Stage 2: Quantitative Data Collection
7.2 Stage 2 Data Collection
7.2.2 Explanation of the Questions in the Questionnaire (Refer to Appendix D)
Question 1: When buying clothes, which clothing stores do you shop at MOST OF THE TIME?
Question 2: On average, how often do you purchase clothing?
The purpose of Question 1 relates to the first step in the positioning process which involves identifying the relevant set of competitors within a specific industry, which in this case, requires identifying the clothing retailers which are in competition in the South African clothing industry. The objective of these first two questions was to enable the researcher to determine the patronage behaviour of the Generation Y respondents in terms of where and how often they purchase their clothing. This question is similar to a study conducted by Du Preez et al. (2007:
9) “where respondents were requested to indicate at which of the stores and how often they bought apparel” in order to ascertain their patronage behaviour. Edgars (15%), Mr Price (20%), YDE (Young Designers Emporium) (11%), Woolworths (9%) and Identity (9%) were included in Question 1 as these were mentioned on numerous occasions during the focus group sessions.
Therefore, it is necessary to further investigate and ratify these findings by verifying whether these stores are the leading clothing retailers, and thus important competitors, as per the chosen sample. An „Other‟ option was included for those respondents who do not shop at any of these clothing retailers. Consequently, Question 1 provided the researcher with the necessary data to achieve the first research objective, which was to identify the most patronised stores according to a sample of male and female Generation Y consumers.
105 Question 3: What attributes do you find important 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
Using the Stage 1 quantitative and qualitative findings, as well as the literature, the following attributes were included in Question 3 of the questionnaire:
Table 7. 1 Clothing Store Attributes included in Stage 2 Questionnaire
Attribute Mean Rating in the Stage 1 Questionnaire
1. Value for Money 8.1
2. High Quality Merchandise 8
3. Wide Selection of Merchandise 7.8
4. Fashionable Merchandise 7.7
5. Uniqueness of Merchandise 7.6
6. Low Prices 7.4
7. Fully Stocked Store 7.2
8. Appealing Advertising 7
9. Helpful Sales Personnel 6.9
10. Convenient Location 6.9
11. Store Cleanliness 6.4
12. Good Store Layout 6
The researcher did, however, use her own discretion as well as help from the research supervisor in adjusting the wording of some of these attributes to be included in the final questionnaire, based on a review of the literature as well as the qualitative data and focus group discussions.
The inclusion of each attribute will now be explained:
Low Prices was included as this attribute was identified as the most important attribute when the focus group participants were asked an open-ended question requiring them to indicate their top 5 most important attributes when choosing a clothing retailer. Low Prices was also the main attribute which motivated the participants‟ specific store preferences. It received a high average rating of 7.4 and High Prices was revealed as a discouraging attribute during the focus group discussion and thus low prices was identified again as a potential determinant attribute. Low prices also replaced the attribute of Reasonable Prices,
106 which had a mean rating of 8.7, as it would be too confusing to decipher should both have been included. Furthermore, the attribute of Low Prices was one of the attributes found to be important in the literature by authors such as Hansen and Deutscher (1977); Leszczyc and Timmermans (2001); Gehrt and Yan (2004); Pan and Zinkhan (2006); Arnold, Oum and Tigert (1983); Hutcheson and Mutinho (1998); and Torres, Summers and Belleau (2001).
High Quality Merchandise was identified as the second most important attribute in clothing store choice by the focus group participants. It was also indicated by 33% of respondents as a main reason for choosing their preferred retailer and received a high mean rating of 8. The quality of a store‟s merchandise also played a role in influencing the store choice of respondents in the studies by Jolson and Spath (1973); Gehrt and Yan (2004); Pan and Zinkhan (2006); Hansen and Deutscher (1977); Tigert and Arnold (1981); Redding (2009); Sinha and Banerjee (2004); and Torres, Summers and Belleau (2001).
Wide Selection of Merchandise received a high mean rating of 7.8 and was included by the focus group participants as one of the main attributes influencing store selection. The attribute of Assortment of Merchandise was also identified as an important attribute in the literature review by authors such as Hansen and Deutscher (1977); Leszczyc and Timmermans (2001); Gehrt and Yan (2004); Pan and Zinkhan (2006); Tigert and Arnold (1981); Redding (2009); Sinha and Banerjee (2004); and Torres, Summers and Belleau (2001).
