Stage 1: Qualitative Data Collection
5.5 Stage 1 Data Collection
5.5.2 Explanation of Questions in Focus Group Questionnaire (Refer to Appendix C)
This is the first step in the positioning process, namely identifying the relevant set of competing products, in this case, competing clothing retailers. This question was discussed among the respondents. By asking the respondents to indicate where they purchase their clothing, the researcher aimed to gather the data needed to achieve the first research objective, namely, to identify the most patronised stores according to a sample of male and female Generation Y consumers.
72 Question 2: How often do you purchase clothing from the store identified in Question 1?
Next the respondents were asked how often they patronise these stores and to fill this in on the focus group questionnaire. This question was included to enable the researcher to identify the buying behaviour of the Generation Y consumers, and thus determine whether this impacts the choice of clothing retailer, as well as recognising any differences between male and female Generation Y consumers.
Question 3: Why do you shop at this store? What are your reasons for preferring this particular clothing retailer?
This question was discussion based and followed immediately after the students disclosed where they most frequently purchase their clothing. This relates to step 3 of the positioning process, which involves determining consumers‟ perceptions of the various competitors within the relevant industry (Walker and Mullins 2008: 157). The aim of this question was to identify the buying motivations of the Generation Y research participants and, hence determine and understand the meaning of the various attributes applied by these consumers when choosing between clothing retailers, thus achieving the second research objective.
Question 4: What are the factors or attributes which you use when choosing between clothing retailers?
This question required the focus group participants to indicate which attributes they use when choosing between clothing stores and to fill their responses in on the questionnaire. As Van Ittersum et al. (2007: 1179) explain, attribute importance is a multidimensional concept, the first of which is the dimension of salience which is measured most accurately and validly using the free-elicitation method where participants are asked open-ended questions, such as Question 4, regarding which attributes they deem as important when choosing a particular product or brand, in this case, when choosing a clothing retailer. The respondents were also asked to rank these attributes to determine relative importance, with factor 1 being the most important. In so doing, the researcher aimed to gather data necessary to eventually identify the determinant attributes of this consumer segment, which is the second step of the positioning process. The ultimate purpose of this question was to ascertain and understand which attributes Generation Y consumers apply when choosing between clothing retailers and the relative importance of these factors in terms of influencing clothing store selection, thus accomplishing research objective number two. Upon completing Question 4 of questionnaire, the focus group participants were subsequently asked to share their factors with the rest of the group, as well as explaining why the factors had been chosen as the most important influencing their choice of clothing store,
73 thus leading into question 5, and further fostering an understanding of the attributes used by this group in evaluating clothing retailers.
Question 5: Why is Factor 1 (in Question 4) the most important to you when choosing a clothing store?
This question was, again, discussion based and required participants to explain and elaborate on the reasons for choosing a particular factor as the most important and influential when choosing between clothing retailers. An important objective of the focus group sessions was to, not only identify what attributes are important to male and female Generation Y consumers, but also to discuss why these attributes are regarded as being so significant, thus developing and enhancing the researcher‟s understanding of the findings and ability to explain the results.
Question 6: Please rate the following attributes in terms of their importance when choosing a clothing retailer from which to purchase clothing? Rate the strength of influence on a scale from 1 to 10 where: 1 = the factor had NO influence over you; 10= the factor had a STRONG influence over you
The aim of this question was to measure the second dimension of attribute importance, namely that of relevance, and this was done using the direct-rating method, which requires participants to rate attributes (Van Ittersum et al. 2007: 1180), in this case, on a scale from 1 to 10. The focus group questionnaire included a total of 46 attributes which had been identified throughout the review of various secondary literature sources. This question asked the respondents to rate the importance of all 46 attributes, and the resulting mean scores were then used to identify the most important attributes according to this sample, thus reducing and refining the list of factors to be included in the questionnaire to be pilot tested for the stage two survey of the triangulated research design.
