Daniella Ryding

Consumption strategies and motivations of Chinese consumers: The case of UK sustainable luxury fashion

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese consumers’ motivations to purchase luxury fashion products in the UK and how far sustainability plays a role in the decision-making process, by extending the consumer typology of translators, exceptors, selectors. The authors further add an additional dimension to defining “luxury”. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory design utilising multiple qualitative research tools (semi-structured interviews, focus groups) provides the basis for this research. A grounded analysis was applied. Findings Findings map motivational drivers to purchasing luxury products and establish a fourth consumer type “indulgers”. Well-being further emerged as a key characteristic that defines “luxury”. Research limitations/implications The sample size is limited to Chinese consumers purchasing luxury fashion in the UK, and thus may not be generalised. Practical implications This research helps managers to understand the consumer types and underlying motivations of Chinese consumers purchasing luxury fashion in the UK. As one of the largest target groups, this research informs managers on how to further capitalise on this market. Originality/value This paper creates a new consumer typology that not only categorises consumers according to their consumption aspects, but further identifies their underlying motivations to do so.

The impact of eco-fashion strategies on male shoppers' perceptions of brand image and loyalty

Consumers are now more informed about the negative impacts created by the fashion industry on the environment and society. Few studies however, have examined the impact of eco-fashion initiatives on male shoppers’ perceptions of the brand in a fast fashion context. This research therefore explores the ethical awareness in male shoppers on the high street and second, the extent to which retailer’s sustainable strategies impacts on brand image and loyalty. An online survey was launched with 200 male consumers from three different age groups. The results from the survey revealed that men are highly aware of social negligence and unethical practices within the industry and are willing to support sustainable strategies adopted by retailers. The findings also show that positive perceptions of the brand are formed when fashion retailers engage with sustainable initiatives. However, there is no evidence to suggest men would stay loyal to a retailer with eco-fashion ranges.

A Review of Secondhand Luxury and Vintage Clothing

This chapter provides insights into current environmental trends impacting on the global fashion industry. The rise of secondhand luxury fashion and in particular vintage is examined; this sector having witnessed the largest growth in recent times. Aside from the natural resource issue, there has been an alarming rise in the negative impacts of increased cyclical effects of garment production on the environment. With an increase in pollution and scarcity of resources, it can be argued that fashion firms will need to better understand how to trigger behavioural shifts towards slower consumption and develop new sustainable business models. With secondhand retailing thriving as a business format, this chapter provides a conceptual review of the attitudinal and behavioural motivators towards sustainable consumption for an evolving and significant sector, set within the context of the circular economy.

21st century luxury fashion retailers' marketing strategies for customer satisfaction: UK perspective

The purpose of this study is to examine contemporary customer satisfaction drivers for the luxury apparel sector in three dimensions; product quality, service quality and digital in-store interaction, and to reinforce their importance for brand building and the overall multi-sensory experience. The research design adopts a quantitative approach to establish the optimisation of these effects on the customer. An internet-mediated questionnaire is used to gather data for the UK market. The findings reveal that service quality dominates customer satisfaction across the key dimensions, but also ranked highly and in respective order are product craftsmanship and design, country of origin and in-store digital entertainment.

The relative significance of product quality attributes driving customer satisfaction within the fast fashion market: a UK perspective

As a result of recent global trends, high street retailers are under increasing pressure to sustain the low cost business model whilst at the same time fulfilling the needs of an increasingly demanding consumer. This paper examines customer expectations of product quality and customer satisfaction drivers in the context of fast fashion using a segmentation analysis approach within the female target group, since this is largest group for purchasing clothing (Zhang et al., 2002). A questionnaire survey, using a quota sample of 500 respondents was implemented both online and offline in the North West of the UK. A descriptive one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis was conducted using SPSS (Mac 20.0) and excel to test hypotheses created from the existing literature. The findings confirm that expectations and satisfaction drivers vary between different types of shoppers on the high-street.

