“INFLUENCE OF BRANDING ON CONSUMER BUYING

BEHAVIOR
IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY”

A project work submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF COMMERCE

Submitted by

S. SRIRAM
(19-UCO-106)

Under the guidance of

Dr. A. Jesu Kulandairaj

Assistant Professor & Research Supervisor

PG & RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)
CHENNAI – 600 034
JUNE-2022
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this Dissertation (INFLUENCE OF BRANDING ON

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY) is a
record of the research work done in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the
B.Com Degree by S.SRIRAM during the period of his study in Loyola College,
Chennai and the dissertation has not previously formed basis for the award, to the
candidate, of any Degree, Diploma, Fellowship or other similar title. This
research represents an independent work on the part of the candidate under my
supervision and guidance.

Dr. A. Marcus Dr. A. Jesu Kulandairaj

Head of the Department Assistant Professor & Supervisor
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project report “INFLUENCE OF BRANDING ON

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY” submitted

in partial fulfillment of the award for the degree of Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) to

the Department of Commerce, Loyola College, Chennai, affiliated to Madras

University, Tamil Nadu), is my original work and not submitted to any other

Degree/Diploma, fellowship or other similar title.

Place: Chennai S. SRIRAM

Date: (19-UCO-106)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is indeed my great privilege to express my gratitude to all who have guided

and inspired me during the course of my project work.

First of all, I thank God Almighty for showering His blessings and enlightening
me for the successful completion of my project work.

I wish to thank Rev. Dr. A Thomas SJ, Principal, Loyola College, Chennai, for
providing me all the facilities.

With great esteem and gratitude, I thank A. Marcus., Head of the Department of
Commerce for permitting me to do this project, which in turn offered me an Impressive
learning experience.

I am very grateful and thankful to my guide Dr. A. Jesu Kulandairaj, Assistant

Professor & Research supervisor, who spared his valuable time in helping me in the
successful pursuit of my project and has shown keen interest in my topic. I was really
happy to work under his guidance. The successful completion of this project is the
outcome of the effort and sincerity of all those who are associated with the project.

S. SRIRAM

(19-UCO-106)
 INDEX

CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE NO.

NO.

LIST OF TABLES

1-8
I INTRODUCTION

9 - 26
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
II

27 - 49
III THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THE STUDY

50 - 67
IV DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATIONS

68 - 72
V FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS & CONCLUSION

REFERENCES 73

ANNEXURES 74 - 78
TABLE NO CONTENT PAGE
NO
TABLE 4.1 AGE OF THE
RESPONDENTS 51
TABLE 4.2 GENDER OF THE
RESPONDENTS 52
TABLE 4.3 MARITAL STATUS OF THE
RESPONDENTS 53
TABLE 4.4 INCOME OF THE
RESPONDENTS 54
TABLE 4.5 WORK STATUS OF THE
RESPONDENTS 55
TABLE 4.6 FREQUENCY OF THE CONSUMER
PURCHASE 56
TABLE 4.7 FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER
PURCHASE 57
TABLE 4.8 AWARENESS OF THE EXISTING
FASHION BRANDS 58
TABLE 4.9 CONSCIOUS METER OF USING
BRANDS 59
TABLE 4.10 IMPETUS TO BUY BRANDED
PRODUCTS 60
TABLE 4.11 KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF
THE BRANDS 61
TABLE 4.12 PRODUCT CATEGORIES & PEOPLE’S
PREFERENCES 62
TABLE 4.13 CONSUMER’S MINDSET AT THE
TIME OF THE PURCHASE 63
TABLE 4.14 REASON BEHIND THE BRAND
LOYALTY 64
TABLE 4.15 AVERAGE MONTHLY SPENDINGS ON
APPARELS 65
TABLE 4.16 PREFERRED PRICE RANGE FOR THE
CONSUMERS TO BUY A BRANDED 66
PRODUCT
TABLE 4.17 IS BRAND BECOMING A STATUS
SYMBOL? 67
 CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION

1
1.0 INTRODUCTION

The idea of brand isn’t a new one. In fact, the concept has been around for hundreds, if not
thousands, of years. The concept of branding existed well before the modern era. What it
means to brand something has evolved since, however the concept remains the same. Brand
these days have become a status symbol. Customers all over the world now prefer branded
products. But why is the question. Is it the quality that attracts customers towards brand or
some other related factor? This study is aimed at analysing the effect of brand on consumer
buying behaviour. Along with finding the effect of brand on consumer buying behaviour the
purpose of the study is to have an in-depth knowledge of what actually is branding and
consumer behaviour. All the study has been conducted with reference to fashion industry in
India. Firms in fashion industry are competing to increase their profit share in the market and
among these firms; branded clothing & accessories has shifted the conventional style &
interest of people.

As competition creates infinite choices, companies look for ways to connect emotionally with
customers, become irreplaceable, and create lifelong relationships. A strong brand stands out
in a densely crowded marketplace. People fall in love with brands, trust them, and believe in
their superiority. How a brand is perceived affects its success, regardless of whether it’s a
start-up, a non-profit, or a product. Branding is proving to be one of the most important
aspects of any business.

A brand which is sold at a high price and the other which is sold at low price while both have
same quality and attributes, why is that? Companies that effectively focus on their brand are
able to better differentiate themselves from the competition and have better marketing. Brand
studies always have remained the key attention of the marketeers because of its importance
and direct relationship with consumers. Marketers use brands as to get the competitive
advantage on other competitors playing an imperative role in the success of companies.
Brand holds a great importance in consumer’s life. Consumer’s choose brands and trust them
the way they trust their friends and family members to avoid uncertainty and quality related
issues. India has a successful growing economy and the Fashion industry of the country has

2
advanced tremendously in the recent years. The increasing use of fashion goods and the
emerging market has intrigued foreign as well as local brands to provide services to its
customers.

BRAND AWARENESS

Brand awareness is a general term that describes how familiar (aware) consumers are with a
brand or its products. Put simply, brand awareness is the measure of how memorable and
recognizable a brand is to its target audience. Establishing brand awareness is a powerful
marketing strategy that leads consumers to develop an instinctive preference towards a brand
and its products. Making a brand recognizable and memorable is at the heart of most
marketing strategies because it is a major force behind brand trust, and ultimately, sales
generation.

BRAND RECOGNITION

Brand recognition is the extent to which a consumer can correctly identify a particular
product or service just by viewing the product or service's logo, tag line, packaging or
advertising campaign. Brand recognition can also be triggered via an audio cue, such as a
jingle or theme song associated with a brand.

Brand recognition requires the consumer to recall prior knowledge. To build brand
recognition, an organization must repeatedly provide consumers with a consistent visual or
auditory learning experience.

CONTRAST BETWEEN BRAND AWARENESS AND BRAND

RECOGNITION

Brand recognition can be contrasted with brand awareness, which means the consumer knows
that a particular brand exists. Brand recognition has several advantages over brand awareness,

3
including consumer preference, loyalty and, in some cases, trust. Brand recognition can stem
from positive or negative associations. To gain confidence and advocacy from consumers,
brand recognition should be combined with brand equity. Brand recognition associated with
negative opinions or feelings can serve the opposite: decreased preference,
adoption and loyalty.

BRAND EQUITY

Brand equity refers to a value premium that a company generates from a product with a
recognizable name when compared to a generic equivalent. Companies can create brand
equity for their products by making them memorable, easily recognizable, and superior in
quality and reliability. Mass marketing campaigns also help to create brand equity.

When a company has positive brand equity, customers willingly pay a high price for its
products, even though they could get the same thing from a competitor for less. Customers, in
effect, pay a price premium to do business with a firm they know and admire. Because the
company with brand equity does not incur a higher expense than its competitors to produce
the product and bring it to market, the difference in price goes to their margin. The firm's
brand equity enables it to make a bigger profit on each sale.

4
1.1 PROBLEM OF THE STUDY

Research in consumer behavior shows that we have a consumer driven society where the
ultimate motive of business products and service is to satisfy consumer expectation makes
them happily and remain loyal to the brand. Therefore, a perfect understanding of consumer
behavior is determining.

a. The psychology of the consumers and how they make decisions between depending on
their needs and brand awareness.
b. What factors determine consumer’s loyalty or repeat purchase of the brand” is crucial in
meeting customer’s satisfaction and brand loyalty.

The main question that is addressed in this study is whether people from all walks of like are
really ready to go the extra mile to buy a branded apparel in India. And how much a BRAND
NAME can have an impact on consumer’s mind when they go for shopping apparels. It’s also
concerned with how and to what extent consumers are influenced by the so-called brands in
fashion industry. This study is an attempt to know the purchasing power of people when they
go to buy branded and non-branded products.

Therefore, an attempt to reach out to the consumer effectively demands a suitable banding
strategy since consumer buying decision making and loyalty is affected by various branding
strategies. In an industry characterized by stuff competition an effective branding strategy is
significant not only to attract customers but to create customer loyalty to the brand.
Therefore, this research seeks to investigate the impact of branding on consumer buying
behavior in relation to fashion goods & accessories.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

• To understanding the concepts of branding.

• To study the factors affecting consumer behaviour.

5
 • To study the effect of brands on consumer buying behaviour in relation to Fashion
goods & accessories.
• To know the consumer’s awareness of the available brands in relation to clothing and
fashion industry in India.
• To gauge the consumer’s loyalty & following towards a particular brand.
• To know the relation between the price and the consumer’s preferred brand.
• To find out how consumer’s are influenced to purchase a particular brand & how
often they purchase it.

1.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• The sample size of the respondents are just 50. Hence sample bias couldn’t be
avoided.
• The sample profile of the majority of the respondents are from same location and
educational qualification.
• Due to the non-availability of time, this study couldn’t be more comprehensive and all
including.
• The data collecting technique like interviews and surveys couldn’t be done because of
the lack of time and resources.
• This study doesn’t include the whole of India which it intended to be because of lack
of resources.
• The data analysis and interpretation is done through using simple percentage method.
So the results can vary.

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The design of this study would be deductive as the main purpose of this research is to test the
hypotheses which were developed and to get the conclusion. Moreover, the application of
deductive approach will assist to understand and explain the impact that brand creates upon

6
the consumers’ mind. Therefore, quantitative approach is being used as it will help in
collecting large amount of data to answer the research questions.

The use of quantitative method is also justified here because when the area of research topic
is considered to be large and there arises a need to deduce casual relations between variables,
quantitative method is used.

After designing the hypothesis, research approach could be determined next. In this study, to
gain basic understanding, literatures and previous researches provide insights and idea about
the construction of the questionnaire. Especially questions related to brand awareness and
brand engagement would be designed based on the theories and conceptual framework.

• Consumer Survey on the effect of brands on their buying behaviour through

questionnaire.
• Sample Size: 50 Respondents.
• A sample questionnaire is annexed. Apart from this, this research also includes
information from both primary and secondary data.

Primary data: Primary data will be gathered through the distribution of questionnaire to the
respondents and their answers will be recorded, which will be the primary data.

Secondary Data: Secondary data would be collected through information given in reports,
newspaper, magazines, articles and textbooks. Then the findings are clearly illustrated with
the help of charts and tables to understand the final results better.

