BLOCK 3

1 Q. Define consumer buyer & organizational buyer in fashion marketing.

Consumer buyer: Consumer buyer can be a user or a buyer or may be both. Consumer buyer can act as
an individual or as a representative of an organization.

Organizational buyer: Organizational buyers are individuals who represent a business. In general,
organizational buyers, who make buying decisions for their companies for a living, tend to be somewhat
more sophisticated than ordinary consumers.

2 Q. What is meant by consumer behavior?

“Consumer behavior describes how consumers make purchase decisions and how they use and dispose
of goods and services, and also analysis the factors that influence purchase decisions.”

Consumer behavior involves the psychological processes that consumers go through in recognizing
needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to purchase a
product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret information, make plans, and implement these
plans (e.g., by engaging in comparison shopping or actually purchasing a product).

3 Q. Why do we study fashion buyer?

We study fashion marketing for below reasons:

 To know the role of consumer behavior in fashion marketing.

 To know consumer behavior & target market accordingly.
 To know consumer behavior & the marketing mix-
a. Consumer behavior & product.
b. Consumer behavior & promotion.
c. Consumer behavior & price.
d. Consumer behavior & distribution.
4 Q. Show the fashion consumer decision making process.
Fashion consumer decision making process as below:

Problem recognition

Information search

Evalution of alternative

purchase

Post purchase evalution

Fig: consumer decision making process

5 Q. Show the types of fashion customers.

Types of consumer decision:

There are three types of consumer decisions to consider:

1. Nominal

2. Limited

3. Extended

1. Nominal Decision-Making

Nominal decisions are often made about low-cost products. They include frequent purchases, purchases
from a familiar brand or product, buying that requires low involvement, or little search efforts.

In other words:

 Make sure the product is available where your customers are shopping

 Maintain the right pricing structure and introduce new concepts when interest drops

 Create advertisements that ensure memorability for your brand.

2. Limited Decision-Making

Limited decision-making is a little more involved than nominal decision-making, but it’s still not a
process that requires in-depth research. Limited decisions are made about mid-cost products, semi-
frequent purchases, or purchases from a somewhat familiar brand. They require a little involvement,
and perhaps some searching.

When customers make limited decisions, they take a small amount of time to ponder over their
purchase, but they might not go online to look for testimonials and reviews. Instead, they could consider
their memory of their product, and make decisions based on logical inferences.

3. Extended Decision-Making

Finally, extended decisions are made about higher-cost products, and infrequent purchases. They
require a lot of involvement, often center around unfamiliar brands or products, and need extended
thought and search efforts to ensure buyer confidence.

For instance, we don’t buy a huge flat-screen television every day, so when the time comes to make this
kind of investment, we want to know for sure that we’re making the right choice in everything from
brand to picture quality.

Major purchases come with more risk for the customer, and that means that there’s more cause to
consider things from a deeper perspective. Rather than grabbing the first television you see, or buying
one just because it’s on sale, you’d generally ask for advice from friends and family, find out as much as
you can about different specifications, and spend a substantial amount of time looking up product
reviews and testimonials.

5 Q. Show the types of fashion customers.

Types of fashion customers as below:

 Promiscuous: This type of customer will shop around for the best deal.
 Occasional: This type of customer will sometimes buy from the definite brand.
 Loyal: This type of customer will usually buy from the definite brand.
 Insistent: This type of customer will only buy from the definite brand
6 Q. Draw the graph of fashion consumer behavior model.

Consumer behavior model:

Fig: Fashion consumer behavior model

7 Q. Discuss the psychological process of fashion consumers.

Psychological process of fashion consumers as below:

A. The buyer’s perceptual process

 Selective exposure: Selective exposure is a theory within the practice of psychology, often used
in media and communication research that historically refers to individuals' tendency to favor
information which reinforces their pre-existing views while avoiding contradictory information.
 Selective attention: Selective attention is the process of focusing on a particular object in the
environment for a certain period of time. Attention is a limited resource, so selective attention
allows us to tune out unimportant details and focus on what really matters.
 Selective distortion: A tendency to interpret information in ways which reinforce
existing attitudes or beliefs.
 Selective retention: The process whereby people more accurately remember messages
that are closer to their interests.

B. Learning:

 Association learning: Associative learning is the process by which someone learns an association
between two stimuli, or a behavior and a stimulus.
 Cognitive learning: A theory that defines learning as a behavioral change based on
the acquisition of information about the environment.

C. Consumer attitudes:

D. Consumer Motivation

E. Consumer Personality

• Lifestyle

• Self image

• Ideal self-image

– How we like to see ourselves

• Social self-image

– How we think we are seen

• Ideal social self-image

– How we would like others to see us

8 Q. Discuss the sociological factors of consumer behavior.

Ans:

 Social groups
 Opinion leadership
 The family
 Geodemographics
 Social stratification:
Class % Descriptions
A 2.8 Upper middle class - Higher managerial, administrative and
professional.
B 18.6 Middle class - Intermediate managerial, administrative and
professional.
C1 27.3 Lower middle class- Supervisory, clerical or junior managerial,
administrative or professional.
C2 22.1 Skilled working class. Skilled manual workers.
D 17.6 Working class. Semi-skilled & unskilled manual workers.
E 11.4 Those at about the lowest level of subsistence.

9 Q. Explain the factors that influence the rate of diffusion.

Ans:

A. Relative advantage: The more immediate and important the benefits, the faster the rate of
diffusion in terms of lower cost or long product life.
B. Compatibility: The innovation must match cultural values, beliefs and expectations. More
recent examples compatibility concerns are ethical use of labor and the use of
sustainable raw materials in garment manufacture.
C. Possibility of trials: The ability to try on garments or easily exchange those that cannot be tried on,
i.e. mail order items, is a key factor.
D. Observability or communicability: Ease with which information about an innovation is transmitted.
F. Perceived risk: The greater the risk the slower the diffusion. Risk can be financial, physical or social.
In addition, a perception may exist that a delay in purchasing will lead to lower prices.
G. Type of target market: Some groups are more willing to accept change than others, e.g. the
young, the affluent or the highly educated.
H. Type of decision: Depends on whether the purchase of the innovation is an individual or a
collective decision.
I. Marketing effort: The rate of diffusion is not completely beyond the control of the firm selling it.
Greater promotional spending can speed the diffusion process.