FASHION MARKETINGPRESENTED BY: Neha Upreti - 18 Shrestha Runthala - 28 Surbhi Modi - 31

Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge our faculty of Fashion Marketing, Mr. Shiv Kumar Belli, for helping ,guiding, & motivating us to do the following assignment. We are also grateful to him for giving us this assignment which greatly helped in increasing our knowledge regarding the subject concerned.

ContentsIntroduction Objectives Research Methodology Theoretical Background Analysis & Interpretation Findings Suggestions References/ Annexure

Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants.

Consumer Behaviour Towards purchase Of Fashion apparels & Products

INTRODUCTION

This is a report on research into consumer behaviour when purchasing fashion apparels & products. Of particular interest is the use consumers make of information available to them for assisting them decide which products to purchase. The report also studies various buying habits of consumers mostly in urban cities regarding fashion apparels & products. On the basis, of the primary research in the form of mail surveys & in person questioning, analysis & interpretation is followed such that we are able to present the whole information sophistically & in simple representation through graphs & pie charts. To conclude, suggestions have been made in order to help consumers as well as fashion marketers to establish a more better relationship between a laymans knowledge about fashion & their affecting buying habits.

ObjectivesHere, the study of consumers {in context of fashion} will help firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how the socio-economic and demographic patters of consumer fashion goods usage in the community; the factors which contribute to and inform consumer decisions to enter into the purchase of such goods; the factors which determine choices between fashion providers and fashion products; and the manner in which various sources information is being used by consumers.

Research Methodology

Market research is often needed to ensure that we produce what customers really want and not what we think they want. A Primary research was designed and conducted in the form of direct survey with the consumers. This component was interested in gaining a scan of the market environment. A sampling was taken of the information provided to consumers to influence consumer choice. This Primary Method involved use of several tools as available to a market researchere.g., mail questionnaires, phone surveys, observation, and focus groups. This survey contained several open-ended & closeended questions. Here, for this survey to yield meaningful responses, a sample size of 25 was undertaken because precision was essential. The samples were taken over a weeks period.

Focus groups are useful when the marketer wants to launch a new product or modify an existing one.Thus, here the focus group was basically the urban chic population of some selected Indian Metropolis viz. Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Allahabad, & Bangalore Here, the questionnaire contained questions regarding his/her demographics, their source of information about fashion, & all the W questions regarding their purchasal.

Theoretical Background

The first objective of this study of consumer behavior regarding the purchase of fashion apparels & products was to list down about the demographics of the targeted audience. Demographics are clearly tied to subculture and segmentation. Here, however, we shift our focus from analyzing specific subcultures to trying to understand the implications for an entire population of its makeup. Demographic variables essentially refer to personal statistics such as income, gender, education, location (rural vs. urban, East vs. West), ethnicity, and family size. Thus, they illustrate the reality that social status is a complex variable that is determined, not always with consensus among observers, by several different variables.

The next category falls in for the source of information from where people seek knowledge regarding fashion products. Since a regular office going person & a layman has almost negligible noesis about what fashion actually deals with, he/she seeks information from various sources. Thus, the main objective here was to know about how many people adhere to source or find about fashion world. The next issue comes here about the actual buying habits of the consumers, where all what, where, how, when, related questions were asked to the targeted population, so as to help develop various marketing strategies for the fashion producers & marketeers.

The behaviour of lower and higher income consumers

We found, somewhat surprisingly, that the behaviour of consumers when making decisions about purchasing fashion goods, is largely the same, regardless of income category or gender or whether they reside in metropolitan or non-metropolitan areas. There are some differences in behaviour, but these tend to be confined to a relatively low number of circumstances. It appears from the focus group responses that, to the extent that there are differences in behaviour of the income groups, lower income consumers may be more inclined to buy goods they are offered without question because they believe it is the only product they will be offered.

