Tour shopping, important essential sector of tourism activity, has developed a new type of tourism activity into an independent area of tour business.
This study is based on the following purposes. As increase of Korean travelers visiting overseas co...
Tour shopping, important essential sector of tourism activity, has developed a new type of tourism activity into an independent area of tour business.
This study is based on the following purposes. As increase of Korean travelers visiting overseas countries and foreign travelers visiting Korea, the extension of travelers' shopping has gradually spread and increasing interest in duty free shops has gotten popular.
The aim is to find out the characteristics to satisfy them when the travelers in Korea and other countries shop at the DFS, to examine attribute of tourist behavior closely after shopping activities, and to show the necessity to study on the satisfaction of tourists.
In addition, as the duty free stores are ones of tourism industries to reduce the exodus of foreign currency and closely related with the nation's economy, the researchers are going to find ways to aim at the duty free shopping through re-visiting and satisfying shopping activity.
To achieve the purpose of this study, the research is based on both text study and empirical study.
In text study, the researcher tried to collect materials on the duty free shops as well as contentment of tour shopping and adapt theoretical concept and format, using domestic or foreign publications and the previous studies.
The empirical survey was carried out to directly hand out, make filled out, and withdraw total 300 copies of questionnaires, 150 of which at The Shilla Duty Free and the rest at the DFS of Incheon International Airport from Feb. 26 2007 to Mar. 11. Among 300 copies, 210 valid samples excluding omitted items were used for analyzing.
The statistics collected in the research were passed through data coding and data cleaning, and analyzed by SPSS 10.0 for Windows, and the results of the empirical analysis are as follows:
First, in The Shilla Duty Free Koreans are more satisfied than Japanese. In the DFS of Incheon International Airport, Koreans are more satisfied with parking lots and shopping space than Japanese, while Japanese are more contented in saving time and atmosphere than Korean.
The duty free stores need to enhance and develop the primary factors to be urgently required.
Second, according to the results of cross-analyzing preferences for DFS products, choosing cosmetics brands and various products launching are required because travelers prefer cosmetics.
Third, the results of analyzing the effect of satisfactory factors on intent to buy again show that the parking lots follow the atmosphere in The Shilla Duty Free, and that the discount program is important in Incheon International Airport. This means that effort is needed to provide various services to influence re-buy.
Fourth, the results of analyzing the effect of satisfactory on intent of recommendation show the necessity to focus on visual sectors such as whole image of DFS and shopping space.
Fifth, as the results of analyzing the effect of satisfactory of DFS on whole contentment show sensitiveness to price policy at DFS of Incheon International Airport, different discount programs are required.
Based on these analyses, the directions of improving for maximizing satisfaction of tour shopping at the DFS are as follows;
First, the DFS of Incheon International Airport needs to develop unique image by making traditional tour souvenir and conducting regular traditional events.
The Shilla Duty Free in the city needs to increase shuttle buses, provide special discount chances in order to reduce discomfort of transportation, and implement improvement plans that offer gifts to shoppers using mass transportations.
Second, The Shilla Duty Free in the city needs to develop various shopping items that cater to domestic and international travelers by selecting brands and products which they prefer.
Third, for domestic or foreign travelers, various sources that influence the intent to re-buy are required. As an effort of enhancing customers' satisfaction and product characteristics for them, the marketing linked with outer stores should be activated, and other environmental factors and culture events should be offered as charms when shopping.
Fourth, as a Frequent Flyer Program, the systematic foundation to satisfy shoppers after shopping activities is urgently needed, and it is able to encourage travelers to revisit by offering discount coupons and special cards.
Fifth, Hallyu products should be developed for the countries caught in the Korean wave. More aggressive and sustainable culture tour programs and superior products are required to implement marketing strategies for those countries.
This study has the following limitations:
The sample data were limited to only select duty free shops and there was lack of theoretical basis to explain the factors satisfying the travelers in
duty free shopping, which raised an issue concerning the
appropriateness and credibility of the research methodology. In order to overcome the above limitations, the objective data that better estimate the total scale of the duty free market must first be presented.