Critical Analysis of Consumer Brand Preference For Apparel & Accessories

Minor Project: Critical Analysis
of Consumer Brand Preference for

Apparel & Accessories
Research & Compiled by:
Akansha Choudhary M/FMS/08/03

Bhavik Gandhi M/FMS/08/10
Sunil Kerketta M/FMS/08/31
Batch: 2008 – 10
Master of Fashion Management

DEPARTMENT OF FASHION MANAGEMENT STUDIES
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY
MUMBAI
Secondary Data Source
Statistics Tool
Minor Project 08 Critical Analysis of Consumer Brand Preference for Apparel & Accessories
Certificate
CERTIFICATE FROM GUIDE REGARDING COMPLETION OF WORK
This is to certify that the Project entitled “Critical Analysis of Consumer Brand
Preference for Apparel & Accessories” submitted towards the partial fulfilled of the
Degree in by
Akansha Choudhary (M/FMS/08/03)

Bhavik Gandhi (M/FMS/08/10)
Sunil Kerketta (M/FMS/08/31)
is their original work under my guidance and the results are based on the research done
by them.
(_________________________)
Name of Guide/Designed
Date:
Place:
2 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are grateful to NIFT for providing us an opportunity to do research work on “Critical

Analysis of Consumer Brand Preference for Apparel & Accessories”. We express our
whole hearted thanks to our guide Mr. Amit Aggarwal for his encouragement and moral
support in organizing my work and giving us valuable tips for making it presentable.
We will be failing in our duty if we do not mention the name of our CC Mr. Sushil
Raturi and Ms. Garima Srivastava for their help in our Minor Project.
We are also thankful to Mr. N. Muthu Ganesh for providing us the details of conducting
the research and SPSS from its inception.
We are appreciative of Mr. Bandi who allowed me to get access to the library and for
motivated us to finish the study on time.
Lastly, we are also obliged to people of Mumbai & Navi Mumbai for providing us their
valuable feedback to the questionnaire used to compile our primary data.
NAME:_____________________
ADDRESS:__________________
Master of Fashion Management
Date of submission:

Contents
Certificate....................................................................................................................... 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. 3
Introduction........................................................................................................................ 5
About Brands and Fashion ......................................................................................... 6
Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 8
Brand .............................................................................................................................. 9
Fashion & its relation with brand.............................................................................. 12
Marketing communication applied to fashion products............................................ 12
The brand image in the marketing communication process ..................................... 13
The store image in marketing communication process............................................. 14
Qualitative research ................................................................................................... 15
Statistics Tools............................................................................................................ 16
Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 17
Consumer confidence and consumer market in India .......................................... 19
Consumer Confidence ............................................................................................... 19
Consumer Markets .................................................................................................... 21
Environment for the apparel and retail sector in India.......................................... 22
ATKearney Report .................................................................................................... 22
Ernst & Young Report .............................................................................................. 25
Understanding buying pattern of consumers in India ........................................... 26
Consumer Preference for apparel brands .............................................................. 28
Primary Data Analysis with help of SPSS .............................................................. 32
Sample Analysis........................................................................................................ 33
Shopping Preference – Time Period & Format of store ........................................... 34
Customer spending & its relation with average frequency of spending ................... 35
Types of Media Influence for Fashion Brands on people ......................................... 36
Influence of Celebrity endorsement for fashion brand ............................................. 37
Relative Preference of consumer while selecting garment & accessories ................ 38
Impulse Buying Vs. Planned Buying, Indian Brands Vs. International Brands ....... 39
Selection of one brand over other ............................................................................. 40
Consumer stand on Emergence of Women & Kid’s wear brand .............................. 41
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 41
Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 42