1.5. CHAPTER SCHEME

CHAPTER – 1

This chapter deals with the introductory part of the research as well as the methodology
undertaken to complete it.

7
CHAPTER – 2

This chapter contains the reviews of various articles, journals and research papers related to
the topic of branding in fashion industry.

CHAPTER – 3

This chapter deals with the theoretical background of the study undertaken. It includes
various concepts of consumer buying behaviours and branding.

CHAPTER – 4

This chapter illustrates and states the various findings of the research through diagrams and
graphs. It also includes the interpretation of those findings.

CHAPTER – 5

This chapter provides a comprehensive view of the whole findings of the research and also
attempts to provide suggestions. This chapter culminates with a conclusion.

8
 CHAPTER – 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

9
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Neyathi Ahuja, a research scholar of Delhi School of Economics wrote in her journal
(Vol. 3, Issue: 2 February:2015), that customers all over the world now prefer branded
products. This study is aimed at analysing the effect of brand on consumer buying behaviour.
Along with finding the effect of brand on consumer buying behaviour the purpose of the
study is to have an in-depth knowledge of what actually is branding and consumer behaviour.
To study the relationship between brand and consumer behaviour the following methodology
is opted: Consumer Survey on the effect of brands on their buying behaviour through
questionnaire. The key results of the study are: The degree brand of consciousness goes on
decreasing in higher age groups; price & brand were the major attributes that customer’s gave
most importance and 80% people believe that Brands in fashion industry have become a
status symbol.

Constantin Felix of Amsterdam Fashion Institute published a paper (Co-Creating

Individuals: A Roadmap to Value Creation in Fashion Retailing, 2015) citing that fashion
firms opting for such an approach will be able to better guarantee retention and long(er)-term
buying relations by appeal to central value connections. Unlike various other branches, the
fashion industry has remained largely untapped a field in this regard, mostly relying on
traditional marketing means. Instead of push marketing and segmented targeting strategies
co-creation means to integrate consumers into the value creation chain. Examples will be
provided for how the process of co-creation can be successfully applied to various business
sectors. As will be argued, market performance in the fashion industry will become largely
dependent on the knowledge base of affiliate consumers who strongly and passionately
identify with the firm. As a result, marketers will be faced with a completely different set of
challenges in order to position a brand in the market.

Ahmed ismail of Marketing Department, College of Business, School of Business

Management, University Utara Malaysia, Sintok – Kedah, Malaysia , in his paper
(Effects of brand love, personality and image on word of mouth-The case of fashion
brands among young consumers) wrote that Fashion brand love is a central concept in the

10
consumer-brand relationship domain. Brand managers tend to create more lovable brands,
e.g. McDonald’s “I’m lovin it”. However, the importance of this concept is not frequently
discussed in marketing literature. Furthermore, the impact of brand personality and brand
image on brand love has not been investigated in any empirical research. This paper aims to
address this gap by developing a causal model incorporating brand love, brand personality,
brand image and word of mouth (WOM) to investigate the relationships among them.

Stefanie Scholz and Christian Winkler in their research paper (How to engage
followers: Classifying fashion brands according to their Instagram posts and profiles,
2020) stated that how fashion brands communicate with their followers on Instagram. They
used a continuously update dataset of 68 brands, more than 300,000 posts and more
than40,000,000 comments. Starting with descriptive statistics, they uncovered different
behaviour and success of the various brands. It turned out that there are patterns specific to
luxury, mass-market and sportswear brands. Posting volume is extremely brand dependent as
is the number of comments and the engagement of the community.
Having understood the statistics, they turned to machine learning techniques to measure the
response of the community via comments. Topic models help them understand the structure
of their respective community and uncover insights regarding the response to
campaigns. Having up-to-date content is essential for this kind of analysis, as the market is
highly volatile. Furthermore, automatic data analysis is crucial to measure the success of
campaigns and adjust them accordingly for maximum effect.

Ilaria quinte in her paper ( LOUIS VITTON: A CASE STUDY FOR A POSSIBLE
BRAND EXTENSION ) mentioned that The impact of globalization and the changes in
consumers' attitudes and purchase behaviour towards luxury products is changing the luxury
industry and require brands to constantly innovate their strategies (Turner, 2016). Today the
market of luxury goods is highly competitive and brands who are seen available everywhere
often lose their luxury value and therefore their authenticity as being 'true luxury' becomes
diluted (Danziger, 2018). In the past decades Louis Vuitton faced challenges around in the
Asian market as consumers preferred to buy from brands with less over ubiquitous logos and
with fresher designs(Business of Fashion, 2013). This was also due to the fact that the brand's
logo was subject to lot of counterfeit (Danziger, 2018). This resulted in creating problem with

11
its image as the brand was now being associated with 'accessible luxury' rather than
'exclusive' even though its prices are the opposite as being accessible (Ferdman,
2013).However, Louis Vuitton managed to overcome the issue and changed the brand
associations and went for subtler designs by reducing the visibility of its logo both in
products and marketing campaigns, alongside working with designers and artists
collaborations and promoting its travel heritage (Ferdman, 2013; Kornienko,
2017).Therefore, this report will aim to identify the positioning of Louis Vuitton in order to
understand how the brand differentiates from competitors and its branding strategy to further
evaluate brand image and brand identity. In the last section of this report a brand extension
will be proposed by evaluating the current needs of consumers and the suitability of the
extension according to its brand values.

Ken Kweko Nemo in his journal (Analysing the impact of operational challenges on
value perceptions of South African luxury fashion brands,2019) wrote that South Africa
is the leading luxury fashion market in Africa. The growing significance of its luxury market
driven by a sophisticated and rapidly expanding retail industry has attracted the biggest
footprint of international luxury fashion brands in the continent. The influx of international
brands has intensified competition in the local luxury industry and introduced new
complexities to the management of local luxury fashion brands. A major drawback to the
growth potential of local luxury fashion brands is the prevalence of weak brand value, with a
consequent negative disposition of consumers to local luxury fashion brands, which adversely
impacts their ability to command premium prices. We explore the operational environment of
five local luxury fashion brands to understand the factors militating against their efforts at
building valuable brands.

Luciana Gil in her journal (Impact of self on attitudes toward luxury brands among
teens,2012) stated that the main purpose of this study is to increase understanding of
teenagers' self-perception on attitudes toward luxury brands. The study investigates how
social consumption motivations affect teenagers' attitudes toward luxury brands, how teens'
self-concepts can influence social consumption motivations, and whether peer pressure
affects this relationship. The study also examines the effects of materialism on teenagers'
social consumption motivations and attitudes toward luxury brands. The total sample

12
consisted of 558 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19 (grades 7 through 12). Hypotheses
were tested using structural equation modelling. This study demonstrates that materialistic
orientation is a powerful force in developing positive attitudes toward luxury brands.
Teenagers who have clear versus cloudy self-beliefs have a strong tendency to resist social
motivations to consume because the clearer they are about themselves, the less they attend to
external sources and stimuli.

Estela Núñez-Barriopedro in her journal (Influence and Relationship between Branded

Content and the Social Media Consumer Interactions of the Luxury Fashion Brand
Manolo Blahnik) indicated that Social networks are particularly significant in marketing and
advertising because they provide platforms that offer interactive network channels to develop
consumer brands. Among the most useful platforms of this type for capturing leads
for businesses of the business to customer are Facebook. In this sense, this research aims to
analyse the degree of influence and relationship between Branded Content and the
social media consumer interactions of the luxury fashion firm Manolo Blahnik in the
mentioned network. This analysis allows us to see what type of content is more effective in
social networks. To do this, an exploratory study was implemented with a review of the
literature, followed by a correlation study, with hypothesis set to be contrasted through
ANOVA analysis with SPSS software. The conclusion is that social networks facilitate
interactionbetween brands and their followers, allowing the content and messages disseminat
ed to achieve greaterimpact and commitment to the public and, therefore, increase the
engagement between the brand and followers.

Carla Gatt in her research paper (Balancing Exclusivity and Sustainability in the
Luxury Fashion Industry,2020) wrote that the principle of building and maintaining a
reputation of exclusivity has long been acknowledged as the key to the success of luxury
brands. The way these ambitions are realized often remains hidden from the public eye. In
June 2018, British luxury brand Burberry faced considerable backlash after news surfaced
that the brand had burned excess stock worth £28.6m (USD 37m) to reportedly safeguard its
brand image. Various hashtags circulated, including the viral #Burnberry, publicly calling out
the brand for its behaviour. The case presents an interesting paradox between a sustainability
focus on the one hand and maintaining exclusivity on the other. Two months after the

13
incident, Burberry gave in to pressure and announced that it would cease its burning
practices.

Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas in her research paper (Profit and purpose: The case for
sustainable luxury fashion,2020) mentioned that The development of the fashion industry
into a large-scale multinational operation and the resulting potential for damage to planet and
people has attracted the attention of environmental and social activists since at least the
1960s, but consumers on the whole remain broadly ignorant of how their personal fashion
purchases and widespread industry practices contribute to negative environmental and social
impact (Connell and Kozar, 2014). The luxury sector, in particular, has much to lose in terms
of reputation by revelations of exploitation and irresponsible environmental actions along the
supply chain, given that much of its premium-pricing is based on notions of authenticity and
quality production (Kapferer and Bastien, 2012). Previously, a focus on eco or sustainable
fashion was seen as marginal or niche, but more recently consumers demonstrate a desire for
greener products creating potential for businesses to work for profit and purpose (Ottman,
2011). This change has resulted in a new hybrid business model- the social enterprise-which
adds value by meeting market needs and wants through responsible business and employment
practices (Radclyffe-Thomas and Roncha, 2016).

Tengri, a London-based luxury knitwear label is one such social enterprise business
and this paper explores social enterprise in the luxury sector through a case study of Tengri’s
business model that combines social and environmental awareness with luxury product
development to create a virtuous cycle of ethical fashion production and consumption.
Founder Nancy Johnston was inspired by her experiences travelling with Mongolia’s yak
herders where she was confronted with the harshness of the nomadic way of life and threats
to its continuing existence from land degradation and exploitative business practices. She was
driven to action when she juxtaposed these conditions with the promoted glamour of the
luxury fashion industry, which relies on supplies of ingredients from just such workers in
supply chains that stretch across the globe. Informed by primary research with Tengri
and industry experts supplemented with analysis of Tengri’s business, product development
and marketing materials, this paper investigates how Tengri works to balance environmental
and social engagement with launching a start-up luxury business aimed at engaging the new

14
global sustainable luxury consumers, a group described by Caroline Holme Director of
Globescan as the ‘Aspirational’ consumer – a segment that combines a desire to be ethical
with a love of style, design and shopping, particularly prevalent in emerging markets.

