Fashion innovativeness in India: shopping behaviour, clothing evaluation and fashion information sources

Abstract

There are limited empirical studies that have focused on apparel consumers in India, and none of the previous research has explicitly examined the relationship between fashion innovativeness, consumers' shopping behaviour, product evaluative cues and fashion information sources. This study is intended to address this research gap. A self-administered survey was used for this study. In total, usable data were collected from 230 female participants aged from 18 to 25 years in New Delhi, India. The results indicated that fashion innovators spent more money on new clothes and shopped more frequently online/offline per year than did fashion non-innovators. Garment fit and comfort were perceived as the two most significant cues for both consumer groups. Fashion innovators relied more often on impersonal or marketer-dominated sourcesfor fashion information including magazines, store/window displays and celebrities, while fashion non-innovators were more reliant on personal or non-marketer-dominated sources including parents, friends and siblings.

A cross-national study of young female consumer behaviour, innovativeness and apparel evaluation: China and India

“…On the contrary, non-innovators are more price conscious when they shop for clothing (Goldsmith & Newell, 1997), and due to their price sensitivity, they are more likely to shop at discount stores than at high-end venues (Lumpkin & McConkey, 1984). Another recent study (Rahman & Kharb, 2018) also offers similar empirical support, their findings indicated that fashion innovators spent more money on new clothes than non-innovators. Based on the previous research findings, the following hypothesis was proposed: H2: Fashion innovators spend more money on new apparel products than do fashion noninnovators in both countries -China and India Apparel shopping is one the prevailing leisure activities for many Chinese and Indian consumers, particularly among the young.…”

“…It is important to note that Indian participants were relatively younger than their Chinese counterparts by about four years, and many of them had no income. According to studies (Khare & Rakesh, 2010;Puddick & Menon, 2012;Rahman & Kharb, 2018) conducted in India, co-shopping with parents is very common, and "many young consumers depend on their parents to pay" for the apparel products that they want to purchase. (Rahman and Kharb, 2019;p.9)"…”

“…(2) Chinese consumers are more cautious about each apparel expenditure event in order to maintain their ability to engage in more frequent purchases; (3) Indian parents often co-shop with their children and are the ones who physically pay for the purchases (Rahman & Kharb, 2018), and (4) the age differences between the two samples.…”

“…Some recent studies (e.g., Cotton Incorporated, 2016; Zipser, Chen & Gong, 2016) also revealed that young Chinese and Indian consumers are fashion conscious and highly receptive to new clothing styles, and many of them enjoy apparel shopping. Another recent study (Rahman & Kharb, 2018) found that young Indian consumers spent more time at brick-andmortar stores to shop for new clothes than on the internet. They shop at retail stores for a number of reasons, which can include to escape from daily routine, seek product information, spend time with friends and family, and/or to browse the stores for fun (Kaur & Singh, 2007;Rahman, Wong & Yu, 2016).…”

Clothing Involvement Profiles of African-American Students for Marketing Strategies

“…However, young consumers are less likely to use newspaper information than old consumers. Rather, young consumers frequently pay attention to the personal information to obtain current product and fashion information, (Rahman & Kharb, 2018;Seock & Bailey, 2009). They rely on the personal information when they make a purchasing decision for their clothing (Seock & Bailey, 2009).…”