The car industry in Korea has significantly grown up due to the high degree of growth in national economy and due to the conumers' expanding demand for convenient vehicles. But this industry is confronted with the worldwide market liberalization trend...
The car industry in Korea has significantly grown up due to the high degree of growth in national economy and due to the conumers' expanding demand for convenient vehicles. But this industry is confronted with the worldwide market liberalization trend. If car makers in this country want to survive and grow under the turbulent environment, they have to satisfy domestic consumers' needs more effectively than foreigners do.
So many studies in marketing and models on consumer behavior investigate consumer's purchasing decision and consumer satisfaction / dissatisfaction in relation to the attriubes of product that sellers off But consumer behavior is influenced also by situational characteristics.
In this respect, the purpose of the present study is to look into the contents of situational influences on consumer behavior and postpurchase satisfaction. To accomplish the purpose, the following three hypotheses were tested empirically.
1. Physical surroundings affect consumer behavior and postpurchase satisfaction.
2. Social surroundings affect consumer behavior and postpurchase satisfaction.
3. Product attributes affect consumer behavior and postpurchase satisfaction.
The results of the empirical analysis generally supported what is anticipated theoretically. Research hypothesis were evaluated as being highly acceptable with only one exception of hypothesis 1 which was statistically significant at p=.0918.
On the basis of these empirical findings, four concluding remarks can be drawn and proposed to car sellers as a reference point for their effective marketing practices.
1. Customer satisfaction is significantly affected by the perceived level of product attributes. Car makers should design and market the products that have higher quality in such attributes as comfort and mechanical trouble.
2. Because situational influences are very prevalent through the consumer's decision-making process from prepurchasing stage to postpurchasing stage, sellers should also provide customers with the attractive physical and social surroundings. But, it is recommended that car marketers attach more importance to social surroundings than physical surroundings.
3. Situational influences of the physical surroundings such as store atmosphere and cleanliness are very large in serving customers more effectively than competetors.
4. Situational influences of the social surroundings such as seller's serving style and relations with customers after delivery are very large in serving customers more effectively than competetors.