Analysis & Interpretation

Demographic: People in this survey are mostly singles & a few were married in their peak earning years. Almost one-third of the population is between the ages of 20 and 25; following to it the next age group 30 -35 yrs.; median age is 24 years. Most of the households are empty nesters. This segment is overwhelmingly Indian, belonging to Indian metropolis viz. Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Allahabad. It follows that this market is highly educated. More than 80 percent of the adult population (aged 22 years or older) has at least a bachelor's degree & were mainly in software & management fields. A very few of them were students.

W

h e n a ske d a b o u t th e i l te st r a p u rch a se o f a n y fa sh i n i m , m o st o te o f th e m b o u g h t b ra n d e d t-sh i & rts sh i , n ext h i h e st g ro u p i th i rts g n s ca te g o ry w a s w h o p u rch a se d d e si n e r w a tch e s. V e ry fe w o f th e m g p u rch a se d a cce sso ri s l ke b e l , e i ts e a rri g s, su n g l sse s, & so m e n a g a d g e ts. W h e n a ske d th e a u d i n ce a b o u t th e e cu rre n t tre n d th e y l ve d & th e o n e o w h i th e y d e te st, a l o st h a l o f ch m f th e p o p u l ti n re p l e d th a t th e y h a d a o i n o i e a a b o u t th e cu rre n t tre n d s a s d th e y w e re m o stl ke e p i g o ff-tra ck y n fa sh i n w o rl . M o st p o p u l r cu rre n t o d a tre n d a m o n g th e o th e rs w a s u se o f e co l g i lm a te ri l , d a rk co l rs, o ca as o I d i n e th n i K u rti , fo rm a l , h a l n a c s s f p a n ts, e tc . S o m e d i re p l e d a b o u t d i th e cu rre n t tre n d s th e y d e te st to o w h i i cl d e d fa n ci e ss, w i e -l g ch n u n d e j a n s, b i su n g l sse s, sca l o p s, g u ys e g a l w e a ri g sto l s e tc . n e

When analyzed how the targeted people perceived fashion as, people had varied opinions, from attitude, self-expression, style, elegance, simple, hifi, ephemeral, classic, designer, branded, comfort, etc. A very less, almost negligible did even reply that they were indifferent to fashion. When a close-ended question of what the targeted audience looked forward in fashion was asked, almost one-third of them replied affirmatively comfort, following to it was style. Elegance was mostly chosen by professionals in the age of 30-35 yrs. & a few did select quality too.

No. of persons

For the almost one third of the population movie actors/ celebrities (viz. SRK, Hrithik, Aishwarya, ) played the role of defining fashion in most exotic way. Only one of them found couturiers as defining fashion in most exotic way. Nearly 70% of the population said that they dont read or subscribe to any fashion magazines. A few did reply positively to read magazines like vogue, Cosmo. Etc. Most of the people here dont watch any fashion-centric TV programmes. A few do watch channels like FTV, MTV, Electronic Gadgets on NDTV, Lifestyle on CNBC TV 18. Almost everybody has never attended any fashion events, except for a few who have been to NIFT fashion shows.

No. of persons

Half of the targeted population had no clue about fashion website. A few follow designer websites for specific information ( D&G.com, ralph lauren, ftvindia.com) Almost two-third of the population said that they purchased most of their fashion apparels & products from malls. A few said they go to designer boutiques stores & for street shopping. There was only 1 who agreed on purchasing articles online.

No. of pers ons

No. of persons

The disposable income of most of targeted population in purchase of fashion apparels &products was some around Rs.1000 to Rs.5000. Some spent below Rs. 1000 who were basically students & very less of them said they spent above Rs.5000. Almost cent percent of the population purchase fashion apparels & products only on occasions, because of their tight schedules some find time for shopping rarely only. People in below 18 yrs. Of age as students & some in their early 20s do agreed that they purchased articles quite

No. of perso ns

Half of the population in this survey mentioned that they self-assess for guidance in puchasalof fashion apparels & products. Few refer their family & friends & one fourth of the population said that they look on celebrities & fashion leaders for fashion assistance.

