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.