CHAPTER - VIII

FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, SUGGESTIONS &

RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1 Findings
In this research we collected the information from March 2012 to September
2012 and get good experiences, views, valuable knowledge and information from the
respondents towards the preferences of the Indian Brands and Multinational Brands in
readymade garments. We asked to male, female, children, youngsters, Businessman,
retailer, Professionals regarding to the preference and buying behavior of the Brands.

Form the analysis it has been revealed that Indian consumers prefer
multinational brands as these brands are the best in every way quality, design and
technology are always producing new and exciting colors & Fabrics. Multinational
Brands by being recognized worldwide and have worldwide presence is crucial factor
influences consumers’ choice and behavior. (Refer Table No. 7.10)

The ability to identify the factors affecting the consumers’ preference for
multinational brands as Indian garment manufacturers are facing a double-whammy of
spiraling cotton prices and the 10 per cent excise duty levy on their branded products.
This has narrowed the gap between brands manufactured in India and those imported,
giving the multinational brands a big advantage as this could also lead to urban shoppers
shifting from Indian brands to foreign marquees as prices become more competitive in
the premium segment.

Indian garment manufacturers and retailers have hiked or are looking to raise
prices of their products by 10 to 18 per cent to offset costs. Interestingly, the excise duty
levy comes at a time when several international brands are making a beeline for India.
Many are tweaking their pricing strategies to attract consumers. Darshan Mehta,
President and CEO, Reliance Brands, which retails brands like Diesel, Gucci, Pepe
points out his advantage. Moreover consumers with a preference for international brands
would find the price gap between them and Indian ones narrowing. So they much rather
opt for a global brand instead.

Regarding the superiority of Multinational brand, it was found that all

respondents had positive attitude and views towards Multinational brands and they feel

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that these brands with higher standard & quality in comparison to Indian Brand. (Refer
Table No. 7.11).

However all respondents felt that multinational brands were expensive but some
were prepared to spend extra money for multinational brands as they believed that the
extra money spent was worth the quality of multinational brand products. Furthermore, it
was found that there was lesser degree of ethnocentrism among Indian consumers. The
respondents that were non-ethnocentrism evaluated multinational brand to be better
based on their attributes such as quality, prestige because the brands were not owned by
the country but the more developed countries.

Further, it was demonstrated in this study that all respondents believed that
multinational brands hold the factors of status, pride which cannot be said about Indian
Brands. It was also revealed that multinational brands were more appealing to the
consumers and possessed more competitive advantages that Indian brands; the only
disadvantage recognized in multinational brands was that they were more expensive.

Brand enhances the personality of a person. Consumers associate brand with the
quality of product, style & its design. In return, they expect the branded product to
provide them recognition, satisfaction and value for the money invested. Results
indicated that brand influence consumers’ choice and pattern. (Refer Table No. 7.12)

Demographic profile is one of the important factors in influencing the choice of

consumers. While most of Indian brands and retailers are betting big on the Tier II, III
cities, now, even top end luxury brands are shifting their attention towards smaller cities.
Increasing brand and quality consciousness, high disposable incomes, increase in the
number of nuclear families and education levels are some of the main reasons

leading to this change in consumers’ preference in smaller towns. (Refer Tables

No. 7.13, 7.14, 7.15 & 7.16) No wonder, luxury retailers are already in search of
customers across the country and now spreading their reach to non-metros like Ludhiana,
Surat, Jammu, Indore and Chandigarh.

Markets brands such as Armani, Burberry and Gucci in India is looking at taking
these labels to cities beyond Delhi and Mumbai once the right real estate options are
available. It is also looking for space in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jaipur because

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several people from these towns frequent its stores in Delhi and Mumbai. Similarly,
Reliance Brands, a part of Reliance Industries, which has recently brought American
menswear brand Brooks Brothers (BB) into India, has plans to open stores in the metros
and also has set its eyes on Chandigarh for the flagship store. Gucci, a popular store that
sells high-end fashion labels, realized the importance of ‘new markets’ and took a step in
this direction by opening a store in metro cities, followed by more stores in Hyderabad,
Lucknow and Jaipur.

The new Revel jeans collection from Levi's is designed to act like shape wear to
flatten the tummy, slim hips and thighs, and lift the rear end. Made from sturdy, high-
quality denim, Revels may feel a bit stiffer than the skinny jeans you may be used to, but
the heavier denim fabric also means they're built to last.

Historically, the men’s apparel market in India has been significantly larger than
the women’s apparel market. With only 20 percent of India’s urban women in the
workforce, women’s wardrobes have traditionally been limited to home wear and items
for special occasions. Now, women are more willing to dress differently when they
venture beyond the home—to shop, for example, or visit a school or office. As the
lifestyles of India’s prospering urban consumers have evolved, their clothing needs have
broadened, reflecting more varied usage occasions.