From the whole survey we found that people define fashion in their own expressions. The middle age male population, hardly bothers about the latest trends and look more for style & comfort. Most of the women in their midtwenties are a little more fashion inclined than men. Despite their negligible knowledge about fashion, most of the targeted population invest only on branded fashionable clothing & products, as they dont want to risk spending elsewhere.

Findings

As most of the targeted population works therefore, they are not able to keep track of the latest trends. They are just laymen to the actual field of fashion despite living in metropolis. A few had a little idea about fashion, but that was just in general what they see on street. Because of the consequences of recession & price hikes, people spend a very less amount of their disposable income in shopping of fashion goods. Only a few manage to bend on costly designer wears. Most of them do not want to give high prices for branded products & just want to do with cheap knock-offs. Only students & few in their early twenties looked in celebrities & fashion leaders as their ideals.

Because of their busy schedules & their tight packed routines, professionals hardly bothered of keeping track to fashion magazines, fashion-centered TV programmes, or online sites. It was just students who looked in to source information regarding fashion. The question of attending fashion shows was not worth asking at all since almost everyone declined of going to any as they are not at all related to fashion world. Malls provide a very good source for purchasing fashion articles for most of the urban population because of the time constraint they have. They cant afford spending so much time on going & look for products on streets or else. They just directly go & select whatever

When we look onto the time interval after which they go for purchasing, we see the same reason of their time constraint which binds them with their work & thus most of them prefer going for purchasing only on occasions. Living in metros, people have started self-assessing what they want to have when they are going for purchasal of fashion goods keeping in mind their tastes & preferences. They hardly refer to their friends, family or celebrities.

SuggestionsAs the population is not very fashion literate, we would like them to become more aware of whats in & out in the fashion world by subscribing to magazines & follow fashion online. The fashion industry needs to focus on inviting the populace to fashion events rather than just celebs. They can organize events at work places & offices to educate laymen about fashion.

References/ Annexures

India : Shopping Malls create fashion awareness February16,2007 Shopping malls of Lucknow have become the focal point for creating fashion awareness and bringing on a retail boom in Lucknow. The advent of mall culture in the city has given a boost to the fashion scene as it keeps people abreast of latest fashion trends. Lucknowites pick up fashion trends just as well now as their metro counterparts from shrugs to trench coats to boots and stilettos. Lucknowites have become more fashion conscious due to increase in purchasing power and mall culture, said Lucknow-based fashion designer Asma Husain. Lucknow is considered as a lucrative market to launch new products and most companies target Lucknow to launch their latest collections, said Amit Jaiswal, supervisor at Lucknow branch of a UK-based retail chain. Well-known fashion brands have put up shop with many celebrities coming in to inaugurate showrooms in the city, observes Chandni Verma, student and party hopper. Exposure to media has helped to keep up with changing fads and with page 3 parties becoming a hit, making a style statement has also gained importance, Asma said.

QUESTIONNAIRE ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS PURCHASE OF FASHION & APPAREL PRODUCTS

Name: Age: Gender: Educational Qualification: Profession: Marital Status: Location: How do you perceive Fashion as? What do you look forward in Fashion? Style Comfort Elegance Quality What was the last article of fashion clothing or accessory you purchased? What current trend do you love the most & the current trend you detest? Who do you think defines fashion in the most exotic way? Do you read or subscribe to any Fashion magazines? If yes, which ones? What is your fave style or fashioncentric television program?

Do you attend any Fashion events? If yes, which one was the last you visited to? Which websites do you think provides the most relevant information for Fashion apparels & products? Where do you generally shop for Fashion apparels & products? Malls Online Designer stores/ boutiques Street Shopping How much do you spend on your purchase?

Below Rs.1000 Up to Rs. 5000 Rs. 5000 & above How often do you purchase? Occasionally Quite often Rarely Whom do you often refer to before purchase?

Self-assess Family/ friends Celebrities/ Fashion Leaders