Anupreet Kaur Mokha, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, SGTB Khalsa

College, University of Delhi in his research (IMPACT OF BRANDING ON
CONSUMER BUYINGBEHAVIOR IN FASHION INDUSTRY,2017) wrote that Brand
these days have become a status symbol. Customers all over the world now prefer branded
products. Brand holds a great importance in consumer’s life. They choose brands and trust
them like the way they trust their family members. The study is aimed to investigate the
factors that affect the consumer purchasing behaviour in case of fashion industry. Along with
this, the purpose of the study is to have a depth knowledge of what actually is branding and
consumer behaviour. Firms in fashion industry are competing each other to increase their
profit share in the market and among these firms; branded clothing & accessories has shifted
the traditional style & interest of people. Marketers use brands as to get the competitive
advantage on other competitors playing an imperative role in the success of companies India
has a successful growing economy and the Fashion industry of the country has advanced
tremendously in the recent years. The increasing use of fashion goods and apparels has
intrigued foreign as well as local brands to provide services to its customer.

Tamara Úblová in his research paper titled (Fashion brands on social media: Why
consumers engage with companies via social media) wrote that the online consumer
engagement is becoming very significant for companies striving to build their relationship
with their consumers. Social media gives an opportunity not only to reach consumers in a
passive way, but to engage them in active communication and to upload content that is
consequently updated and drawing followers´ attention. Successful online consumer
engagement can improve consumers’ loyalty and trust in the brand. Therefore, it is important
for a company to be aware of actions that can encourage consumer engagement on social
media. The goal of this study is to help marketers achieve higher consumer engagement that
will consequently lead to more loyal customers.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify consumers’ motivations that encourage them to
engage with fashion brands on social media, to identify activities in which these consumers

15
interact with a particular fashion brand, and to find reasons that motivate consumers to share
content which appeared on the fashion brand´s pages with others. Furthermore, our research
tries to find out how this relationship between consumers and fashion brands can evolve.

Ali Hassanzadeh & Tara Namdar in their research (MILLENNIALS BRAND

LOYALTY IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY & THE ROLE OF BRAND
IDENTITY,2018) cited that Brand loyalty has long been an important factor for companies’
sustainability and profitability, as it is less expensive to retain existing customers than
acquiring new ones. In correlation to the importance of brand loyalty, there is a new vast
generation, called the millennials’ or generation Y coming in to the market that is different
than any generation before. This generational cohort has shown tendencies of being very
disloyal, yet not all authors agree. Furthermore, some positive evidence has been found that
millennials consider brands as a way of expressing their own identity and are driven by a
need of having a trendy social image. The role of brand identity has therefore been chosen as
an important key factor to examine this generation’s brand loyalty. Due to the poor research
and the complexity of understanding millennial’s brand loyalty, the purpose of this study is to
acknowledge the role of brand identity and to enhance the knowledge about brand loyalty of
millennials when it comes to fashion brands. The research is of a quantitative and deductive
nature where the primary data of the study was collected through surveys. 108 people
participated in the study and the participants were millennials between an age interval of 18-
38 years.

The result of the study shows that there is a link between brand identity and brand image and
that there is a positive relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. Moreover,
comparing the brand image of two companies H&M and Ralph Lauren to the respondents’
brand loyalty towards the fast fashion and luxury fashion industry showed a correlation of
equivalent loyalty towards the two industries. However, the respondents that were loyal
towards the luxury fashion industry were shown to have a higher general brand loyalty. The
findings of this research provide evidence that millennial can be loyal, but their loyalty may
differ depending on the industry. Therefore, millennials display equal loyalty to the fast
fashion and to the luxury fashion industry, but overall loyalty of luxury fashion followers is
higher in general.

16
Youn-Kyung Kim & Pauline Sullivan in their research (Emotional branding speaks to
consumers’ heart: the case of fashion brands,2019) stated that In this highly competitive
market, fashion brands struggle to distinguish themselves to increasingly apathetic
consumers. To become more competitive, fashion retailers employ emotional branding as a
way to engage their customers, addressing the growing trend of consumers’ seeking
emotional relationships with a brand. Although brand technicalities such as product
attributes, features, and facts may be unmemorable, personal feelings and experiences better
shape consumers’ evaluations of brands. This study illustrates why emotional branding is
essential, especially to fashion brands, when developing brand strategies in a volatile
marketplace. Trends that support a need for these strategies include consumers’ desires for
positive experiences, expressing authentic self, achieving warm glow from helping others,
and co-creating design or ideas with the brand. We propose a model for emotional branding
strategies that focuses on sensory branding, storytelling, cause branding, and empowerment.
The case studies we provide for each strategy describe how fashion brands can engage
customers through emotional branding.

Sushil Kumar Bishnoi, Sukhvir Singh in their research (A study on consumer buying
behaviour for fashion and luxury brands under emotional influence,2021) wrote that
fashion and luxury brands struggle to make themselves distinguished by ever more apathetic
consumers in this highly competitive market. Fashion and luxury retailers can use emotional
branding as a way to get their customers involved to address the increasing trend of
emotional relationships with a brand to become more competitive. Although brand
technology, such as product attributes, characteristics and facts, is unforgettable, personal
sensations and experiences better shape brand assessments of consumers. The purpose of this
study is to illustrate the dominance of consumers’ emotions over objective analysis in
selection among the brands in the field of fashion and luxury products for similar products.

This study illustrates how emotional branding is crucial in a volatile market, particularly for
fashion and luxury brands. This study will also be focussed on the possibility in which
consumers buy the fashion and luxury products under the influence of emotional needs. The
objective of this paper is to inform both consumers and brands about the emotional influence
on the buying decision so that both can take better conscious decision.

17
Understanding the influence of emotional needs will help fashion brands in creating better
customer value and satisfaction. A business or product will be successful only if it is chosen
by the consumer to satisfy his needs. Understanding of emotional needs would result in
enhancement of consumer’s loyalty for the brand with better satisfaction of needs.

Samiyah Jamal, Dr. Adeel Maqbool & Srikant Misra in their research (Influences of
Fashion Marketing on Consumer Demand, 2014) stated that Fashion marketing is the
entire process of research, planning, promoting, and distributing the raw materials, apparel
and accessories, which consumer want to buy. It involves everyone in the fashion industry
and occurs throughout the entire channel of distribution. Marketing is the power behind the
product development, production, distribution, retailing, and promotion of fibres, fabrics,
leather, furs, trims, apparel and accessory. Fashion marketing begins and ends with the
consumer. This paper discusses the effect of consumer demand on marketing. It is a blend of
consumer group, demographic and psychographic trends, and helps explain how the target
markets are defined. This paper also discusses the focus areas like the economic, global and
technological influences on consumers and concludes with the topic of marketing chain.

Aobakwe Lediwke in his research (Determinants of brand loyalty in the apparel

industry: A developing country perspective,2020) wrote that the study aims to investigate
the determinants of brand loyalty in the apparel industry of Botswana. A descriptive
quantitative design was followed, and data were collected from respondents using a self-
administered questionnaire. A structured equation modelling technique was used to validate
the hypotheses. The results indicated an array of positive significant relationships between
brand awareness, brand image, brand trust, and brand loyalty. Additionally, brand
commitment significantly moderated the influence of brand trust on brand loyalty. Therefore,
it is important for the management of apparel brands to cultivate the levels of brand
awareness, brand image, brand trust, and brand commitment in order to strengthen brand
loyalty and, in turn, contribute to the longevity of apparel brands in Botswana.

Patricia Ceccato & Luiz Salomão Ribas Gomez in their research (Trend Research and
Fashion Branding in the Modern Hyper consumption Society, 2018) wrote that Modern

18
society is characterized by the generalization of fashion, which is the appreciation of the new.
Fashion brands, therefore, are those whose products renew cyclically, constantly changing. In
what sense these changes tend to occur is what trends researches, carried out professionally
by style ‘bureaux’, try to predict. Contemporary society is also marked by hyper
consumption, in which individuals acquire much more than the functionality of products:
they seek to experience sensations, feelings, share values, lifestyles, and personalities. In this
sense, brands attribute much more than a signature to the products, but their management, or
branding, aims to associate to their names a series of intangible attributes with which a group
of consumers identifies. The purpose of this study, in this scenario, is to describe and analyse
the relationships between fashion, hyper consumption, branding, and trends research in
modern society.

Whether it is the style bureaux that dictate what will be the trend in the near future or it is the
social groups that change patterns of behaviour and consumption, and the offices only
observe and capture these changes, it is indeed found that modern society processes renewal
cycles periodically. Which can be proven spontaneously through changes in clothing over
time.Not only clothing brands, but brands of various consumer goods, and the entire industry
in general, rely on trend knowledge, deliberately or even intuitively, to develop changes and
innovations in their products. There is a broad understanding in modern society that
individuals appreciate change, novelty, and companies for more than centuries have
demonstrated efforts to fulfil this desire for consumers.

Shivani Chaudhary in her research journal (Digital Marketing Revolutionising Fashion

Industry: The Synthesis of the theory and practice) wrote that Development in technology
over the years has influenced the world in all the aspects. Significant technology development
has resulted in the series of evolutionary steps as they are the breakthroughs. This
advancement can be best explained by the example of computers and steam engine. Evolution
of marketing from traditional marketing to digital marketing is such that the whole world is in
the doorsteps of the customer in one single click.

the research study has been made to find the advancement in the fashion industry and how it
has impacted the consumer behaviour. Customer relation management is all about how you
manage customer/ prospect-data. Digital marketing is all about the SEO (Search engine

19
optimisation), SEM (Search engine marketing), and SMO (social media optimisation) and
ROI ( Rate on return)

In this study, it has been identified how the behaviour, attitudes and skills of professional
marketers has been moulded in building the customer relationship marketing with the fashion
industry on a digitalized platform.

Natalia Topalova in her research thesis titled (The impact of marketing through
Instagram influencers on consumer behavior in the fashion industry: comparison of
Millennials and Generation Z in Russia, 2021) wrote that Due to the rapid growth of social
media, brands have reinvented their marketing strategies, with a goal to engage with their
various consumers more by creating value and adding two-way communication. This new
way of advertising brands gave birth to influencer marketing. When brands collaborate with
influencers with the right target audience, influencers can help adding brand value and raising
brand awareness. Currently there are growing discussions of social media influencers and
their effectiveness in promoting products. In western world the topic of the impact of
marketing though influencers is thoroughly explored. However, in Russia almost no research
has been conducted. By using generational segmentation the paper explores how Millennials
and Generation Z perceive advertising though Instagram influencers, how their consumer
behavior is similar or varies in certain cases. This research takes the fashion industry as the
example to demonstrate how this sector struggles with changing buying preferences and how
it transforms to be in tune with modern consumers. Currently the industry is on the brink of a
major shift due to the change in consumer behavior and the unexpected emergence of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Coronavirus has a profound impact on people’s values, as well as on
behavior online. The importance of this change cannot be overstated. Therefore, this research
paper gives a comprehensive idea about the usage of influencer marketing for two
generations in the current fashion business. The study reveals that there is a growing demand
for authenticity, sustainability and more honest advertising campaigns. Both generation are
tired of intrusive sponsored ads and they prefer native advertisement nowadays.

An increase in brand loyalty is one of the main objectives of any brand and using the method
of influencer marketing is enabling the fashion brands to reach more users through social
media. These consumers may not follow traditional channels for updates and news, and they
require a more interactive experience when purchasing a product. Therefore, the use of

20
influencer marketing can have an impact on increasing brand loyalty among young
generations. This overall model representing the relationship between the consumers,
influencers, and fashion brands gives a detailed layout of how influencer marketing has an
impact on consumer behavior, especially on Generation Z and Millennials.