For men, clothing choices once came primarily in three basic categories: home-
wear, work clothes, and special occasion wear. Now, with more “socializing” opportunities,
men are buying more sophisticated combinations of outfits: party wear, sportswear,
clothes for hanging out at the mall. Not long ago, for example, men from India’s
northern regions only required a good dark suit or Sherwani, the traditional long coat, to
cover big occasions and important celebrations. But over the past several years, men
have begun to supplement those staples with expensive Western style jackets, and
collared shirts-some in “funky” patterns and cut for a night on the town, others in stripes
or checks for casual meetings with important business associates.

Leading apparel manufacturers are now concentrating on mass brands, as the

majority of the Indian population fall under the middle and lower income groups.
Manufacturers have launched several brands specifically targeting these income groups.
Raymond Ltd launched the Markers brand in 2011 that has become quite popular among

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its intended consumer segment. Arvind Ltd’s Excalibur brand also increased sales,
targeting the middle-income group.

International brands are also increasingly appealing to middle-income

consumers. Players such as Diesel and Pepe also launched a couple of collections to
cater to the middle-income group.

8.2 Conclusion
Based on the comprehensive literature review of the previous studies, this study
offered more insights into deeper understanding of the consumers’ preference, and
cognitive structures of the Indian brands and multinational brands. Additionally to the
studies made in the past, present study explored consumer preference in the different levels
of Indian brand vs. Multinational brand. Overall, the results confirmed the findings of
previous studies in the field of preferences by highlighting the similar attribute preferences
of the products and by revealing similar cognitive structures of the consumers.

As a result, this study has successfully validated that Indian brand has a
significant impact on the consumer on the basis of price, availability, channel
distribution etc. The present study has taken into consideration the Indian brands viz.;
Zodiac, Provogue, Wills Life Style, Spyker, Koutons, Flying Machine, John Player, Park
Avenue and Oxemberg, Lawman pg3 & Multinational Brand viz.; Levis, Guess, Diesel,
Gucci, Pepe, Wrangler, Lee, Tommy Hilfiger, Arrow and Armani.

The study revealed that consumer have shown the preference towards the
Multinational brands like Levis, Diesel, Gucci, Wrangler etc. but also explore that
consumers have some inclination towards the Indian Brands like Oxemberg, Park
Avenue and Zodiac etc. in terms of advertisement, pricing and distribution channel.

From the above it can be concluded consumers in developing countries tend to

evaluate Multinational brands in terms of better product and service quality, they also
tend to relate Multinational brands as symbols of social status. The study indicated that
Country-of-Origin and credibility of Multinational brands were a significant factor
influencing consumer attitudes and preferences as it was correlated highly with “quality”
and “higher status” and esteem. The result revealed that perceived quality is defined as a
consumer’s evaluation of a brand’s overall excellence based on intrinsic (e.g.

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performance, durability) and extrinsic cues (e.g. brand name warranty) Global brands
often appeal to human universals and are purchased to signal membership in worldwide
consumer segments. This signifies that global brands are often seen by consumers as
brands that convey worldwide citizenship, when consumed.

The study revealed that the preference of consumers for readymade outfits even
for branded apparels is frequently changing caused by the creation of personality and status
with the quality and comfort they deliver. Due to the increased awareness, interest and
consciousness, people are ready to spend any price for comfort and quality. Intense era
provide high quality materials and lot of variety in Indian garment market to satisfy the
desire of the buyers. The buyers are also utilizing the opportunity too. The study confirmed
that Indian people have become highly brand conscious presently. Hence, brand image is a
not a significant factor in choosing the product or brand to buy. There are other aspects
like, quality, comfort, expectations and demographic characteristics are also influence to
the purchasing decision that dominate the purchase decision of males and females.

From the analytical introspection it is evident that the gender differences do exist
with respect to build attitude towards fashionable apparels and brands. Further, the
variation in age and income is not significant as consumers preferred brands or outfits
irrespective of that. Levis, Diesel and Gucci top the minds of the customers followed by
Siyaram’s Oxemberg and Raymond’s Park Avenue which refers to the maximum
frequency of recalling the brands. These are the most familiar and favourite brands also
among brand aware consumers, specifically in context of India.

