Customer wait time
Customer wait time in the context of services versus goods
Waiting to receive a service is broadly defined as the time from the moment customers are ready to receive a service to the moment they actually receive it (Taylor 1994; Jin et al. 2009). Depending on when the wait occurs, this period can be categorized as a pre-process wait, in-process wait, and post-process wait (Dube-Rioux et al. 1989). This study understands waiting to purchase goods as the process by which customers wait to obtain a fashion product; this delay, caused by in-store crowd control, is similar to waiting to receive a service. When the waiting types identified by Dube-Rioux et al. (1989) are applied to the context of purchasing a fashion item, waiting can be categorized into waits outside and waits inside the store. The former occur before customers explore or purchase a product and can be regarded as a pre-process wait. Waits inside the store are in-process waits that occur after customers enter the store to explore and purchase a product; these can be categorized as waits for trial and waits for payment. Waits for payment are customers’ post-process wait (i.e., waiting in line) at the cash register to purchase a product. Unlike in the service context, purchasing fashion goods is strongly affected by limited supply. The psychological and emotional responses induced by customers’ waits to purchase scarce goods differ from those felt when waiting to receive a service.
Positive and negative customer responses to waiting
Most research on waiting has focused on how the customer wait experience impacts service quality evaluation, customer satisfaction, and negative emotional responses. Waiting negatively affects service quality evaluation (Antonides et al. 2002; Houston et al. 1998; Cho and Kim 2007) and reduces customer satisfaction with service (Davis and Vollmann 1990; Davis and Heineke 1998; Leclerc et al. 1995). Furthermore, waiting induces negative emotions such as anger and uncertainty (Taylor 1994), which consequently mediate the relationship between service quality evaluation and customer satisfaction (Hui and Tse 1996; Houston et al. 1998).
However, Yoo and Kim (1994) argue that customers shop with a purpose—to not only purchase products but also collect information, relieve boredom, and change their mood. Park (2000) adds that waits can lead to a positive response for customers who have a positive visiting purpose, such as when visiting restaurants, amusement parks, or theaters. Furthermore, Koo and Fishbach (2010) suggest that customers tend to evaluate a product as more valuable when people are waiting in line to buy it. Therefore, we expect that customers waiting to purchase a product, unlike those waiting to receive a service, will demonstrate positive responses to waiting. Fashion items differ from those in other product categories, as they are used to exhibit personal uniqueness and social identity. Fashion items are also subject to scarcity effects: products perceived as scarce are believed to be more valuable (Lynn 1991). Therefore, consumers are more competitive and excited about buying fashion products perceived as scarce.
Most people expect to find more reasonable prices (Parker et al. 2003) and more attractive markdowns (Shergill and Chen 2008) in outlet malls than in traditional department stores. This study focuses on waits in luxury outlet shopping malls, popular among those seeking relatively inexpensive luxury products. People often wait in long queues to enter these popular stores. During their wait, retailers can help consumers imagine their shopping experience before they enter the store. This study explores how wait times in luxury outlet shopping malls could provoke positive customer responses through the use of fillers.
Filling wait time
A filler is an object or action used to fill a wait time. Gilliland et al. (1946) explain that customers fill their wait times with mental and physical activities that divert attention from the wait itself. Taylor (1994) elaborates that waiting with friends rather than waiting alone or waiting while reading a newspaper rather than waiting while doing nothing relieves the tedium of waiting.
Fillers can be either context-related or context-unrelated depending on their relevance to the shopping context (Taylor 1994; 1995). For example, waiting restaurant customers can be provided a sample of a dish (i.e., related filler) or a television to watch (i.e., unrelated filler). Similarly, while waiting to purchase fashion goods, customers can be provided with fashion catalogs (i.e., related filler) or newspapers (i.e., unrelated filler).
Most studies on filling time determined fillers’ effects on customers’ emotional responses, service quality evaluations, and service satisfaction. Customers’ emotional responses correlate to the level at which they recognize the time filling (Taylor 1994). Customers who recognize high time-filling levels exhibit reduced negative emotional responses, implying that filling wait times could distract customer attention. Customers evaluate service quality more positively when there is a filler than when there is not (Taylor 1995) and are also more satisfied (Jin et al. 2009), suggesting that service providers can stimulate positive customer responses by providing fillers during a wait.
Taylor (1995) reveals that overall performance evaluations of service encounters are higher for customers whose wait time is filled with an activity related to the service than for customers whose time is not so filled. Maister (1985) observes that service-related time fillers signal to customers that the “service has started” and that “we know that you are here”. Pre-process waits are perceived as longer than in-process waits (Maister 1985), and Haynes (1990) argues that refocusing customers’ attention away from their waits—ideally using methods related to the purchase experience—shortens their perceived waiting times and prevents feelings of rage.
Based on studies on waiting and fillers, we identified four relevant wait types (see Figure 1). In Type 1 (no wait), customers receive a service or enter the store immediately without waiting. Type 2 is a wait with no filler provided. In Type 3, an unrelated filler is used, and Type 4 is a wait with a related filler. In the next section, we review how customers can exhibit positive emotional and psychological responses when waiting to purchase a fashion item. We then propose our research hypotheses.