Saima khan & Bilal Mustafa khan in their research (Measuring brand equity of foreign
fashion apparels in the Indian market, 2017) explained that Globalisation, high disposable
income, economic prosperity and an increasing demand for Western wear have ushered the
entry of many international fashion brands in India. Every year, internationally acclaimed
brands are affiliating to the Indian fashion industry, thereby providing exhaustive purchase
options for the modern Indian consumer and exacerbating the market competition. This paper
attempts to assess the consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) of international fashion apparels
and apprehend their salience in the Indian market. Top five global fashion brands (as rated by
Interbrand (2012)) were selected for this study, and a structured questionnaire was
administered to over 500 respondents aged between 18 and 39 years from six Indian
metropolises. Four hundred and forty-eight questionnaires were found acceptable for
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and path analysis. The results revealed that brand
awareness and brand loyalty influence brand equity more than brand associations and
perceived quality.

Ayesha anum & Asif Ali Syed in their research (A Review of India's evolving Apparel
Retail scenario and its relationship with Purchasing Behaviour of young Consumers,
2018) stated that While most of the internationalization efforts have concentrated on the
economic and industry conditions that influence investment and business decisions in India,
little research has focused on Indian consumers. (Bhardwaj, Kumar, & Kim, 2010). The
purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed account of changing Indian consumer profiles
and its effects on the Indian retail scenario in relation to recent changes in the economic
conditions of the country, and therefore the Apparel Industry. It gives a broad overview of the
apparel retail industry and the various related aspects such as FDIs and e-retailing. A wide
range of journal databases and websites were referred to review the works of various
researchers by compiling the various research works literature in the field of Retailing and

21
Consumer Purchasing Behaviour. The multiple aspects of the subject are categorized for
future research works in the areas of apparel retail with the suggestions. The paper will be
useful for marketing practitioners and researchers towards comprehensive understanding of
young Indian consumer's apparel buying preferences in light of the changing economy.

Ms. Shallu & MS. Sangeeta Gupta of University of Delhi wrote in their research
(Influence of branded clothing : A study of Female section of the society) that Present
study mainly aims at exploring the various factors that influences female buying behavior and
purchase decision branded and unbranded apparel in India and to identify the impact of brand
building used by the sellers on consumer perception. This study consists apparel retailing
market. The organized apparel retailing market in India has immense potential for growth.
The impact of international as well domestic media on the attire habits is responsible for
more and more Indians frequenting organized retail outlets for superior apparel brands than in
the past. Being the study descriptive in nature, findings have been made through snap survey
analysis which consisted of 200 women between the age group of 18 and 30, who have
personally shopped for branded apparel as well as unbranded apparel in the market. The
questionnaire designed for this purpose to know about the influence of branded clothing on
female section of the society. Findings have also been made theoretical analysis in order to
provide in-depth analysis of the consumer response to marketing stimuli. It has been found
that the marketer must concentrate on providing more value or reducing the price for branded
clothes and the apparels must lay maximum stress on the quality of fabric closely keeping in
mind the styling factor.

The customer seems to be least satisfied by the store service and flexibility in alterations of
clothes provided by apparel retailers. To improve the shopping experience of the consumer
the marketer or retail shop owner must lay more emphasis on flexibility in alterations and
store service. The advertisements for branded clothing must lay emphasis on the model or
celebrity, their outfits and the highlight the discount offers provided to attract the consumer.
These attributes are most remembered by the viewers. The marketer must concentrate on
providing more value or reducing the price for branded clothes.

The results they found stated that price, quality and ease of availability are most important to
the buyer and must be taken care of by the marketing personnel and product managers. The

22
free gift offers and brand image have a lesser impact and are almost neutral to the buyer. The
customers feel lack of personal attention while shopping. Personal attention is however one
of the most important aspects of customer service and it is really crucial. The sales personnel
and staff that personal attention is desirable by the buyer must note it. An average consumer
spends around Rs.1000-3000 on his shopping trips and the marketer must keep in mind that
in one go the consumer will pick up 2-3 clothing items of branded wear if he/she sticks to
buying branded clothes only. But if he/she buys unbranded clothes also, the scenario may
differ.

Naveen Arora in his journal (Growth of Small Brands: A Perspective of Indian

Clothing Industry, 2017) stated that Apparels, being one of the basic needs and a symbol of
status and lifestyle is an important product category in consumer retail. With increase in
population and improvement in macro and micro-economic indicators of India, demand for
branded goods and services has also increased significantly. Besides economic factors ;
globalization, penetration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and
development of e-commerce have also contributed in growing demand for branded products.
Clothing and apparel industry has also been experiencing growth in demand for ready to wear
branded garments. Recognizing this opportunity, many entrepreneurs launched their own
apparel brands with limited investments, regional reach and fewer sub-categories. Though the
number of small brands launched in past twenty years was too high, only a few of those
brands could manage to grow. This paper aims to study the factors which helped small brands
of apparels to grow. Secondary data has been collected from journals, published papers,
articles and magazines to explore the topic, while primary data has been collected from
channel partners of apparel brands. A structured questionnaire has been used to collect data.
Questions related to customer satisfaction, perceived quality, price, training and sales support
to channel partners, terms and conditions of sales and payments, types of distribution
channels being used and replenishment policies have been asked. Considering the categorical
nature of data, cross-tabulation has been used for analysis. It has been observed that
availability, customers’ perception of quality, durability, price, support to channel partners
and carefully designed sales promotions influence growth of branded apparels.

Results, findings and recommendations of the study can be helpful to entrepreneurs,

managers, strategist and academicians to understand the branded apparel market. The author

23
came to a conclusion that Competitive business environment and rapidly changing
consumers' buying behavior and preferences pose strong challenges for marketers in
achieving growth and sustaining it. While apparel industry provides marketers with
tremendous opportunities, understanding of variables, which could help marketers to achieve
their goals, is significant. The study explores various variables and attributes that are
important. These variable and attributes have helped marketers of small brands of apparels
grow and sustain their market position. It is derived that sales, which could be considered as
an indicator for growth, has association with different variables like price, design, customer
satisfaction, quality, promotions and stock replenishment.

Ms. Sheena Gupta & Dr. Sougata Banerjee in their journal (A REVIEW PAPER ON
LUXURY APPAREL INDUSTRY IN INDIA; PRESENT SCENARIO ITS SCOPE
AND CHALLENGES, 2019) stated that The Indian luxury industry is poised to grow in the
next decade. The Indian HNI is already investing in luxury goods and services as a part of
their self-actualisation. On the other hand, Indian middle-class consumers are rising upwards
socially and looking for a higher quality of life. This has led to the aspirational Indian
middleclass who wants to own and experience luxury. There is a huge scope for luxury
brands in India but there are challenges as well. Luxury companies need to tread carefully
and strategically to grow and flourish in a culture sensitive country such as India. Marketing
strategies specific to the area need to be applied and the pulse of this new-age Indian
consumer needs to be understood. This review paper studies the luxury industry in India, the
opportunities and challenges the marketers face and the strategies being applied to reach and
influence the Indian luxury consumer.

The authors finally concluded that Luxury retail is growing at a frantic pace in India, and
with a growing aspirational class, has a huge opportunity for the market. Indian luxury
market will be very crucial to the luxury retailers on a global level (Acharya & Niraj, 2016).
However, luxury retail players should keep in mind certain considerations while dealing with
the Indian Luxury retail sector. They need to focus on the Indian consumer and behave
according to local flavour and body structure (Mishra, 2010). Some clear trends have
obviously developed by now in the country, leading to better penetration rates of luxury
brands (Ahmed, et al., 2019). A lot of luxury brands have reached the starting point of
identifying successful luxury brand strategies in India. These have been established by

24
identifying certain salient aspects of luxury brands that remain constant as well as identifying
the stage of mindset of the Indian consumer towards these brands.

Pawan Kumar in his journal titled (An Analytical Study of Consumer Buying Behavior
Towards Fashion Apparels in Ludhiana) wrote that Today, every nation in the globe has
their smaller and specialized fashion industries that cater to specific national, regional,
cultural, or religious markets. Most people in the world today wear according to “world
fashion,” and very low-cost version of Western clothing, often a T-shirt with pants or a skirt
on a mass scale. These industries operate in parallel with the global fashion industry on a
minor and localized scale. This study is conducted to find perception of consumers towards
branded apparel. We have taken 100 respondents from Ludhiana for filling questionnaire.
They had put appropriate Statistical tool for analysing data.

He concluded that the consumers of Ludhiana district are more interested in buying fashion
and branded apparels. Even they are restricted through some financial aspects like individual
income still they are very much interested for Buying branded apparels and they are Usually
Updated for new arrivals in fashion and brands. However they have less income but they
want to look smart and up to date.

Arpita Khare & Sapna Rakesh in their article titled (Predictors of fashion clothing
involvement among Indian youth, 2010) wrote that in developing countries, consumers are
becoming conscious of fashion brands. The research was directed towards understanding the
determinants of fashion clothing involvement of Indian youth. A primary research study was
conducted on Indian college students aged between 18 and 24 years using the fashion
clothing involvement scale developed by O’Cass to understand the importance of fashion
clothing in their lives. The scale had constructs related to consumption involvement, product
involvement, advertising involvement and purchase decision involvement. Research findings
show a high correlation of consumption involvement with the other three involvement
dimensions. The results show that Indian youth has an involvement with branded fashion

25
wear. There was not much significant difference in the involvement of females and males
towards fashion clothing.

The research findings suggest that the limited exposure of Indian youth with global fashion
clothing brands may affect their choice and involvement. Global brands are slowly finding
their way into India; however, not all the popular global fashion wear are available in the
country and therefore the Indian youth has limited exposure to them. They are aware of the
global brands but as the Indian stores do not stock branded fashion wear, they are unable to
purchase them. The difference in involvement levels may be attributed to the slow
dissemination of fashion products for Indian population.

Pooja Kunwar in his PhD thesis titled (A Study on Consumer Behavior Towards
Organized Apparel Retail Industry With Reference To Gujarat, 2017) wrote that
Apparel, one of the basic necessities to cover the body has leaped to fashion and lifestyles
with growing advancement in human civilization. Consumers' buying behavior has drawn a
considerable attention of the earlier researchers. While reviewing the literature on buyer
behavior as well as retail marketing, few studies has been found available that analyzes how
consumer behavior functions in retail market. Considering the importance of the study in
India, it was proposed to conduct the study with primary objective of consumer behavior
towards organised apparel retail industries in the state of Gujarat having heterogenous
population and the four cities selected namely, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot for
conducting the data collection.

The objective based key findings of the research were, 1. demographic factors such as
gender, age, education and occupation show significant influences in the consumer buying
behavior for apparels; 2. the store attribute factors like price, quality and brand significantly
influenced consumer behavior of both males and females. The visual merchandising elements
however, could not affect consumers much while buying apparels. 3. The promotional
strategies like celebrity endorsement, end of season sale and festive promotions has
significant impact on the consumer buying behavior for apparels from organized retail
outlets. The study also revealed importance of price off as promotional scheme influencing
decision making while buying apparel. The study will make a contribution towards a
comprehensive understanding of the Indian organized apparel retail market.