Finally, males and females are not having any significant differences in their
brand awareness, shopping frequency and shopping expenditure. Males are equally
interested to go for shopping as females along with they spend excess money during
shopping than their female counterparts. Frequency of males going for shopping with
their companions has increased over times and has reached almost at par with that of
females. Attitude and preference of males towards clothing varies from that of females.
There are two factors are found during measuring attitude of consumers towards branded
apparels, Intrinsic Pleasure and Prestige and Status. Intrinsic Pleasure included pleasure
and significance, in the same way, Prestige and Status integrated status, impression and
acceptance of branded products.

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 According to this study consumers are especially sensitive to National/Indian
brands price changes even in higher-income areas, compared with the price changes of
the private labels. The researcher has offered two main solutions to the National/Indian
brands: a product differentiation strategy or development of the new products and
expectations that reside in each customer’s mind about the product and the company
through marketing mix. It is a powerful yet intangible asset. Brand is about making an
emotional connection. People fall in love with brands. They trust them, develop strong
loyalties, buy them, and believe in their supremacy”. Once the importance of brands was
realized, many corporations worldwide started to create their brand images. National
brands represent very well this type of “brands era”.

An important implication of the study is that Multinational apparel brands are

well positioned in India to compete with Indian brands. While Indian brands are
perceived as more fashionable among some demographic groups, the Multinational
brands do not appear to be sufficiently differentiated from Indian brands. As a result, the
value provided by the Multinational brands is perceived as significantly greater than the
value provided by the Indian brands. This suggests that the current marketing approach
for Indian brands in India is not sufficiently aligned with the attributes in clothing brands
desired by the consumer in India.

The findings further suggest that the development of an effective marketing

strategy for Multinational brands in India is contingent on identifying attributes that are
valued by the consumer and ones that can be leveraged as a means of differentiating the
Multinational brands from Indian brands, and communicating those advantages through
personal relationships.

The Growth in apparel sector post 2000 was considered as the most significant
growth. One of the most important factors which contributed towards this growth was
the young Indian Population which is the target customers for the Retailers. These
consumers believe in spending, are quality and fashion conscious, do not mind paying
extra money but want hassle free and comfortable buying. International travel and Media
exposure of the Indian consumers also played important role towards the growth of the
Multinational Readymade Garment Industry. While this growth turned out to be in
favour to the consumers , as they could choose from wide variety of brands; the retailers
, designers and the brands started finding out strong point of differentiation to not only

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attract customers but also to keep them loyal towards their Brands. This led to the
emergence of various concepts in Brands and Labels.

The Manufacturer creating an Apparel Brand depending on its availability in

various or limited geographical location. Some Brands were tagged as international,
luxury or fashion Brands on the basis of their target customers and price points. The
Private labels, which was created by Retailers to fill gap in product offerings and to
provide an economical option to the customers ,resulted in huge shopping and buying
activity as the customers started getting wide choices under one roof in Multibrand
outlets. With the acceptance of Multinational labels by the Consumers the Retailers
started emphasizing on the quality of these labels resulting in Indian Brand changing its
strategy. With the emergence of different concepts in Apparel Brand and Apparel Label
in the present era, it is of academic interest to study in detail about these brands and
labels and measure the impact of the two prominent concepts i.e. Indian Brand and
Multinational brand in apparel retail business and on the consumer buying behaviour.
Multinational Brands are viewed as luxury brands for an average Indian. The market for
luxury brand in apparel industry has recently experienced a considerable growth.

Readymade garments are the choice of urban people. It is also gaining wider
acceptance in semi urban and rural areas. The huge charges made by tailors and delay in
delivery have made people to switch over to readymade garments. In domestic market
and international market, it has made spectacular progress in the last decade. This
industry is becoming very vibrant and lot of foreign investment pouring in this industry
because of low risk and high earning nature of this industry. As these products are
fashion oriented, marketers should always keep in mind the changing fashion styles.

Readymade apparel is an ideal industry for examining the dynamics of buyer-

driven value chains. The relative ease of setting up clothing companies, coupled with the
prevalence of developed-country protectionism in this sector, has led to an unparalleled
diversity of garment exporters in the third world. Furthermore, the backward and forward
linkages are extensive, and help to account for the large number of jobs associated with
the industry.

As the Indian readymade garments production is characterized by excessive

presence of the informal sector. Input measure becomes also problematic due to the given
impacts of exchange rates on wages. Given the importance of non-price factors in the

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garment sector, unit value realization may be a better parameter for measuring
competitiveness. This also poses many problems due to the highly fragmented character of
the apparel market. Higher unit value realizations may indicate a heavy hold in a different
market segment rather than competitiveness in similar markets. However, higher unit value
is a critical factor in sustaining and improving competitiveness over time.