Customers’ psychological and emotional responses to waiting
Expectation for customer competition
Customers tend to become sensitive when perceiving crowding, a response attributed to the combined result of physical, social, and human factors (Stokols 1972). Customers expect a store to be crowded when its manager is lining up customers to ensure a smooth purchasing process and prevent problems by minimizing in-store chaos. This waiting experience leads the customers to assume that the store’s products are scarce (Jun et al. 2004). The more crowded the store, the more customers expect to compete with others to purchase an item. Customers expect competition between customers even before they enter a store. When the volume of in-store products is limited, customers take urgent action such as hoarding to obtain the limited product (Byun and Sternquist 2008; 2011). Customers are more likely to expect competition when they have to wait in line to enter a store than when they do not.
Although a filler can incite a positive response to waiting, customers who wait in front of a store with an unrelated filler tend to expect less competition because unrelated fillers divert customers’ attention from the shopping situation. By contrast, a related filler maximizes waiting customers’ sense of competition by increasing their focus on the shopping situation and their sense of starting a purchase situation. We thus propose the hypotheses below:
Hypothesis 1. Expectations about competition will differ among wait types.
Hypothesis 1–1. People in a no-waiting situation will expect less competition than will those engaged in other wait types.
Hypothesis 1–2. People involved in a related filler will expect more competition than will those involved in other wait types.
Feeling of excitement
Customers’ emotional responses are categorized as the “preceding mood” before encountering a stimulus like clothing and “experienced affection” after encountering a stimulus at the store. Studies indicate that customers shopping for fashion goods likely exhibit a positive preceding mood in anticipation of self-gratification and an exciting experience (Park 2003; Park and So 2000). Seeing a crowded store can evoke excitement in customers even before entering the store (Park 2008). In the context of purchasing a fashion item, customers are more excited when they have to wait in line than when they do not. When customers have to wait in front of the store, fillers can be provided to fill waiting time. When an unrelated filler is provided, two possible situations occur. Since an unrelated filler diverts customers’ attention from the shopping situation, providing an unrelated filler can possibly decrease customers’ feelings of excitement for shopping more than providing no filler at all. In contrast, providing an unrelated filler might strengthen customers’ feelings of excitement because of the presence of the filler itself. For example, if a television program is too much fun or snacks are too tasty, customers’ excitement can be increased. Last, since a related filler helps customers focus on the purchase, providing a related filler is expected to maximize customers’ feelings of excitement. Accordingly, three hypotheses are formulated.
Hypothesis 2. Feeling of excitement will differ among wait types.
Hypothesis 2–1. People who involved in a no waiting situation will have a lower feeling of excitement as compared to other wait types.
Hypothesis 2–2. People who involved in a related filler will have a higher feeling of excitement as compared to other wait types.
Purchase intention
Customers tend to evaluate a product as being more valuable when more people are waiting in line behind them for it. In addition, the more they value the product, the more money they will spend on it (Koo and Fishbach 2010). The increasing number of people waiting behind a customer indicates greater in-store chaos, and customers’ purchase intention is expected to increase. Customers also tend to attribute more value to scarce products (Jun et al. 2004) because humans unconsciously consider things that cannot be obtained easily as being more valuable (Lynn 1992). As waiting to purchase fashion goods maximizes perceived product scarcity, customers will value the product more, positively affecting their purchase intention. According to wait-type reasoning, customers are more likely to purchase a product they have waited in line for. When an unrelated filler is provided during the wait, purchase intention is expected to decrease more than when a related filler is used because the customers’ attention has been diverted. When a related filler is provided during the wait, customer attention on the shopping situation increases, thereby stimulating purchase intention. We thus propose the two following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 3. Purchase intention levels will differ among the wait types.
Hypothesis 3–1. People in a no-waiting situation will have lower purchase intentions then will those involved in other wait types.
Hypothesis 3–2. People involved in a related filler will have higher purchase intentions than will those in other wait types.
Relationship between expectation of competition, feeling of excitement, and purchase intention
It has been argued that, “when an individual’s freedom to engage in a specific behavior is threatened, the threatened behavior becomes more attractive according to reactance theory” (Lessene and Notarantonio 1988, p. 34). Psychological reactance theory states that one’s desire to possess a product increases when one’s purchase or entry to the store is restricted because of in-store crowding or product scarcity (Brehm and Brehm 1981). According to Brehm (1989), the fundamental idea of reactance theory is that people are motivated by a threat to, or an elimination of, behavioral freedom. The social psychological principles of reactance theory were discussed in the early consumer research (Lessene and Venkatesan 1989). For example, when retailers impose limits when advertising products (e.g., one per customer), consumers are more likely to buy them (Lessene and Notarantonio 1988). Customers have a greater desire to own a product when they feel that it is scarce and that they are competing to purchase it (Brock and Brannon 1992). Chaos in a retail environment incites customer competition, and competition makes customers feel excited (Nichols 2010). Customers’ purchasing behaviors vary based on their preceding moods and level of excitement (Park and So 2000). Expectations of competition are expected to affect purchase intention directly and indirectly through the mediation of excitement levels. The last hypothesis is thus the following:
Hypothesis 4. Excitement level mediates the relationship between expectation of competition and purchase intention.