26
 CHAPTER – 3

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THE

STUDY

27
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

“Consumer behaviour is the actions and the decision processes of people who purchase
goods and services for personal consumption” – according to Engel, Blackwell, and
Mansard.”

Consumer buying behaviour refers to the study of customers and how they behave while
deciding to buy a product that satisfies their needs. It is a study of the actions of the
consumers that drive them to buy and use certain products.

The study of consumer buying behaviour is most important for marketers as they can
understand the expectation of the consumers. It helps to understand what makes a consumer
buy a product. It is important to assess the kind of products liked by consumers so that they
can release it to the market. Marketers can understand the likes and dislikes of consumers and
design base their marketing efforts based on the findings.

Consumer buying behaviour studies various situations such as what do consumers buy, why
do they buy, when do they buy, how often do consumers buy, for what reason do they buy,
and much more.

IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Understanding consumer behavior is essential for a company to find success for its current
products as well as new product launches. Every consumer has a different thought process
and attitude towards buying a particular product. If a company fails to understand the reaction
of a consumer towards a product, there are high chances of product failure.

Due to the changing fashion, technology, trends, living style, disposable income, and similar
other factors, consumer behavior also changes. A marketer has to understand the factors that
are changing so that the marketing efforts can be aligned accordingly.

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1. CONSUMER DIFFERENTIATION

In marketing, consumer differentiation is a way to distinguish a consumer from several

other consumers. This helps to make a target group of consumers with the same or similar
behavior. Though you have a targeted customer demographic in your business, you can
still have variations between individual customers. Each group of consumers are different
and their needs and wants differ from other groups. When a marketer is knowledgeable
about the differentiation of each group of consumers, he can design separate marketing
programs. Consumer differentiation will help to tailor your strategies to the needs of
varying customer groups. When consumer differentiation is done, you can expand the
width and breadth of your services. You will be able to effectively serve a wider group of
people.

2. RETENTION OF CONSUMER

“Consumer behavior is of most importance to marketers in business studies as the main

aim is to create and retain customers,” says Professor Theodore Levitt (Kumar, 2004).
Consumer behavior is not just important to attract new customers, but it is very important
to retain existing customers as well. When a customer is happy about a particular product,
he/she will repeat the purchase. Therefore, marketing the product should be done in such
a way that it will convince customers to buy the product again and again. Thus, it is very
evident that creating customers and retaining them is very important. This can be done
only by understanding and paying attention towards the consumer’s buying behavior.

3. PREDICTING MARKET TREND

Consumer behavior analysis will be the first to indicate a shift in market trends. For
example, the recent trend of consumers is toward environment-friendliness and healthy
food. This changing market trend was observed by many brands including McDonalds.
Based on consumer behavior, McDonald’s brought healthy food options.

By conducting a consumer behavior study, a company saves a lot of resources that might
otherwise be allocated to produce a product that will not be sold in the market. For
example, in summer a brand will not waste its resources producing a product that will not

29
 sell in summer. Based on consumer behavior the company decides on a production
strategy which will save on warehouse costs and marketing costs.

4. COMPETITION

One of the most important reasons to study consumer behavior is to find out answers to
some of the questions:

Is the customer buying from your competitor?

Why is a consumer buying from your competitor?

What features attract a consumer to your competitor's products?

What gaps are your consumers identifying in your products when compared to your
competitors?

Studying consumer behavior facilitates understanding and facing competition. Based on

consumers’ expectations, your brand can offer competitive advantages.

5. STAYING RELEVANT IN THE MARKET

When the world is changing as rapidly as it is happening today, the biggest challenge we
all face is staying relevant to our target market. And do you know what is the main reason
behind the rapid changes? It is the ever-changing behavior of our customers.

Today’s consumers have greater choices and opportunities, which means they can easily
switch to a company that offers better products and services.

“The pre-eminent skill required to shift ahead in the twenty-first century is the ability to
see and seize.” -Adamson and Steckel, authors of Shift Ahead.

TYPES OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

A consumer’s buying decision depends on the type of products that they need to buy. The
behavior of a consumer while buying a coffee is a lot different from while buying a car.

30
Based on observations, it is clear that purchases that are more complex and expensive involve
higher deliberation and many more participants. Consumer buying behavior is determined by
the level of involvement that a consumer shows towards a purchase decision. The amount of
risk involved in a purchase also determines the buying behavior. Higher priced goods tend to
high a higher risk, thereby seeking higher involvement in buying decisions.

There are four types of consumer buying behavior

THE MATRIX
OF BUYING BEHAVIOR

1. COMPLEX BUYING BEHAVIOR

Complex buying behavior is encountered particularly when consumers are buying an

expensive product. In this infrequent transaction, consumers are highly involved in the
purchase decision. Consumers will research thoroughly before committing to invest.
Consumer behaves very differently when buying an expensive product or a product that is
unfamiliar to them. When the risk of buying a product is very high, a consumer consults

31
friends, family, and experts before making the decision. For example, when a consumer is
buying a car for the first time, it’s a big decision as it involves high economic risk. There
is a lot of thought on how it looks, how his friends and family will react, how will his
social status change after buying the car, and so on. In complex buying behavior, the
buyer will pass through a learning process. He will first develop beliefs about the product,
then attitudes, and then make a thoughtful purchase choice.

For complex buying behavior customers, marketers should have a deep understanding of
the products. It is expected that they help the consumer to understand their product. It is
important to create an advertising message in a way that influences the buyer’s beliefs
and attitudes.

2. VARIETY SEEKING BEHAVIOR

In variety-seeking consumer behavior, consumer involvement is low. There are

significant differences between brands. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching.
The cost of switching products is low, and hence consumers might want to try out new
products just out of curiosity or boredom. Consumers here, generally buy different
products not because of dissatisfaction but mainly with an urge to seek variety.

For example, a consumer likes to buy a cookie and choose a brand without putting much
thought into it. Next time, the same consumer might choose a different brand out of a
wish for a different taste. Brand switching occurs often and without intention.

Brands have to adopt different strategies for such types of consumer behavior. The market
leader will persuade habitual buying behavior by influencing the shelf space. The shelf
will display a large number of related but different product versions.

Marketers avoid out-of-stock conditions, sponsor frequent advertising, offer lower prices,
discounts, deals, coupons, and free samples to attract consumers.

3. DISSONANCE REDUCING BUYING BEHAVIOR

In dissonance-reducing buying behavior, consumer involvement is very high. This might

be due to high prices and infrequent purchases. In addition, there is low availability of

32
choices with fewer significant differences among brands. In this type, a consumer buys a
product that is easily available.

Consumers will be forced to buy goods that do not have too many choices and therefore
consumers will be left with limited decision making. Based on the products available,
time limitations, or budget limitations, consumers buy certain products without a lot of
research.

For example, a consumer who is looking for a new collapsible table that can be taken for
camping quickly decides on the product based on a few brands available. The main
criteria here will be the use and the feature of the collapsible table and the budget
available to him.

Marketers should run after-sale service camps that deliver focused messaging. These
campaigns should aim to support consumers and convince them to continue with the
choice of their brand. These marketing campaigns should focus on building repeat
purchases and referrals by offering discounts and incentives.

4. HABITUAL BUYING BEHAVIOR

Habitual Buying Behavior is depicted when a consumer has low involvement in a

purchase decision. In this case, the consumer is perceiving only a few significant
differences between brands.

When consumers are buying products that they use for their daily routine, they do not put
a lot of thought. They either buy their favorite brand or the one that they use regularly –
or the one available in the store or the one that costs the least.

For example, when a consumer buys a loaf of bread, he tends to buy the brand that he is
familiar with without actually putting in a lot of research and time. Many products fit into
this category. Everyday use products, such as salt, sugar, biscuits, toilet paper, and black
pepper all fit into this product category.

Consumers just go for it and buy it – there is no brand loyalty. Consumers do not research
or need information regarding the purchase of such products.

Habitual buying behavior is influenced by radio, television, and print media. Moreover,
consumers are buying based on brand familiarity. Hence marketers must use repetitive

33
 advertisements to build brand familiarity. Further to initiate product trial, marketers
should use tactics like price drop promotions and sales promotions.

Marketers should attract consumers using visual symbols and imagery in their
advertising. Consumers can easily remember visual advertisements and can associate with
a brand.

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

• PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
• SOCIAL FACTORS
• CULTURAL FACTORS
• PERSONAL FACTORS
• ECONOMIC FACTORS

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Human psychology is a major determinant of consumer behavior. These factors are difficult
to measure but are powerful enough to influence a buying decision.

MOTIVATION

When a person is motivated enough, it influences the buying behavior of the person. A
person has many needs such as social needs, basic needs, security needs, esteem needs, and

34
self-actualization needs. Out of all these needs, the basic needs and security needs take a
position above all other needs. Hence basic needs and security needs have the power to
motivate a consumer to buy products and services.

PERCEPTION

Consumer perception is a major factor that influences consumer behavior. Customer

perception is a process where a customer collects information about a product and interprets
the information to make a meaningful image of a particular product.

When a customer sees advertisements, promotions, customer reviews, social media feedback,
etc. relating to a product, they develop an impression about the product. Hence consumer
perception becomes a great influence on the buying decision of consumers.

LEARNING

When a person buys a product, he/she gets to learn something more about the product.
Learning comes over a period of time through experience. A consumer’s learning depends on
skills and knowledge. While skill can be gained through practice, knowledge can be acquired
only through experience.

Learning can be either conditional or cognitive. In conditional learning the consumer is

exposed to a situation repeatedly, thereby making a consumer to develop a response towards
it. Whereas in cognitive learning, the consumer will apply his knowledge and skills to find
satisfaction and a solution from the product that he buys.

ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

Consumers have certain attitudes and beliefs which influence the buying decisions of a
consumer. Based on this attitude, the consumer behaves in a particular way towards a
product. This attitude plays a significant role in defining the brand image of a product. Hence,
marketers try hard to understand the attitude of a consumer to design their marketing
campaigns.

35
SOCIAL FACTORS

Humans are social beings and they live around many people who influence their buying
behavior. Humans try to imitate other humans and also wish to be socially accepted in the
society. Hence their buying behavior is influenced by other people around them. These
factors are considered as social factors. Some of the social factors are:

FAMILY

Family plays a significant role in shaping the buying behavior of a person. A person develops
preferences from his childhood by watching family buy products and continues to buy the
same products even when they grow up.

REFERENCE GROUPS

A reference group is a group of people with whom a person associates himself. Generally, all
the people in the reference group have common buying behavior and influence each other.

ROLES AND STATUS

A person is influenced by the role that he holds in the society. If a person is in a high
position, his buying behavior will be influenced largely by his status. A person who is a Chief
Executive Officer in a company will buy according to his status while a staff or an employee
of the same company will have different buying pattern.

