Factors affecting Taiwanese consumers' responses toward pop-up retail

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the desired benefits affecting consumer's attitude and attitude's consequent influence on behavioral intentions toward pop-up retail, an experiential marketing practice emerging in Taiwan, and to explore the effect of individual differences (consumer innovativeness and materialism) on desired benefits and the moderating effect of cultural values (independent self/interdependent self-construal). Design/methodology/approach - A survey containing modified scales, distributed to college students from various majors in ten Taiwanese universities, produced 902 useable responses. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the hypothesized relationships. Findings - Hedonic benefits and a new utilitarian benefits variable (self-enhancement (SE)) influenced Taiwanese consumers' attitude toward pop-up retail, and attitude affected patronage intentions. Consumer innovativeness and materialism affected desired benefits. Interdependent self-construal moderated the relationship between materialism and the perceived utilitarian benefit of SE. Research limitations/implications - Respondents from one narrow, but appropriate, demographic group in one non-western society were examined. Comparison across demographic groups and non-western and western societies would reveal the prevalence of SE associated with pop-up retail acceptance. Practical implications - Pop-up shop design that emphasizes hedonic experience and social status of consumers could lead to successful experiential marketing in Taiwan and perhaps other Chinese societies. Originality/value - This appears to be the first empirical study in English examining consumer acceptance of pop-up retail in a non-western society. It verifies the importance of the perceived utilitarian benefit (self-enhancement), absent in previous pop-up retail studies, and the impact of individual differences and cultural values on Taiwanese consumer behavior.