacono’s study was conducted for websites
selling standardized products such as books, music CDs, airline
tickets and hotel reservations. Although Kim and Stoel’s study was
conducted for apparel retail websites, its sample included a
634
C. Jones and S. Kim
broader age group, ranging in age from 19 to 77 with an average
age of 36. Additionally, in this study the respondents were asked to
rate the online apparel retailer they visited most frequently; in the
current study, the respondents were asked to view and rate the
website of a brick-and-mortar apparel retailer they either had
experience with (either positive or negative) or were familiar with.
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that the customer’s off-line
attitude in the form of trust in the retail brand and off-line behav-
iour in the form of patronage towards the retailer’s traditional store
influence the customer’s intention to shop at the retailer’s website.
Multi-channel retailers need to realize that their traditional and
online stores are not separate business entities and that well-
coordinated business efforts across channels can help improve
their performance at both channels. Although this study used
online shopping intention instead of online sales as a dependent
variable, online shopping intention is a good measure of potential
customer traffic at the business site. The findings supported the
notion that retailers can increase their website customer traffic by
focusing on strengthening brand trust and increasing store patron-
age among customers of their traditional stores.
Although a few recent studies (e.g. Kim and Park, 2005; Hahn
and Kim, 2009; Kwon and Lennon, 2009) have already explored
the link between attitude towards a retailer’s traditional store and
attitude towards the retailer’s website, the academic literature on
the customer-brand relationship for multi-channel retailers is still
limited. This study provides a valuable addition to the literature for
several reasons.
One significant reason is its focus on the concept of off-line brand
trust as an indictor of the customer-brand relationship. Kwon and
Lennon (2009) found that off-line brand image influences online
brand loyalty intention for multi-channel apparel retailers. In their
study off-line brand image was measured in terms of consumers’
overall image of the retailer, based on their perceptions of service,
merchandise, store environment and self-relevance. While both
brand image and brand trust are thought to influence purchase
decisions there is a clear distinction between the two concepts;
brand image is a type of brand knowledge and brand trust is an
indicator measuring the essential outcome of a communal relation-
ship with a brand (Esch et al., 2006). Esch et al. (2006) found that
whereas brand image directly influenced current purchases, the
same variable affected future purchases only through the mediating
role of brand-relationship variables such as brand trust. The
researchers concluded that a positive brand image alone is not
sufficient to build a strong brand. By using brand trust as a relation-
ship variable therefore our study aimed to better focus on the
customer-brand relationship in the multi-channel retailing context.
Another important difference lies in the methodology utilized in
our study. First, we used actual apparel websites instead of ficti-
tious websites as in Kwon and Lennon’s study (2009). Secondly,
in order to minimize positive response bias, we asked respondents
to choose a retailer they were familiar with, even though not
necessarily in a positive context. Kim and Park (2005) and Hahn
and Kim (2009) carried out their studies by asking their partici-
pants to base their answers on their experience with their favorite
apparel retailers. While the latter approach has indeed been com-
monly used, by restricting participants to focusing on those
International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
C. Jones and S. Kim
retailers with whom customers have had most positive experience,
such studies may have generated positively skewed responses in
their perceptions of the retailers, reducing the generalizability of
the findings. In the current study, the overall level of off-line
patronage towards the retailer selected by individual respondents,
as evidenced by a mean score of 2.97 (on a five-point scale) and a
standard deviation of 0.69 for the variable, was not high enough to
strongly indicate that most respondents have chosen their favourite
brick-and-mortar retailers.
Yet another contribution made by our study to the existing body
of knowledge is the investigation of the relative impact of off-line
retail brand trust, particularly in comparison with the impact of
website quality. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the
role of perceived website quality in leading to the consumer’s
intention to shop from the website, no prior research has explored
this variable in the multi-channel retailing context. In this study,
two of the three website-quality factors were significant in pre-
dicting online shopping intention. The significance of website
quality, along with retail brand trust and off-line patronage, in
influencing online shopping intention suggest that all three vari-
ables are important ingredients for multi-channel retailers to
succeed in their web enterprises.
Several suggestions can be offered for further research on the
topic. First, this study might be expanded to include other vari-
ables or relationships as well. For example, a consumer’s per-
ceived similarities with self-concept and brand image may have an
effect on their attitude towards the brand, and thus affect online
shopping behaviour and brand loyalty. Another suggestion is to
include as variables the retailer’s marketing efforts, both online
and off-line. The feelings a consumer has about a particular retail-
er’s marketing strategies may also affect their overall attitude
towards the brand and online shopping behaviour. It may be also
be worth investigating the mediating role of perceived risks in the
relationships between the selected variables and online shopping
intention. Brand trust, off-line patronage, and clothing involve-
ment may all influence online shopping intention by essentially
reducing a consumer’s perceived risk. Therefore, future studies
need to explore in depth the role of different types of perceived
risks in the relationships.
There are several limitations associated with this study. These
limitations need to be addressed because of their possible impacts
on the results of this research. This study used a convenience
sample and was limited to female students between the ages of 18
and 25 at a single southern US university. Using a different age
group and geographical location could vary the results. Also,
adding males to the sample population could also change the
findings. Another limitation is that the sample in this study was
asked to respond to the survey via the Internet. This could limit the
number of respondents because of their access to the Internet and
comfort level with completing an online survey. This might have
also impacted the number of surveys that were discarded for
incomplete data. The relatively low reliability of off-line patron-
age was another major limitation of this study. Replicating this
study with a more reliable scale for the measurement of off-line
patronage will be necessary to increase the validity of study find-
ings. Additionally, only three apparel retail websites, all of which
focus on private store brands than national brands, were chosen for
this study. Although care was taken in selecting three retailers that
were diverse both in price and consumer appeal, the results of this
International Journal of Consumer Studies 34 (2010) 627–637
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Online apparel shopping intention
study might have differed had other retailers been selected.
Finally, it should be noted that as this study focused only on
apparel its findings cannot be generalized to other products.
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