CULTURAL FACTORS

A group of people is associated with a set of values and ideologies that belong to a particular
community. When a person comes from a particular community, his/her behavior is highly
influenced by the culture relating to that particular 4community. Some of the cultural factors
are:

36
CULTURE

Cultural Factors have a strong influence on consumer buying behavior. Cultural Factors
include the basic values, needs, wants, preferences, perceptions, and behaviours that are
observed and learned by a consumer from their near family members and other important
people around them.

SUB-CULTURE

Within a cultural group, there exists many subcultures. These subcultural groups share the
same set of beliefs and values. Subcultures can consist of people from different religion,
caste, geographies and nationalities. These subcultures by itself form a customer segment.

SOCIAL CLASS

Each and every society across the globe has the form of social class. The social class is not
just determined by the income, but also other factors such as the occupation, family
background, education and residence location. Social class is important to predict the
consumer behavior.

PERSONAL FACTORS

Factors that are personal to the consumers influence their buying behavior. These personal
factors differ from person to person, thereby producing different perceptions and consumer
behavior. Some of the personal factors are:

AGE

Age is a major factor that influences buying behavior. The buying choices of youth differ
from that of middle-aged people. Elderly people have a totally different buying behavior.
Teenagers will be more interested in buying colorful clothes and beauty products. Middle-
aged are focused on house, property and vehicle for the family.

37
INCOME

Income has the ability to influence the buying behavior of a person. Higher income gives
higher purchasing power to consumers. When a consumer has higher disposable income, it
gives more opportunity for the consumer to spend on luxurious products. Whereas low-
income or middle-income group consumers spend most of their income on basic needs such
as groceries and clothes.

OCCUPATION

Occupation of a consumer influences the buying behavior. A person tends to buy things that
are appropriate to this/her profession. For example, a doctor would buy clothes according to
this profession while a professor will have different buying pattern.

LIFESTYLE

Lifestyle is an attitude, and a way in which an individual stay in the society. The buying
behavior is highly influenced by the lifestyle of a consumer. For example when a consumer
leads a healthy lifestyle, then the products he buys will relate to healthy alternatives to junk
food.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

The consumer buying habits and decisions greatly depend on the economic situation of a
country or a market. When a nation is prosperous, the economy is strong, which leads to the
greater money supply in the market and higher purchasing power for consumers. When
consumers experience a positive economic environment, they are more confident to spend on
buying products.

Whereas, a weak economy reflects a struggling market that is impacted by unemployment

and lower purchasing power. Economic factors bear a significant influence on the buying
decision of a consumer.

Some of the important economic factors are:

38
PERSONAL INCOME

When a person has a higher disposable income, the purchasing power increases
simultaneously. Disposable income refers to the money that is left after spending towards the
basic needs of a person.

When there is an increase in disposable income, it leads to higher expenditure on various

items. But when the disposable income reduces, parallelly the spending on multiple items
also reduced.

FAMILY INCOME

Family income is the total income from all the members of a family. When more people are
earning in the family, there is more income available for shopping basic needs and luxuries.
Higher family income influences the people in the family to buy more. When there is a
surplus income available for the family, the tendency is to buy more luxury items which
otherwise a person might not have been able to buy.

CONSUMER CREDIT

When a consumer is offered easy credit to purchase goods, it promotes higher spending.
Sellers are making it easy for the consumers to avail credit in the form of credit cards, easy
instalments, bank loans, hire purchase, and many such other credit options. When there is
higher credit available to consumers, the purchase of comfort and luxury items increases.

LIQUID ASSETS

Consumers who have liquid assets tend to spend more on comfort and luxuries. Liquid assets
are those assets, which can be converted into cash very easily. Cash in hand, bank savings
and securities are some examples of liquid assets. When a consumer has higher liquid assets,
it gives him more confidence to buy luxury goods.

39
SAVINGS

A consumer is highly influenced by the amount of savings he/she wishes to set aside from his
income. If a consumer decided to save more, then his expenditure on buying reduces.
Whereas if a consumer is interested in saving more, then most of his income will go towards
buying products.

CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Many people think that the most important stage in a sale is when a customer hands over the
money. But actually, when it comes to how to influence consumer behavior, every single step
in the consumer decision-making process plays an important role. For businesses to
maximize profit, it’s imperative that they pay attention to every stage in the buying process.

Consumers don’t just decide to buy. Their buying behavior is determined by many different
factors. And too many businesses focus on optimizing certain steps — improving checkout,
acquiring customers through SEO or PPC, etc. — without looking at the big picture.

The consumer decision making process is the process by which consumers become aware of
and identify their needs; collect information on how to best solve these needs; evaluate
alternative available options; make a purchasing decision; and evaluate their purchase.

Understanding the consumer decision making process is important to any business, but
eCommerce businesses have a unique opportunity to optimize it. Because online shoppers
generate so much more data than those in brick-and-mortar stores, online retailers can use
that data to implement conversion strategies for every stage of the process.

STAGES OF DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

It’s important to note that the consumer decision making process has many different names,
including but not limited to the buyer journey, buying cycle, buyer funnel, and consumer
purchase decision process. But all the names essentially refer to the same thing: The journey
a customer goes through when making a purchase.

40
So, here’s a breakdown of what happens in each step:

Need recognition (awareness)

The first and most important stage of the buying process, because every sale begins when a
customer becomes aware that they have a need for a product or service.

Search for information (research)

During this stage, customers want to find out their options.

Evaluation of alternatives (consideration)

This is the stage when a customer is comparing options to make the best choice.

Purchasing decision (conversion)

During this stage, buying behavior turns into action – it’s time for the consumer to buy!

Post-purchase evaluation (re-purchase)

After making a purchase, consumers consider whether it was worth it, whether they will
recommend the product/service/brand to others, whether they would buy again, and what
feedback they would give.

THE STAGES

41
IMPORTANCE OF BRAND IMAGE

When a brand introduces a new product or service to the world, 9 times out of 10, it already
has a bunch of competitors out there. This is where the business owner needs to get creative
and figure out how to stand out and cut through the noise.

A great way of differentiating your brand from that of your competitors is through having a
strong brand image.

As a marketer or business owner, they might be putting so much effort into creating the best
product or service possible, that their brand image has had to take a bit of a back seat.
However, the quality of the product is not always the number one reason why a consumer
might make a purchase. Sure, it’s important, but in many cases, it’s actually their brand
image that’s going to encourage customers to stick around, make repeat purchases, and tell
their friends and family.

A person might base their brand image of your company on a first-hand experience they had
as a customer. However, forming this opinion does not always have to involve an actual
purchase. It could be based on something that someone else said about your brand, whether
that’s online, via a media outlet or an influencer review, or just because Susan on their street
said so.

42
SOURCE: FUNDERA

ADVANTAGES

• Creates a great first impression, grabs your target audience’s attention and makes
them eager to learn more

• Sets you apart from your competitors. Otherwise, you might just blend into the
background

• Enables consumers to make an easier, quicker buying decision, which equals

improved profits for your brand

• A recognisable brand with a positive image is more easily trusted and gives
confidence to your customers

• The ability to leverage the brand identity that has already been built to release future
products or services onto the market that can make a bigger impact in less time.

43
SOURCE: CONSUMER THERMOMETER

IMPACT OF BRANDING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Brand alignment may be the most powerful influence, but many consumers experience a few
more brand effects before opening their wallet. Sometimes, the feelings are commensurate
with the cost of the purchase. Whether it's a designer handbag, a smartphone or a vehicle, a
recognizable brand:

Creates desire

It's human nature: when something looks appealing and we think it will somehow enhance
our life, we want it.

Becomes synonymous with status and prestige

This is one of the reasons many savvy small-business owners review many logo designs
before settling on “the perfect” one. They know that the picture alone holds the promise of
communicating values that thousands of written words could only hope to convey. Of course,
status and prestige convey more than a high price; they signify quality, too.

44
Validates self-esteem

It may also help forge a lacking one. Either way, Brand Anew notes that “every individual
has a certain image about himself or herself in their mind. When they purchase something,
they would like those items to conform to their self-concept.”

Creates a sense of belonging

Before the dawning of the era of content marketing, it was rare to hear marketers talk about
consumers wanting to “bond” with a company by understanding its culture and products and
what goes on behind the scenes. Now they talk about little else. At their best, brands are
inclusive.

“Almost every company has a brand promise that tells consumers what they can expect from
their interactions with that company. And to create brand alignment, companies must develop
a strong brand promise to let consumers know what the company stands for, what makes it
unique and why they should choose it over its competitors.”

BRAND MANAGEMENT

Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term “brand”. It includes
developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means defining the brand,
positioning the brand, and delivering the brand.

Brand management is nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding
makes customers committed to your business.

A strong brand differentiates your products from the competitors. It gives a quality image to
your business.

Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of

brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price, packaging,
etc. While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers’ experience. The
intangibles include emotional connections with the product / service.

45
Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you an
identity. It is nothing but capturing your customers mind with your brand name. It gives an
image of an experienced, huge and reliable business.

It is all about capturing the niche market for your product / service and about creating a
confidence in the current and prospective customers’ minds that you are the unique solution
to their problem.

The aim of branding is to convey brand message vividly, create customer loyalty, persuade
the buyer for the product, and establish an emotional connectivity with the customers.
Branding forms customer perceptions about the product. It should raise customer
expectations about the product. The primary aim of branding is to create differentiation.

Strong brands reduce customers’ perceived monetary, social and safety risks in buying
goods/services. The customers can better imagine the intangible goods with the help of brand
name.

Strong brand organizations have a high market share. The brand should be given good
support so that it can sustain itself in long run. It is essential to manage all brands and build
brand equity over a period of time. Here comes importance and usefulness of brand
management. Brand management helps in building a corporate image. A brand manager has
to oversee overall brand performance.

A successful brand can only be created if the brand management system is competent.

BRAND POSITIONING

Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference to
others. It ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and delivered
by the brand’s benefits/reasons to buy; and it focusses at all points of contact with the
consumer.

In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen
and a differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium
through which an organization can portray it’s customers what it wants to achieve for them
and what it wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customer’s views and opinions.
46
Brand Positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and difference to
ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand Positioning is the
key of marketing strategy.

A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by explaining the brand details, the
uniqueness of brand and it’s similarity with the competitive brands, as well as the reasons for
buying and using that specific brand. Positioning is the base for developing and increasing
the required knowledge and perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that sets your
service apart from your competitors.

There are various positioning errors, such as-

Under positioning

This is a scenario in which the customer’s have a blurred and unclear idea of the brand.

Over positioning

This is a scenario in which the customers have too limited an awareness of the brand.

Confused positioning

This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused opinion of the brand.

Double Positioning

This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims of a brand.

BRAND ATTRIBUTES

Brand Attributes portray a company’s brand characteristics. They signify the basic nature of
brand. Brand attributes are a bundle of features that highlight the physical and personality
aspects of the brand. Attributes are developed through images, actions, or presumptions.
Brand attributes help in creating brand identity.

A strong brand must have following attributes:

47
Relevancy

A strong brand must be relevant. It must meet people’s expectations and should perform the
way they want it to. A good job must be done to persuade consumers to buy the product; else
in spite of your product being unique, people will not buy it.