Store has the type of clothing I like received the highest mean rating of 9.2. It was decided, however, that this attribute was very similar in meaning to Style of Merchandise and was thus replaced by the latter. Style of Merchandise was also identified as a common attribute impacting choice of retailer, as well as receiving a high mean rating of 8.4. However, this attribute was believed to be too vague and was thus replaced with the attributes of Fashionable Merchandise and Unique Merchandise. The attribute of Fashionable Merchandise obtained a high mean rating of 7.7, and was also evident in the findings of Hansen and Deutscher (1977) and Arnold, Ma and Tigert (1978) as a significant attribute.
Unique Merchandise was identified as an important attribute in the focus group discussion as well as receiving a high average rating of 7.6. It was also found to be an important attribute by Gehrt and Yan (2004).
The attribute of Easy to find what I’m looking for received a high average rating of 7.2, however, was replaced with Good Store Layout, which scored a mean rating of 6, because being able to find what you are looking for is essentially a component of a good store layout. Good Store Layout was also found by Thang and Tan (2003), as well as Kleinhans,
107 Visser, Van Aardt and Du Preez (2001) as an important attribute influencing consumers‟
decision process.
Value for Money, Fully Stocked Store and Appealing Advertising were included for the high mean ratings allocated to these attributes by the focus group participants, namely 8.1, 7.2 and 7 respectively. These three attributes were also mentioned by authors such as Thang and Tan (2003); Hansen and Deutscher (1977); and Sinha and Banerjee (2004).
Store Cleanliness and Helpful Sales Personnel were included as the converse of these attributes, namely dirtiness and unhelpful sales staff, were included by many respondents as attributes discouraging their patronisation of certain clothing retailers, as well as receiving a fairly high average rating of importance of 6.4 and 6.9 respectively. In addition, Helpful Sales Personnel was also frequently mentioned throughout the literature as an important attribute affecting store selection by the following authors: Hansen and Deutscher (1977);
Tigert and Arnold (1981); Redding (2009); Jolson and Spath (1973); Thang and Tan (2003);
Gehrt and Yan (2004); Nguyen (2009); Hutcheson and Mutinho (1998); Arnold, Ma and Tigert (1978); Mahoney and Sternquist (1989); Thorpe and Avery (1983); Terblanche and Boshoff (2004); and Kleinhans, Visser, Van Aardt and Du Preez (2001).
Lastly, Convenient Location was included as this attribute was also commonly cited in the literature as a store selection criterion by authors such as Jolson and Spath (1973); Hansen and Deutscher (1977); Sinha, Banerjee and Uniyal (2002); Pan and Zinkhan (2006);
Nguyen (2009); and Paulins and Geistfeld (2003). This attribute also received an importance mean rating of 6.9 by the focus group participants.
Question 3 of the Stage 2 survey asked respondents to indicate which attributes they regard as exerting the strongest influence in terms of impacting their choice of clothing retailer. This question thus makes use of the direct-rating method, a method suggested by Van Ittersum et al.
(2007: 1180) for measuring the attribute-importance dimension of relevance. Accordingly, the aim of this question was to achieve the second step in the positioning process, which involves identifying the determinant attributes from the consumers‟ perspective. The data collected from Question 3 was used to answer the second research objective of determining the relative importance of the attributes that Generation Y consumers apply when choosing between clothing retailers. This in turn facilitated the achievement of Objective 4, which involves identifying the determinant attributes that influence clothing store selection among this group of consumers.
108 Question 4: Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements:
4.1 My choice of clothing store is affected by how much I am buying, in terms of quantity.
4.2 My choice of clothing store is affected by whether I am buying a gift or shopping for myself.
4.3 My choice of clothing store is affected by how much time I have to shop.
Likert Scales from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree were used to determine the respondents‟ level of agreement with the statements. As Welman et al. (2005: 157) explain, the Likert Scale is a “summated attitude scale which consists of a collection of statements about the attitudinal object”, in this case, the purchasing of apparel. With regard to each statement, the research respondents are required to “indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with its contents” (Welman et al. 2005: 157). As in the Focus Group, this question was included to investigate the findings of Van Kenhove et al. (1999) and Gehrt and Yan (2004) which stated that task definitions and situational conditions often influence the importance assigned to various store attributes. Furthermore, these statements were also presented in the focus group questionnaire in a question format, which required the respondents to answer yes or no, and received a very high percentage (70%) of affirmative responses, confirming the influence of the quantity being purchased, the reason for purchase and time availability on store choice.
