Push, scream, or leave: how do consumers cope with crowded retail stores?

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The paper examines coping strategies that consumers use within crowded retail stores. Specifically, this study explores and identifies coping strategies that consumers use, investigates whether the Folkman or Duhachek coping frameworks adequately capture all of the ways consumers cope, and looks at the implications these coping strategies may have on consumers and retailers. Design/methodology/approach -A three-stage qualitative study was conducted. Stage One consisted of informal interviews with customers. Stage Two was a pilot study of airport passengers. Stage Three was an online qualitative survey. Findings -Many of Duhachek's and Folkman's coping strategies were operative within a crowded retail setting. The coping strategies that were frequently used were distancing, avoidance, social support, rational thinking, action, escape, positive thinking, emotional venting, and confrontive. The study also found that further refinement of coping strategies and scales is needed. Research limitations/implications -An understanding of consumer coping strategies can help retailers to promote beneficial consumer coping strategies and avoid or limit detrimental coping strategies. The limitation of the study is that it is exploratory in nature. Originality/value -The paper provides a rich and vivid understanding of how consumers cope in a crowded environment, and demonstrates the importance of crowds and consumer coping and how these variables affect retailers. The study identifies new coping strategies, relabels existing coping strategies with more descriptive and comprehensive titles, and confirms established coping strategies.

The relationship between density perceptions and satisfaction in the retail setting: Mediation and moderation effects

“…Density, thus, acts as a necessary but not sufficient antecedent to crowding (Pons & Laroche, 2007;Whiting, 2009). …”

“…Customer-customer interactions in the service experience are often drivers of the overall customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (Jones, Vilches-Montero, Spence, Eroglu, & Machleit, 2010;Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2006). In fact, the interaction between customers is generally described as noise or disturbance occurring during the service delivery (Whiting, 2009). Past literature typically tackles waiting line issues (Hui, Thakor, & Gill, 1998;Zhou & Soman, 2008) or critical incidents in services delivery (Grove & Fisk, 1997;Zhang, Beatty, & Mothersbaugh, 2010).…”

Spending time, spending money: passenger segmentation in an international airport

“…Also, reinforcing Rowley and Slack's (1999) research into the importance of the servicescape, some respondents noted that the airport was too crowded to shop. The influence of crowding upon an individual's propensity to purchase has previously been identified (Penz and Hogg, 2011;Whitting, 2009) and this finding may partly be explained by the research being conducted during August, a peak travelling month for passengers. In addition, the airport had experienced a 22% growth in passenger numbers over the previous four years.…”

Influência do crowding na lealdade mediado pela satisfação do consumidor em processos de compras no varejo

“…Para outra parte, essa situação pode representar um ambiente mais propício a "boas compras". Com o foco de muitos varejistas voltado à concorrência de preço e o aumento do número de mulheres que trabalham fora de casa, cada vez mais os horários e dias de ir às compras estão diminuindo (WHITING, 2009). Essas questões vêm gerando horários de aglomeração dentro das lojas.…”