Waiting in line at a fashion store: psychological and emotional responses

Abstract

Waiting in a service context is known to negatively affect consumer evaluation of services and service providers. However, this study investigates the positive effects of waiting-such as expected customer competition, excitement, and purchase intention-during the purchase of fashion merchandise. We classified waiting into four types based on whether waiting occurs, whether customers receiver a filler, or whether a filler is related to the context. A scenario-based online survey was conducted for empirical testing. After reading the scenario, 266 respondents replied to a questionnaire regarding expected competition, excitement, and purchase intention. The findings indicated that expected competition, excitement, and purchase intention differed significantly according to the wait type. Customers provided with a context-related filler reported the highest expected competition, excitement, and purchase intention, and excitement was found to mediate the relationship between expected competition and purchase intention. This paper ends by discussing its implications for managing waiting at a fashion store.

Coping emotional discomfort at retail checkout: Potential distractions and implications

“…Waiting invades the persistent flow of time and limits individuals' liberty in doing what they like (Robbins, 1978;Vinish et al, 2021b;Wu et al, 2013). Waiting in a queue is more detrimental to the overall perceptions of store service quality or the store image (Houston et al, 1998;Park et al, 2014). Boredom caused by waiting in line can lead to impatience, tension, and anxiety (Bennett, 1998).…”

“…Customers are more likely to differentiate a poor service experience from a great one if they wait longer but are filled despite the delay (Antonides et al, 2002;Taylor, 1995). In a time-driven economy, customers who believe they have more time than money to spend will sacrifice their time to get monetary savings (Park et al, 2014). These customers appear to have more control over the waiting time.…”