Consistency

A consistent brand signifies what the brand stands for and builds customers trust in brand. A
consistent brand is where the company communicates message in a way that does not deviate
from the core brand proposition.

Proper positioning

A strong brand should be positioned so that it makes a place in target audience mind and
they prefer it over other brands.

Sustainable

A strong brand makes a business competitive. A sustainable brand drives an organization

towards innovation and success. Example of sustainable brand is Marks and Spencer’s.

Credibility

A strong brand should do what it promises. The way you communicate your brand to the
audience/ customers should be realistic. It should not fail to deliver what it promises. Do not
exaggerate as customers want to believe in the promises you make to them.

Inspirational

A strong brand should transcend/ inspire the category it is famous for. For example- Nike
transcendent Jersey Polo Shirt.

Uniqueness

A strong brand should be different and unique. It should set you apart from other competitors
in market.

Appealing

A strong brand should be attractive. Customers should be attracted by the promise you make
and by the value you deliver.

48
BRAND LOYALTY

Brand Loyalty is a scenario where the consumer fears purchasing and consuming product
from another brand which he does not trust. It is measured through methods like word of
mouth publicity, repetitive buying, price sensitivity, commitment, brand trust, customer
satisfaction, etc. Brand loyalty is the extent to which a consumer constantly buys the same
brand within a product category. The consumers remain loyal to a specific brand as long as it
is available. They do not buy from other suppliers within the product category. Brand loyalty
exists when the consumer feels that the brand consists of right product characteristics and
quality at right price. Even if the other brands are available at cheaper price or superior
quality, the brand loyal consumer will stick to his brand.

Brand loyalty can be defined as relative possibility of customer shifting to another

brand in case there is a change in product’s features, price or quality. As brand loyalty
increases, customers will respond less to competitive moves and actions. Brand loyal
customers remain committed to the brand, are willing to pay higher price for that brand, and
will promote their brand always. A company having brand loyal customers will have greater
sales, less marketing and advertising costs, and best pricing. This is because the brand loyal
customers are less reluctant to shift to other brands, respond less to price changes and self-
promote the brand as they perceive that their brand have unique value which is not provided
by other competitive brands.

Brand loyalty is always developed post purchase. To develop brand loyalty, an organization
should know their niche market, target them, support their product, ensure easy access of
their product, provide customer satisfaction, bring constant innovation in their product and
offer schemes on their product so as to ensure that customers repeatedly purchase the
product.

Brand loyal consumers are the foundation of an organization. Greater loyalty levels lead
to less marketing expenditure because the brand loyal customers promote the brand
positively. Also, it acts as a means of launching and introducing more products that are
targeted at same customers at less expenditure. It also restrains new competitors in the
market. Brand loyalty is a key component of brand equity.

49
 CHAPTER – 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION

50
AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS

TABLE 4.1

AGE COUNT OF AGE PERCENTAGE

18-25 44 88
26-35 1 2
36-45 4 8
46 & ABOVE 1 2

50 AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS

44
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
4
5 1 1
0
18-25 26-35 36-45 46 & ABOVE

INFERENCE

From the above table and chart, it is clear that most of the respondents fall under the age
category of 18-25, a huge 88%.

Out of 50 respondents, only 6 of them fall under the age above 25.

51
GENDER OF THE RESPONDENTS

TABLE 4.2

GENDER Count of GENDER PERCENTAGE

F 12 24%
M 38 76%

GENDER
40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
F M

INFERENCE

Out of the 50 respondents nearly 76% of them are males. Only 12 out of 50 are females who
responded in the survey. So there will be a gender bias in the following results.

52
MARITAL STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

TABLE 4.3

MARITAL STATUS Count of MARITAL STATUS PERCENTAGE

MARRIED 7 14%
UNMARRIED 43 86%

MARITAL STATUS
50
45 43

40
35
30
25
20
15
10 7
5
0
MARRIED UNMARRIED

INFERENCE

Nearly 14% of the respondents are married.

43 of 50 respondents are unmarried.

53
INCOME OF THE RESPONDENTS

TABLE 4.4

INCOME PER MONTH Count of INCOME PER MONTH PERCENTAGE

<10000 2 4%
>75000 2 4%
10000 - 25000 8 16%
25000 - 75000 6 12%
NA 32 64%

INCOME PER MONTH

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
<10000 >75000 10000 - 25000 25000 - 75000 NA

INFERENCE

There are 32 respondents who are not earning and are dependent on others for their day to
day spending activities.

Nearly 12% of the respondents fall under the income category of Rs.25000-75000.

Overall 16% of the respondents have an income generating capacity of Rs.10000-25000.

There are 4 people in this survey whose monthly earnings fall below Rs.10000.

54
WORK STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

TABLE 4.5

WORK STATUS Count of WORK STATUS PERCENTAGE

STUDENT 38 76%
WORKING 12 24%

WORK STATUS

38

12

STUDENT WORKING

INFERENCE

From the above table and chart, it can be seen that nearly 76% of the respondents are still
pursuing education as students.

24% of the respondents are working professionals who are independent in their actions.

55
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASE

TABLE 4.6

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SHOP

FOR APPARELS & OTHER
FASHION ACCESSORIES? FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
2-3 TIMES IN A MONTH 1 2%
ONCE IN 3 MONTHS 21 42%
ONCE IN 6 MONTHS 13 26%
ONCE IN A MONTH 15 30%

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SHOP FOR APPARELS &

OTHER FASHION ACCESSORIES?
ONCE IN A MONTH
15
ONCE IN 6 MONTHS
13
ONCE IN 3 MONTHS
21
2-3 TIMES IN A MONTH
1

0 5 10 15 20 25

INFERENCE

From the above table and chart, we can infer that most of the respondents, i.e. 42% opt to
purchase fashion accessories only once in 3 months.

15 of the respondents said they prefer to buy fashion goods once in every month.

26% of the people who responded said they will go for shopping apparels only once in 6
months.

56
FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER PURCHASE

TABLE 4.7

FACTORS INFUENCING THE PURCHASE OF READYMADE GARMENTS

BRAND 3
BRAND & PRICE 3
BRAND & PRICE & TREND 1
BRAND & TREND 2
COLOR & BRAND & PRICE 3
COLOR & BRAND & PRICE & TREND 9
COLOR & BRAND &TREND 1
COLOR & PRICE 9
COLOR & PRICE & TREND 1
PRICE 2
PRICE & TREND 1
TREND 2
Grand Total 37

10 9 9
9
8
7
6
5
4 3 3 3
3 2 2 2
2 1 1 1 1
1
0
PRICE

P R I C E , T R E ND

T R E ND
B R AN D , T R E ND

COLOR, PRICE
B R AND

B R AND , P R I C E ,

COLOR, PRICE,
B R AND , P R I C E

C O L O R , B R AN D ,

C O L O R , B R AN D ,

C O L O R , B R AN D ,
P R I C E , T R E ND

T R E ND
T R E ND

TREND
PRICE

INFERENCE

From the above table and line graph, we can conclude that majority of the people will look
for colour and price predominantly over brand and trend while purchasing for readymade
apparels.

Nearly 22 people responded that they will also look for brand along with colour and price
while purchasing.

57
AWARENESS OF EXISTING FASHION BRANDS

TABLE 4.8

JACK & JONES 25

GUCCI 29
ZODIAC 11
PROVOGUE 6
LEVI'S 41
OTTO 42
LOUIS VITTON 19
ARMANI 12
UNDER ARMOUR 17
TOMMY HILFIGER 35
VAN HEUSEN 35
POLO 40
ALLEN SOLLY 33
UNIVERSAL COLORS OF BENETTON 12

INFERENCE

From the above diagram, we can infer that nearly 40 of the respondents are aware of the
brands LEVI’S,OTTO & POLO. These brands have great brand recall and awareness among
the people surveyed.

The brands such as PROVOGUE & UNIVERSAL COLORS OF BENETTON are the least
known brands among the respondents.

58
CONSCIOUS OF USING BRANDS

TABLE 4.9

CONSCIOUS METER COUNT PERCENTAGE

SLIGHTLY 16 34
STRONGLY 12 32
NOT MUCH 19 38
NEVER 3 6

BRAND USAGE CONSCIOUSNESS

20 19
18
16
16
14
12
12
10
8
6
4 3
2
0

SLIGHTLY STRONGLY NOT MUCH NEVER

INFERENCE

From the above figures, we can say that majority of the respondents are not much conscious
of using brands in their daily lives.

However 32% people feel strongly of using brands in their lives.

3% of them doesn’t care about using brands whatsoever.

59
IMPETUS TO BUY BRANDED PRODUCTS

TABLE 4.10

INFERENCE

From the above chart, we can infer that ADVERTISEMENTS has a strong influence on people
when they choose to buy branded products.

And also 20 people believe that they go for branded products because of their personal liking
and lifestyles.

Nearly 22 people said their friends are the ones who influenced them to buy branded
products.

60
KNOWLEDGE OF EXISTENCE OF THE BRANDS

TABLE 4.11

MEDIUM COUNT PERCENTAGE

ONLINE 34 68%
TV OR RADIO 8 16%
WORD OF MOUTH 7 14%
PRINT MEDIA 1 2%

PRINT MEDIA 1

WORD OF MOUTH 7

TV OR RADIO 8

ONLINE 34

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

INFERENCE

From the above table and chart, we can conclude that 68% of the respondents buy the
branded product which they came to know about in online platforms.

Nearly 15 people said they know the existence of the brands which they buy through TV OR
RADIO OR WORD OF MOUTH.

It is evident that print media does not have so much power to introduce a new brand.

61
PRODUCT CATEGORIES AND PEOPLE’S PREFRENCES

TABLE 4.12

PEOPLE WHO
LIKE TO HAVE IT LIKE TO HAVE IT PREFER
PRODUCTS
BRANDED NON-BRANDED BRANDED
PRODUCTS
CASUAL
WEARS 6 14 30%
CORPORATE
WEARS 16 4 80%
BAGS 14 6 70%
SHOES 16 4 80%
WATCHES 14 6 70%
SLIPPERS 5 15 25%
SUITS &
BLAZERS 13 7 35%

25

20
4 4
6 6 7
15
14 15
10
16 16
14 14 13
5
6 5
0
CASUAL CORPORATE BAGS SHOES WATCHES SLIPPERS SUITS &
WEARS WEARS BLAZERS

LIKE TO HAVE IT BRANDED LIKE TO HAVE IT NON-BRANDED

INFERENCE

From the above question, we can infer that people prefer to purchase branded products only
when they purchase for CORPORATE WEARS, SHOES, WATCHES & SUITS.

They prefer non-branded products mostly for CASUAL WEARS & SLIPPERS.

62
CONSUMER’S MINDSET AT THE TIME OF PURCAHSE

TABLE 4.13

SCENARIOS PERCENTAGE
LOOK OUT FOR SPECIAL OFFERS & THEN DECIDE THE
PURCHASE 28%
RETURN TO THE SAME BRAND 18%
GO WITH THE TREND 10%
TRY OUT NEW PRODUCTS 44%

INFERENCE

From the given data, we can conclude that most people will always try out new products
when they go for shopping.