Question 7: Please rate the following attributes in terms of their importance when choosing clothing to purchase? Rate the strength of influence on a scale from 1 to 10 where: 1 = the factor had NO influence over you; 10= the factor had a STRONG influence over you
This question focuses on a total of 16 intrinsic clothing attributes which influence a consumer‟s choice of clothing and apparel, as opposed to their choice of clothing retailer as is the case in the previous question (Question 6). The data collected from this question was used to enhance and support a more comprehensive, micro-perspective of the apparel buying behaviour of the final consumer, which is particularly necessary given the volatile, “capital and people intensive”
nature of the apparel industry (Du Preez and Visser 2003: 15). All 16 intrinsic clothing
74 attributes were included in the focus group questionnaire and respondents were again asked to rate the importance of each of these in terms of the factor‟s strength of influence when choosing clothing to purchase, again utilising the direct-rating method suggested by Van Ittersum et al.
(2007: 1180). The attributes which received the highest average ratings of importance were subsequently included in the Stage 2 questionnaire.
Question 8: Please indicate Yes or No to the following questions:
8.1 Is your choice of store affected by how much time you have to shop?
8.2 Is your choice of store affected by how much you are buying (large or small quantities)?
8.3 Is your choice of store affected by whether you are buying a gift or shopping for yourself?
The focus group participants were asked to complete this question on the questionnaire. The first three questions (8.1 - 8.3) were included in the focus group questionnaire to investigate the findings of Van Kenhove et al. (1999) and Gehrt and Yan (2004) who concluded that certain situational conditions, such as time constraints, the quantity being purchased as well as whether the purchase is a gift or for oneself, influence the importance placed on store attributes, thus affecting the store selection criteria and process.
8.4 Is your choice of store affected by the messages used in the stores’ advertising?
The aim of this question is to investigate a finding by Hyllegard et al. (2009: 122), which claimed that Generation Y consumers‟ perceptions and evaluation of retailers is often influenced by the messages used in the stores advertising.
8.5 Do higher prices signify higher quality?
8.6 Are you loyal to a specific brand?
8.7 Are you loyal to a specific store?
8.8 Are you willing to pay more for brand names?
8.9 Do you prefer sales/discount prices?
8.10 Are you fashion conscious?
8.11 Do you enjoy shopping?
Questions 8.6, 8.8 and 8.11 were included to probe the suggestions of Sullivan and Heitmeyer (2008: 287) who stated that Generation Y females “enjoy shopping, want quality goods, are brand loyal and willing to pay more for brand names”, as well as investigating the findings of
75 Bakewell and Mitchell (2003: 100), which concurred with that of Sullivan and Heitmeyer (2008: 287) while also further suggesting that a large percentage (33%) of their female respondents are not drawn to low prices or discounts and do “associate higher prices per se with improved quality and worth” (Bakewell and Mitchell 2003: 98). Furthermore, the remaining five questions were incorporated into the focus group questionnaire to assist the researcher in identifying the respondents‟ shopping orientations as “researchers have found that consumers with different shopping orientations have different store selection criteria” (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 56). For instance, Shim and Kotsiopulos (1992 cited in Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 56) found that “consumers who were brand or fashion conscious placed importance on the brand name of the store, customer services, or the visual image of the store”.
Question 9: What discourages you from purchasing from a particular store?
According to Myers and Alpert (1968: 15), “for many years, direct questioning involved asking respondents to tell why they bought or did not buy a given product as a means of uncovering determinant attitudes”. This final discussion question made use of the latter part of this technique by asking the participants to describe why they do not patronise certain clothing retailers, which further evoked discussion of several stores which were avoided for specific reasons. By asking the respondents to reveal what discourages their patronisation of a clothing retailer, the researcher aimed to further identify factors of importance in terms of influencing store selection, although from a negative perspective. For instance, respondents who claimed that high prices discouraged them from choosing certain stores were also inadvertently stating that low or reasonable prices form part of their selective criteria when choosing a clothing store.
Question 10: What is your Gender?
Question 11: What is your Age?
Question 12: What is your Race?
Question 13: What year of study are you in?
Question 14: What degree are you currently studying?
Questions 10 to 14 asked the respondents to reveal various demographic characteristics which were used by the researcher in evaluating the degree to which the focus group sample was representative of the sampling frame to be used in the next stage of the triangulated research process, namely the questionnaire stage.
Upon completion of the demographic questions, the researcher closed the discussion and the respondents were thanked for their participation and cooperation.
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