CHAPTER 3: POSITIONING AND THE ATTRIBUTES SOUGHT IN CLOTHING
3.4 Determinant Attributes in Clothing Retail
3.4.1 Role of Gender on Attribute Importance in Clothing Store Selection
According to Chen-Yu and Seock (2002: 51), the “fundamental segmentation of the clothing market is based on gender”, and gender therefore plays a vital role in influencing a consumer‟s clothing selection and apparel buying behaviour (Bohdanowicz and Clamp 1994 cited in Chen- Yu and Seock 2002: 51). Shopping is even described by Dholakia (1999: 154) as a “gendered activity”. Unfortunately, however, “there is limited research into how males and females differ in their shopping behaviour” (Van Slyke, Comunale and Belanger 2002: 85), as well as very little research specifically exploring male shopping behaviour, especially in South Africa, hence rendering this field fairly “unchartered” (Du Preez et al. 2007: 2).
Nevertheless, a study conducted by Cox and Dittmar (1995 cited in Bakewell, Mitchell and Rothwell 2006: 170) found that male British students tend to focus more on the functional aspects of clothing, including warmth and durability and are thus “less interested in clothing and fashion” (Cox and Dittmar 1995 cited in Bakewell and Mitchell 2006: 1297), whereas the female students perceive clothes “in terms of their symbolic value for gaining approval and acceptance from peers” (Cox and Dittmar 1995 cited in Bakewell et al. 2006: 171). Zhang et al.
(2002: 57) found that, of all the demographic variables, “gender is the one that has significant impacts on the importance of most of the attributes”. Accordingly, it was found that the female Chinese consumers regarded the attributes of fit, comfort, style, colour and easy care to be more important compared to the male respondents with regard to choosing casual clothing, whereas there was no significant difference in the importance ratings of price, workmanship and trendiness between the two genders (Zhang et al. 2002: 57).
49 Otnes and McGrath (2001: 111) conducted a study investigating the perceptions and realities of male shopping behaviour in which the findings contradicted the general male shopping stereotypes of „Grab and Go‟, „Whine and Wait‟ and „Fear of the Feminine‟. Accordingly, it was concluded that “men often evaluate alternatives, bargain, and even shop in „feminine‟
stores” (Otnes and McGrath 2001: 111). For instance, in observing a male shopper, it may seem as though he is simply using a „Grab and Go‟ shopping strategy, while in reality he has most likely used “the internet and/or catalogues to preselect items” (Otnes and McGrath 2001: 122).
The „Fear of the Feminine‟ stereotype was also disproved in a study conducted by Manrai, Lascu, Manrai and Babb (2001 cited in Du Preez et al. 2007: 4), in Eastern Europe, which found that “males tended to buy products that previously would have been dismissed as too feminine, such as jewellery, skin-care products and cosmetics, as well as fashion apparel”. Otnes and McGrath (2001; 123) also found that when shopping for „high-tech‟ products, “ongoing search among men was higher than among women-but that among clothing shoppers, the reverse was true”.
With regard to gender differences in terms of attribute salience, “men give more prominence to proximity. Women tend to trade this off with merchandise offered by the store” (Sinha et al.
2002: 25). This may be due to the fact that women often “buy for other members of the family and hence would like to make a more informed decision” (Sinha et al. 2002: 25). A study conducted by Chen-Yu and Hong (2002 cited in Du Preez et al. 2007: 2), which focused on South Korean male consumers, found that younger male apparel shoppers were less price sensitive and were “reassured and less inhibited by higher-priced fashion brands than their female counterparts”, representing an opportunity for retailers who could potentially “introduce price mark-ups” to take advantage of this highly profitable consumer segment (Du Preez et al.
2007: 2). Contradictory to this, Chen-Yu and Seock (2002: 50) conducted a study to investigate the clothing purchase motivations, information sources and selection criteria of young male and female consumers, aged between 13 and 19. Their findings revealed that, “for both male and female participants, price was the most important store selection criterion” (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 66). Furthermore, “female participants considered product variety/availability and store display significantly more important than male participants”, while there were no significant differences between males and females in terms of perceptions of importance regarding the attributes of store environment/community involvement and customer service/store image, thus
“assigning similar weights to the importance” of these factors (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 66).
Dholakia (1999: 163) concurs with Chen-Yu and Seock (2002) and also suggests that “the female patron will continue to be the main target of store layout and design efforts”. In the study conducted by Chen-Yu and Seock (2002: 66), the attribute of Product variety/availability
50 included dimensions such as availability of different sizes, wide variety of different styles, and availability of well-known brands, while the attribute of store display also refers to factors such as window and product displays, and attractive store layout (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 66). A possible explanation for the female participants regarding these attributes to be more important than the male participants may be due to the females‟ shopping motivation of recreation, as
“product variety and store display increase the fun and enjoyment” (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002:
73), whereas the male participants‟ shopping motivations are linked to sexual attraction and recognition (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 71). This is confirmed by Dittmar, Long and Meek (2004: 434) who investigated gender differences in on-line and conventional buying motivations, and found that “the buying environment may play a much more important role for women consumers”. Furthermore, the attribute of Store environment/community involvement also included the dimensions of music, number of fitting rooms, restrooms, resting seats and lighting, while customer service/store image refers to the store salespeople, ease of return, and store reputation (Chen-Yu and Seock 2002: 66).
Lastly, Bakewell and Mitchell (2006: 1299) conducted a study investigating the decision- making styles of males versus female consumers, and subsequently concluded that “males still appear as brand conscious as females”; male shoppers have a „perfectionism‟ trait meaning they generally won‟t settle for anything less than the best or exactly what they want; some young male shoppers exhibit the „store promiscuity‟ trait suggesting that they are “indifferent to the store and the brands on offer and prefer to shop at many different stores”; the „store loyal/low price seeking‟ trait is however also evident for many young male shoppers who employ as simple a shopping strategy as possible “to reduce the complexity of the shopping task and the time spent doing it”; and finally, some men display a „confused time-restricted‟ trait where they tend to feel perplexed and overwhelmed regarding store selection and thus may fall prey to the
„grab and go‟ method, purchasing items too quickly (Bakewell and Mitchell 2006: 1299).
Conversely, female shoppers in the study tended to be bargain seekers, where they purchase as much as possible at sale prices; demonstrate the „imperfectionism‟ trait, where they will settle for a product which is not precisely what they require nor the best in its category; as well as being store loyal, where they tend to visit the same stores each time they shop (Bakewell and Mitchell 2006: 1299). Manrai et al. (2001 cited in Du Preez et al. 2007: 4) also found that
“young male shoppers are more fashion conscious than young females”, while Chen-Yu and Seock (2002: 61) found that young females shop significantly more often compared to young males.
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