Due to the presence of many non-price factors such as quick response, fabric
quality and processing quality etc., no single indicator can reflect competitiveness of
Indian garment sector properly. Today, the buyers of readymade garment segment are
aware of the running trends, and demand the newest in fashion and products at a
reasonable cost. At the front position of this evolution are the smaller players, which
multinational labels that are thoroughly transforming the dressing way of men, women
and children. With the supply chain limitations eased, organization in real estate markets,
and rationale tax structure, the readymade garment segment has become more lucrative
and it is anticipated that the readymade garment segment will be the main segment in the
next five years.

After studying the consumer patterns of preferences regarding branding

readymade garments in Indore city and identifying the key factors influencing their
preferences of Indian or Multinational brands, it has been concluded that consumers
purchase Multinational brands and give preference to them. This may be due to the fact
that the younger generation has more exposure to Multinational brands through cable
television and the Internet and further are more influenced by advertising campaigns. The
older generation consumers i.e. 41-50 years are more inclined towards National brands
may be due to patriotism. It can also be said that the income level of the consumers does
not affect the ability of consumers to prefer Multinational brands as consumers belonging
to all income groups have been observed to prefer Multinational brands.

The study reveals that Oxemberg, Park Avenue, Zodiac, Koutons remain the
famous brands preferred by the respondents. It is clear that most of the shoppers of
branded garments were highly influenced by the factors such as durability, reference
groups, wider choice of colour and design, attractiveness, price range and celebrity
endorser. Most of the customers are expecting reduced price and wider choice of colour
and design. The manufacturers of branded garments must focus on all these factors to
formulate branding strategies effectively and to sustain their growth. Marketing
strategies such as Advertising, sales promotional activities and distribution channels are

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the factors that contribute more to prefer a particular brand. The manufacturers need to
give more attention to these factors in order to attract and retain their customers.

It can be concluded that today’s consumer is quality and price conscious and
wants value for money. Consumers are willing to pay extra for a brand that they perceive
will give them satisfaction in terms of quality and performance. If they can get a product
of the same quality for a lower price then they will go for that one rather than an
expensive one. Consumers do regard National products to be of good quality and use
them but at the end of the day when they are given a choice they go for a Multinational
brand. The reason for this being that international brands have guaranteed quality, they
are more reliable performance wise and they have a better finish and physical
appearance. Hence, the country of origin of a brand plays a role in the consumer’s
decision making process of products. A multinational brand represents higher quality
than an Indian brand. Furthermore, the results show that consumers are not very brand
loyal. Very few consumers are loyal to the brands they use. Whichever brand gives them
greater satisfaction at an affordable price is the brand they go for. Thus, brand loyalty
does not play a role in consumer’s choice of a Multinational brand or Indian brand.

A foreign or imported brand has always had the impression of being the best
available brand as it is sold at a premium price. Use of such high quality products is a
sign of prestige and social status. Consumers are conscious of their social appearance
and need to be seen using the “right” brand so at times the use of a Multinational brand is
a necessity to be accepted and be part of a social group. Therefore, consumers use
Multinational brands so that they can fit into the desired social group. Also, the type of
brand a person uses is an external source of showing person’s wealth which is a factor
that determines one’s social ranking.

On the other hand there is a segment of society that prefers to use Indian
products. Some of these consumers only use or mostly use Indian products. They want to
preserve and carry forward the traditions and customs of their families and have a strong
sense of patriotism. Even though these consumers are highly educated, have studied and
traveled abroad, still they maintain this kind of particular lifestyle.

This study helps to understand how the factors lead to Multinational brands’
preference. In the case of various brand the customers expectation are comfortable, style,
quality, Honest, Feel different, Fashionable, Reliable, Upper class and enhance user’s

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Personality. The customer respondents are satisfied with the brand’s dimensions such as
sincerity, excitement, competency and sophistication. Thus a company should enhance
its brand personality dimensions to be top of customers mind and increase brand loyalty.
So a company wants to compete with its competitor, retain and attract new customer it
should develop these personalities. Modern day customer’s expectation is different from
the traditional cloth buyers. Today, customers prefer their suiting brands based on the
current trend. This study reveals that customers are not often switching their suiting
brands and it shows the brand loyalty behaviour of the respondents. So companies which
want to be a leader in the market of cloth segments should maintain and increase the
brand personality and continuously do the brand building methods.

8.3 Suggestions & Recommendations

 In order to gain more consumer confidence Indian manufacturers need to
emphasize more on the quality of their products. Many companies produce
products that are of impeccable quality, which they need to portray to the
consumers in the advertising campaigns. They need to target the younger
generation more with their advertising campaigns by using up beat
advertisements, as it is this group of consumers that go for Multinational brands
the most. (Refer Table No. 6.9)

 To compete against Multinational brands, Indian manufacturers can gain a

competitive edged by maintaining low prices and high comparable quality. This
can be accomplished by keeping production cost low, using economies of scale
and scope and controlling wastage. Thinking globally and competing in the
international market can also achieve this.

