The Evocation of Customer Emotions and its Effect on Purchase Behaviour in the Second-hand Retail Environment

Abstract: Second-hand retailing has seen a considerable upswing in recent years. Customers rethink their attitude towards a more mindful way of consuming which makes second-hand shopping increasingly popular. This research study took the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework as a foundation leading to its first-time application in second-hand retailing. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between situational and personal factors (Stimulus) and the customer’s emotional state (Organism) in a second-hand shopping experience. Furthermore, this study tested the relation between the customer’s emotional state and the purchase behaviour (Response). By choosing a mixed-methods approach, the researchers could first identify the most relevant situational and personal factors in second-hand retailing through a qualitative study. The situational variable was thereby divided into three constructs including product, shop and service satisfaction, while the personal variable was split into time availability and shopping intentions. As a second step, the quantitative part of this study tested these factors regarding their influence on the customer’s emotional state and found out that product and shop satisfaction as well as time availability have a significant impact on the emotional state. This leaves the factors of service satisfaction and shopping intention without any significant impact. Additionally, a significant relation could be identified between the customer’s emotional level and the final purchase behaviour. All in all, this study was conducted in the city of Malmö in Sweden, a country that is known for its flourishing second-hand culture.