4.4 I enjoy shopping.
4.5 I prefer stores that offer discount prices/sales.
4.6 I am willing to pay more for brand names.
4.7 I am fashion conscious.
A total of 65%, 95%, 65% and 62% of the Focus Group participants agreed with the statements 4 to 7 when these were presented during the first stage of this research. By including these statements, the findings of Sullivan and Heitmeyer (2008: 287) and Bakewell and Mitchell (2003: 100), which stated that Generation Y females “enjoy shopping, want quality goods, are brand loyal, willing to pay more for brand names” and generally “associate higher prices with improved quality and worth” (Bakewell and Mitchell 2003: 98), could also be further investigated.
4.8 Edgars is the best store for formal clothing.
4.9 Woolworths is the best store for high quality clothing.
4.10 Mr Price is the best store for low prices.
4.11 YDE is too expensive.
109 4.12 Woolworths is too expensive.
4.13 I do not shop at Mr Price because everyone shops there.
The last seven statements were formulated from the findings obtained during the focus group sessions and were thus included to enhance the triangulation of the research design and validate the qualitative findings. The statements were developed from several key patterns which emerged during the focus group discussions. More specifically, it was found that certain clothing retailers were associated with certain attributes, by the focus group participants. This relates to steps 3 and 4 of the positioning process, which involve determining the customers‟
perceptions and analysing the current positions of the competitors respectively. It is important for marketers to identify how the target consumers perceive the competitors and their offerings in order to develop an understanding of what the customer prefers and thus better satisfy their wants, needs and expectations (Levy and Weitz 2009: 547). The focus group findings revealed, for instance, that Mr Price is strongly associated with the attribute of Low Prices, Woolworths with High Quality Merchandise and YDE with High Prices. By including these statements in the Stage 2 questionnaire, it is possible to test the extent of these associations between the clothing store and particular attribute and, in so doing, test the extent of these positions.
Question 5: Rate each clothing store in relation to the selected attributes on a scale from 1 to 10 where:
1 = Very POOR; 3 = Poor; 5 = Average; 7 = Good; 10 = Very GOOD
In order to classify an attribute as determinant, dual questioning was used, which involved asking the respondents firstly, “what factors they consider important in a purchasing decision”, then secondly, “how they perceive these factors as differing among the various products or brands” (McDaniel and Gates 2010: 359). Thus, “attributes judged high in combined importance and differences are selected as determinant” (Alpert 1971: 185). The purpose of this question was to gather the data necessary to measure the attribute-importance dimension of determinance using Discriminant Analysis. This technique involves collecting “data from a sample of consumers concerning their ratings of each product or brand”, in this case, Mr Price, Edgars, YDE, Woolworths and Identity, on those attributes previously identified as most important to the target consumer when evaluating various options within the relevant competitive set (Walker and Mullins 2008: 166), as identified during the qualitative stage of this research (see Table 7.1).
110 Question 6: 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 focused specifically on clothing selection, as opposed to clothing retailer choice, in order to obtain a full and comprehensive understanding of the apparel buying motivations of Generation Y consumers and thus develop an understanding of their clothing buying behaviour as a whole.
The attributes identified as being the most important for specific clothing choice during the focus groups were: Good Fit (9.4), Comfort (9.1), Attractiveness (8.9), Good Price (8.6), Choice of Styles (8.5), Quality (8.4) and Choice of Colours (8).
In so doing, the third research objective of determining the relative importance of the attributes that Generation Y consumers apply when choosing between various pieces of clothing was achieved.
Sample Profile Questions:
The following variables were used to describe the demographic profile of the sample, namely:
the degree being studied by the research respondent, as well as the respondents‟ age, gender and race. The data on these variables was also collected to check the representativeness of the sample in relation to the larger UKZNP student population.
It was also vital for the researcher to obtain demographic statistics in terms of gender in order to achieve the fifth and final research objective, namely to determine whether a significant difference exists between the attributes of the male and female Generation Y respondents with regard to clothing store selection.