Shopping Motivation: Investigating the Shopping Process and Outcomes of the Retail Experience at a Craft Fair

The research addresses the question of when people succeed or fail to achieve shopping goals that bring them to a retail outlet, in this case a craft fair, and the consequences of this for customer satisfaction. A quantitative study, carried out with 398 craft fair shoppers, revealed that dimensions of in-store behaviour had various but significant influences on the relationships between prior intentions to pursue certain types of shopping goals and attainment of those goals. Further, the attainment of important shopping goals had a significant effect on consumers' evaluations of the shopping experience and the craft fairs as well as their future behavioural intentions. The main implication of the research is that attempts should be made to facilitate the shopping process and account for consumers with multiple goals.     

Barriers to Ecotourism Supplier Success: A Comparison of Agency and Business Perspectives

Many small businesses catering to ecotourists' needs have emerged in response to an increasingly important ecotourism sector, but high turnover rates reduce benefits to owners, communities and visitors. The objective of this study was to compare agency and business perspectives on barriers affecting ecotourism suppliers. Understanding the similarities and differences between the views of agencies and businesses on ecotourism supplier success can help identify some fundamental steps needed to strengthen the ecotourism sector and to more effectively manage the natural resource base. Data were collected through key informant interviews of stakeholders associated with the ecotourism sector in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States. Key informants were business owners, tour operators and outfitters, state and local government personnel, natural resource managers working on public lands, and conservation leaders. Forty-five interviews were conducted. Data were qualitatively analyzed using content analysis. Qualitative Solutions and Research, Non-numerical Unstructured Data – Indexing, Searching and Theorising (QSR NUD*IST), a computer-based tool, was used to facilitate the content analysis. Results show that while agency and business interviewees agree on some barriers associated with the success of ecotourism suppliers, differences exist on their perspectives of providers' needs and ecotourism's role in the local economy.