Better Safe than Sorry – Importance of Health Safety Measures in International Retailing

Customers no longer evaluate their in-store experience solely based on atmosphere or products; instead, safety aspects are becoming increasingly important. Thus, ensuring customer safety at the point-of-sale is crucial, since this increases sales and customer relationship strength. One measure to create safety at the store level is the implementation of health safety measures, such as face masks. Therefore, this study assesses the effects of face masks in international retailing by (1) investigating the effect on customers’ attitudes towards the retailer, (2) emphasizing the mediating role of customers’ perceived threat and shopping wellbeing and (3) comparing the effects across four countries (United States, United Kingdome, New Zealand, and Hong Kong). We conducted a scenario-based experiment with a one-factorial between-subjects design. The final sample comprised of 2,176 grocery shoppers answering an online survey in response to one of two visual stimuli, showing a shopping scenario with face masks or without. The findings suggest a positive effect of face masks on customers’ attitudes towards the store, which is partially mediated through perceived threat and shopping wellbeing. We also found that the effects of face masks differ across several countries.