Also nearly 28% of the respondents said they will choose the brand only after being satisfied
with the discounts and special offers that come along with it.

10% of the respondents said that they will choose the brand according to the ongoing trend.

63
REASON BEHIND BRAND LOYALTY

TABLE 4.14

REASONS PERCENTAGE
PRICE DIFFERENTIATION 26%
QUALITY 38%
PERSONAL PREFERENCE 36%

INFERENCE

From the above diagram, we can infer that 38% of the respondents prefer to purchase a
particular brand because of the quality they offer to that price.

Nearly 36% said they continue to purchase the same brand because they like the brand
personally.

26% of the people said that they prefer to choose a particular brand over the others because of
the price differentiation.

64
AVERAGE MONTHLY SPENDINGS ON APPARELS

TABLE 4.15

MONTHLY SPENDINGS PERCENTAGE

LESS THAN 1000 64%
1000-5000 36%
ABOVE 5000 -

36%

64%

LESS THAN 1000 1000-5000

INFERENCE

From the above chart, it is clear that 64% of the respondents are very frugal in their choices
when it comes to buying apparels.

36% however prefer to spend nearly Rs.5000 per month on apparels.

65
PREFERRED PRICE RANGE FOR BUYING A BRANDED PRODUCT

TABLE 4.16

PRICE RANGE PERCENTAGE

1000-2500 72%
2500-5000 22%
5000-10000 4%
ABOVE 10000 2%

ABOVE 10000 2%
PRICE RANGE

5000-10000 4%

2500-5000 22%

1000-2500 72%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

PERCENTAGE

INFERENCE

From the above table it can be inferred that 72% of the respondents are ready to buy a
branded product only if their price range is between Rs.1000-2500.

22% of the people prefer to buy a branded product if their price range is between Rs.2500-
500.

Clearly it can be seen that people are reluctant to buy a branded apparel if their price range is
above Rs.5000.

66
IS BRAND BECOMING A STATUS SYMBOL?

TABLE 4.17

INFERENCE

Status symbol is also a sociological term – as part of social and sociological symbolic
interactionism – relating to how individuals and groups interact and interpret various cultural
symbols.

Status symbols also indicate the cultural values of a society or a subculture. For example, in a
commercial society, having money or wealth and things that can be bought by wealth, such as
cars, houses, or fine clothing, are considered status symbols.

From the table it is clear that majority, i.e. 66% of the respondents think that having a brand
has become a sort of status symbol now.

And 32% people are on a neutral side when it comes to terming brand as a symbol of status
and wealth.

67
 CHAPTER – 5

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS

AND

CONCLUSION

68
5.1 FINDINGS

A Consumer’s behavior may be either positive or negative, depending on the outcome of

their learning and evaluating process. The evaluation of consumer attitudes towards
brands has quickly become a major part in conducting marketing research. The
development of positive attitudes towards brands can lead to not only the sustaining of
competitive advantage, but in the bettering of the financial health of a company. Branding
has been found to be a key in formation of positive attitudes towards products, especially
those involving low-levels of consumer involvement. However it has been noted that
there are factors that might negate the effects of the formation of positive attitudes. One
being that the effects of positive attitudes can dissipate should the consumer not purchase
the product within a certain timeframe. Another factor that might negate the effects of
positive attitudes might be an overtly high pricing policy, which might have a contrary
effect to the consumer’s positive attitudes towards the brand and result in a non-sale of
that particular brand.

Branding is a process, a tool, a strategy and an orientation.

• To build long term relationship with the customers.

• Used as a differentiation strategy when the product cannot be easily
distinguished in terms of tangible features.
• A conscious customer satisfaction orientation process.

Age

88% Respondents belonging to the age group of 18-25 are the most brand conscious
group and prefer following their desired brands on social networking sites. 8% belonging
to 36-45 are also brand conscious to a small extent & the degree of loyalty towards brands
is average among this group. The degree brand of consciousness goes on decreasing in
higher age groups.

Work Status

69
Work status greatly influenced the choice, preference and habit of a person. Work status
influences a person’s fashion choices. Students and the working class are more brand
conscious as compared to other groups. Students prefer branded casual wear &
accessories, whereas the working class likes more of branded formal wear.

Who Influence Purchasing Decision?

Advertising is the art of influencing human action to buy or possess ones product. The
term ‘media’ refers to the means through which the advertising information is
communicated by the advertiser to the prospective customers. Advertising helps the
brands to popularize their products among the mass, which in turn helps them to influence
the purchasing decision of the consumers.

Analysis reveals that 68% of the total respondents become aware about particular brands
through Online (social media), 16% through advertisements on TV & Radio, 2% through
Print Media, and another 14% through words of mouth.

Factors Affecting the Purchasing Decision

Study reveals that price & colour were the major attributes that customer’s gave most
importance to while purchasing readymade garments, followed by other attributes.

Brand Loyalty

Study indicates that only 18% is the loyal customers and 82% may change their brand or
look out for offers before making the purchasing the purchasing decision if all the
qualities are available with the new products.

Status Symbol

Approximately 66% people believe that Brands in fashion industry have become a status
symbol.

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5.2 SUGGESTIONS

• Social Media Branding

Social media truly is a great place to increase brand awareness! People like people,
and people don’t like ads. Focus on creating posts that your audience wants to take
part in and from which they gain actual value.

social media is a great place to give your audience a little sneak peek of your services
or products, like e-books, downloadable material, infographics, etc. Take advantage
of the reach social media will provide you with!

• PPC advertising

PPC, or pay-per-click, is a model of marketing, usually on Google, where advertisers

pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. PPC advertising is a great way to
increase your brand visibility to your audience. When your audience needs your
products or services, your brand will appear at the top of their search results.

Never underestimate the power of repetition – seeing the brand name, logo, or content
– even if they don’t click on the ad – will make an impact on people either
consciously or subconsciously.

• Create infographics

Infographics are another example of great ways to show and share your brand’s
expertise. Infographics are a great way to create consumable, shareable, and likeable
content that can be used on your website, social media, in white papers, and more.
Why are they so great? Firstly, because the brain processes visuals MUCH faster than
plain text. Secondly, visuals tend to get more engagement, which is especially crucial
when posting on social media.

Many social media platforms favour shares from friends and family over posts from
brands. So we must focus on the receiver – create infographics that are of actual value
for the audience.

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5.3 CONCLUSION

In the study it is found out that respondents belonging to the age group of 16-25 are the
most brand conscious group and they like to follow their desired brands on social
networking sites too. It can be further said that household income influences the
consumer behavior towards fashion goods but at the same time since most respondents
belong to student category they are dependent on their parents/family income. Students
prefer branded casual wear & accessories as compared to the respondents who fall in
working class category who prefer formal work wear. This study reveals that price &
brand were the major attributes that customer’s gave most importance to while purchasing
readymade garments, followed by other attributes.

Brand is a guarantee, an assurance for a defined standard of quality for the first time and
for every time. Brand is name or logo that plays the role in the mind of the customer.
Brands do not compete in the product area but compete for the mind space of the
customer. A brand once established in the mind of the customer becomes indelible when
customer identifies itself with that particular brand. Branding is an effective marketing
strategy tool that has been used with frequent success in the past. Branding can be an
effective and powerful tool for all types of business organizations. If brand owners use
their product correctly, the payoffs can be substantial. However, if brands are
mismanaged, the results can be damaging. From the overall research we came to the
conclusion that brands have an effect on the consumer mind in many ways like quality,
rates, income, age group’s etc. Even in the fashion industries brand have a significant
effect on consumer behavior.

This study also stresses on the fact that advertising helps the brands to popularize their
products among the masses, which helps them to influence the purchasing decision of the
customers. Through this study it can be envisaged that people generally believe that
Brands in fashion industry are more of a status symbol, and buying branded products is
more popular among the students as compared to their elder counterparts.

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REFERENCES

https://metricmarketing.ca/marketing-resources/why-is-branding-important-to-marketing/

https://www.bynder.com/en/glossary/brand-awareness/

https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/brand-
recognition#:~:text=Brand%20recognition%20is%20the%20extent,song%20associated%
20with%20a%20brand.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brandequity.asp#:~:text=What%20Is%20Brand%
20Equity%3F,superior%20in%20quality%20and%20reliability.

https://www.academia.edu/73001313/Co_Creating_Individuals_A_Roadmap_to_Value_
Creation_in_Fashion_Retailing

https://www.clootrack.com/knowledge_base/what-is-consumer-behavior

https://www.clootrack.com/knowledge_base/major-factors-influencing-consumer-
behavior

https://www.yotpo.com/resources/consumer-decision-making-process-ugc/

https://blog.hurree.co/blog/the-importance-of-a-strong-brand-image-and-how-to-
influence-it

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-brand-consumer-behavior-61767.html

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/brand-positioning.htm

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/brand-loyalty.htm

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ANNEXURE

Questionnaire

The following questionnaire is being used for the purpose of a survey on “The influence
of branding on consumer buying behavior in fashion industry”. The results of the
analysis done on the basis of the responses will be used for educational purposes only.

OBJECTIVES OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

* To know the consumer's awareness of the available brands in the fashion industry.

* To gauge the consumer's loyalty & following towards a particular brand

* To find how consumers are influenced by a particular brand & how often they purchase
it.

* Finally to study the factors affecting consumer behavior in purchasing fashion goods
and accessories.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

CITY: ______________________________________________________________
EMAIL: ____________________________________________________________

OTHER INFORMATION:

Age:

o 18-25 o 26-35 o 36-45 o 45 & above

Gender:

 Male  Female

Marital status:

 Unmarried  Married
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WORK STATUS:

 Working  Student  Retired  Self-employed  Others ________________________

MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD INCOME:

 <10000 o 10000-25000 o 25000-75000 o >75000

1. How often do you shop for apparels & other fashion accessories?

 Once in a month  once in 3 months

 2-3 times a month  once in 6 months

2. Factors you consider while purchasing readymade garments

o Color o Trend

o Brand o Price

3. Which of the following brands are you aware of ?

 Jack & Jones  Gucci  Zodiac  Provogue

 Levi’s  Louis Vuitton  United Colors of Benetton

 Otto  Allen Solly o Van Heusen o Armani

o Under Armour o Tommy Hilfiger o Polo.

4. How much conscious are you about using brands?

Slightly Strongly Not much Never

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5.

6. How did you hear about the brand?

TV or Radio Online Media advertising

Print media (Newspaper/magazines) Word of mouth

7.

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8. When shopping for fashion products….

You return to the same brand

Try out new brands

Look out for special offers & then decide on brand.

9. What is the reason for choosing a particular brand over others?

Price Differentiation

Quality

Personal Preference

10. How much do you spend on apparels every month?

o <1000 o 1000-2500

o 2500-5000 o Above 5000

11. What is your preferred price range for buying a branded product?

o 1000-2500 o 2500-5000

o 5000-10000 o Above 10000

12. Brand has now become a status symbol. Do you agree?

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Strongly disagree

77
 Disagree.

13. . Do you think focus on branding while purchasing is correct?

Yes

No

Not Sure.

78