Challenging Current Fashion Business Models: Entrepreneurship Through Access-Based Consumption in the Second-Hand Luxury Garment Sector Within a Circular Economy

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate drivers of (non)participation in access-based consumption and the underpinning motives of becoming (or not) a micro-entrepreneur within the circular economy. Peer-to-peer platforms and drivers of (non)participation within the context of the UK’s second-hand luxury market are currently under-researched. This chapter is exploratory in nature and utilises a qualitative research approach. This study conducts semi-structured interviews with consumers from varied demographical backgrounds to gain an insight into consumers’ perceptions of access-based consumption and sustainability. Findings identified drivers of (non)participation and the emergences of a (potentially) new micro-entrepreneur. It is further explored whether this would be a feasible business model for the future with consumers actively buying into the access-based concept. Although findings cannot be generalised, the data provides thinking points for future research and investigates an economically significant context. Gaining an insight into this newly emerging trend could help retailers to capitalise on disruptive innovations and change consumer perceptions of partaking in access-based consumption. Thus far, drivers of (non)participation in the context of the UK’s second-hand luxury industry remain under-researched, and the economic significance of the sector indicates the necessity of this research.

Sources of Value for Luxury Secondhand and Vintage Fashion Customers in Poland—From the Perspective of Its Demographic Characteristics

Value propositions have become a key constituent in all areas of business, and understanding what value is expected by customers, as well as creating, communicating and delivering that value to customers, is a key factor for gaining a competitive advantage. Sources of value propositions differ in different sectors. Although there are quite a lot of researchers who refer to value propositions in retailing in general, there is still a complete lack of research into this phenomenon in the luxury secondhand and vintage retailing sector in Poland. The sector is also under researched. Therefore, the aim of this paper is firstly to explore the potential and characteristics of the luxury secondhand and vintage fashion sector in Poland. Secondly, based on a literature study, the paper aims at identifying the sources of value for customers shopping in luxury secondhand and vintage clothing stores. Finally, the study examines what the main values are for customers purchasing luxury secondhand and vintage clothes, and whether as well as how the sources of value for secondhand clothing shoppers differ among various groups identified on the basis of such demographics as gender, age and income. The results show that out of the seven sources of value identified by the authors, one is the most important value proposition influencing the customer-shopping experience. This relates to so-called treasure hunting (value coming from the possibility of nosing around, ferreting, coming across a find, finding non-repetitive products). We also found that there are statistically significant differences in the way the identified sources of value are perceived by customers in different gender, age and income groups.

Introduction to Vintage Luxury Fashion—Exploring the Rise of the Secondhand Clothing Trade

This chapter is introductory in nature and provides the reader with an overview of how the idea for this publication emerged. It sets the scene of the context and clearly outlines the significance of this publication. It moves onto providing brief outlines of all contributions and how they link.

Access-Based Consumption: A New Business Model for Luxury and Secondhand Fashion Business?

This chapter investigates the concept of access-based consumption (ABC) within the context of the UK’s secondhand luxury fashion industry. ABC has received increased interest and implies temporarily being able to use and experience a good/service without making a transaction that transfers ownership of goods/services. A proliferation of business models has emerged that embrace the concept of ABC, all of which share one communality: a consumption experience on the consumer side. This chapter presents various forms of ABC models and critically evaluates their relevance within the context of secondhand luxury and vintage fashion. This topic is new and fills a gap in the current retail fashion literature, particularly from a sustainability perspective. Sustainability, having developed as a megatrend in recent years, is having significant impacts on the retail fashion landscape. In sum, these business models suggest that the ultimate desire of consumers is moving from ownership towards experience. This chapter seeks to contribute to knowledge by investigating an emerging phenomenon within an under-researched context. More specifically, ABC models within the creative and cultural industries are examined. Furthermore, this research explores the business motivations of establishing an ABC model, as well as an insight into consumer motivations and shopper orientations for renting and swapping merchandise in a luxury fashion context.

Measuring Consumer Engagement in the Brain to Online Interactive Shopping Environments

Online shopping environments are becoming more interactive as technology advances. As a result, it is necessary to explore marketing theories and neuro scientific explanations to why this is the case. A reviewed approach of consumer engagement to online interactive shopping environments is considered in this chapter. The online interactive elements of traditional fashion websites that are considered includes; social media, browsing and videos. Measurements of consumer engagement are reviewed via marketing consumer engagement theories (CE) and a cognitive neuroscience technique using an Electroencephalogram (EEG) (A non-invasive procedure measuring the brain’s electrical activity). ASOS.com, the U.K. top fashion online pure player, is used as a preliminary research study, the results demonstrate that engagement is significantly different in social media, video and browsing tasks and browsing for jackets online elicits more engagement. Originality of this research stems from the novel way to look at engagement and the ability to combine traditional and non-traditional marketing methods thus addressing emerging fields of the future such as virtual shopping.