 Furthermore, they need to build on and sustain brand loyalty by forming strategies
such as exchange and return policies as well as guarantees and warranties.

 Though the quality of readymade garments is good, it has to be further improved

still it requires the following. Improving the quality with the help of latest
technology, improving quality, gifts and promotional media are to be used which
should influence the customers more.

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  Promotional strategies such as incorporating innovative design, decorative
materials, a diversified product (casual wears, kids wears) has to be promoted
more. Retailers adopt the strategy of standardizing the products (introducing
standard size to body shapes- comfort, regular, straight and trim fits).

 Majority of the buyers are young hence, the product should be associated with
the style and current taste, fashion of the customer which will attract the youths.

 Present day consumers are not only looking the price but package of the
deliverables which too is concentrated. Promotional scheme such as discount,
free offers with purchase is suggested to increase sales of branded products.

 Unique selling points are used by the retailers, which guarantee that the buyer
gets high quality product at cheaper price.

 Indian Companies should follow the Park Avenue Marketing strategies for
making the space in the consumer’s heart. Because these brand is one of the best
Indian Brand in Readymade Garment. (Refer Table No. 6.9)

 Moreover, Indian manufacturers should work more on the products placement of

their products and build up and sustain core competencies.

8.4 Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Future

Research
Time was a major constraint for the study. Time being a constraint, limited the
study in certain aspects, as the study was restricted to a period of mere three years.
Additional time would have supported the study by increasing the sample size and
thereby providing more conclusive results.

This exploratory research study is flexible and the sample size is small. The
analysis of the exploratory research is qualitative and the results are tentative in nature”,
the sample size undertaken for the study did not represent the whole population of India.
Although care was taken in cautiously interpreting the findings, the results obtained from
the study were tentative in nature, and were generalized.

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 As recommendation for future research works, replications and extension of the
same study could be made by comparing consumer perceptions between a developing
country like India and a developed country. This would serve the study to be more
productive. Moreover, as time was a constraint, branded readymade garments was alone
chosen for the study. As a suggestion for future research, the whole Textile industry
could be taken for the research work. Thus, these recommendations would assist the
marketers and researchers in undertaking future research works.

8.5 Managerial Implications

Several important managerial implications emerge from this study. In general,
global marketers should carefully examine consumers’ globalization-related
psychological characteristics (i.e., social status, familiarity & Credibility of Brand, and
cultural values) in their segmentation and positioning strategies. These constructs,
though related, exert independent influences. To identify appropriate segments in
markets, each construct should be measured and assessed.

Specifically, these consumers tend to agree that Multinational brands are better
in terms of quality, prestige, corporate social responsibility, innovation, and
attractiveness than Indian brands. In addition, the results showed that ethnocentrism
constitutes an important force driving consumers in highly vertical collectivist countries
(e.g.,China) not to favour Multinational brands from the developed world. As such, for
ethnocentric consumers, these brands compete not only with Indian brands but also with
emerging Multinational brands. Consumers in emerging markets might serve as allies to
resist them. To reduce or eliminate such negative effects, companies should target
consumers with high global identity, who tend to like brands of developed country
origin. This research also holds several implications for global companies from emerging
countries. First, companies might find opportunities in other emerging markets high on
vertical collectivism.

The managerial implications of our research can be summed up as follows:

Format choices are driven by customer’s demographic profile in terms of his gender,
marital status, age and income level. Customer’s target/leisure-seeking shopping attitude
is dependent on his demographic profile that influences his choice of store formats.
Multi-brand stores must engage in offering the best possible leisure shopping experience
as against single brand stores concentrating on offering the best possible assortment and

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service for serious and focused customers. Exclusive brand are here to attract the
fashion-conscious, novelty-seeking urban Indian female. However, there may be other
important determinants for format choice like, situation, task, and purpose for which a
detailed model needs to be established.

The researcher has already elaborated a series of research which has been
conducted by a number of authors in establishing a proper choice of the format. Yet,
none of these models has been fruitful in predicting the shopper’s choice in an emerging
environment like India. It is also important to note that any such research is unlikely to
be homogeneous for all categories of product. Similar research carried out in grocery and
electronics may suggest different behavioural patterns. Such variation is also expected
when a different population is taken up for the study. Further, it may be noted that the
present study is limited to a pretesting objective with a rather small sample size which
may restrict the scope for generalization to some extent.

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