Introduction

About Brands and Fashion
“Consumers are evolving entities. Their aspirations & expectations are

continuously changing. Today’s shoppers are more intelligent, discerning
& tuned to their individual preference. They are increasingly fashion and
brand conscious and select labels which define who they are or who they
want to be. The biggest challenge for all the brands is to create loyal
consumer who love them.” – Shopper’s Stop Ltd 1
India represents an economic opportunity on a massive scale, both as a global

base and as a domestic market. Indian consumer markets are changing fast, with
rapid growth in disposable incomes, the development of modern urban lifestyles,
and the emergence of the kind of trend-conscious consumers that India has not
seen in the past. 3
Apparel and fashion industry in India is in its growth stage. Using consumer sales
promotion to differentiate one‟s offer has become an order of the day in matured
urban markets. More and more budget is allocated to these activities in order to
the lure the consumers. In such a scenario, it is very essential to study how
consumers make their choices in Apparel & Fashion category where there are
several brands in the consideration set of a consumer. The financial risk being
high consumers do switch from one brand to another due to sales promotion
offers and personal comfort zone. Hence it would of interest to a marketer to
learn about the consumer preferences with respect to sales promotion offer; what
schemes do consumer prefer for what kind of brands, which media do they prefer
to know about the brand, product, and related schemes, who prefers the branded
apparel and fashion products, the price range of the fashion products. These are
the questions which consumer considers while choosing a brand. Similarly even
a manager has to consider while introducing a product or brand.
Brands build customer loyalty by delivering excellent value no matter the price
point-high, low, or medium. Value includes styling, durability, quality fabrics, and
consistent fit. To the consumer, a brand name represents familiarity, consistency,
and confidence in performance. Brand names when linked with lifestyle, self-
expression, and aspirations epitomize intangibles that are desirable to the
consumer.
Consumers consider fashion as part of an overall budgetary spend, so apparel

purchases now compete directly with other choices from the technology,
entertainment, beauty and general lifestyle categories for the discretionary rupee.

Today‟s global apparel environment is tougher than ever for brands. There are
many reasons for the emergence of this challenging climate;
 From a proliferation of brands

 fierce competition from retailers acting as brands
 smarter consumers
 the consolidation of department stores
 mass retailers redefining themselves
 luxury designers creating for mass
 the demand for luxury goods
 the growth of the discount sector
All of this adds up to one stark fact: those brands that break through the noise
and communicate their message to the consumer directly and clearly – in a way
that means something to them.
Rising costs of living around the world cause consumers to stretch their incomes
more thinly, meaning necessities are being weighed against apparel. Fashion
must have value and purpose and truly resonate to the consumer. Strong brands
with consistent powerful messages can create loyalty and a sense of worth that
transcends the burden of choice. 2
Fashion is direct and individual communication. It also nourishes industries with
high research requirements due to its present characteristics:
 Fast mutation of its specificities

 It time to market
 Obsolescence of the product
The understanding of consumer‟s desires, behavior, and of purchase process of
fashion products is extremely important to design products collections as well as
to placement of these products in market.
Considering a marketing approach, a fashion product must satisfy the demand
target, so the main idea (message) behind the brand (sender) must reach the
consumer (receiver). 4
Notes:
1. Annual report of Shopper‟s Stop Ltd is available on www.shoppersstop.com & page 17

2. The global branding report – 2007 by Stacy Backer, chapter 1 – Introduction
3. KPMG – Consumer Markets in India – The next big thing – Executive summary
4. Paper - Branding of Fashion product : a communication process, a marketing approach, by Graca
Guedes, Universidade Do Minho (Portugal), Paula da Costa Soares, Instituto Politecnico do Porto
– ESIEG (Portugal).

Literature Review

“Building a strong brand requires careful planning and a great deal of long
term investment. At the heart of great brand is a great product or service
backed by creatively designed and executed marketing” – Kotler & Keller1
Brand
Brand2 according to (American Marketing Association) is „ A name, term, sign,

symbol, or design, or combination of them, intended to identify the goods and
services of one seller or group sellers and to differentiate them from those of
competitors‟. Branding thus is a means to distinguish one product from another
and these differences may be functional, rational, or tangible – related to product
performance of the brand.
Brand equity2 is added value endowed to products and services. This value may
be reflected in how consumers think, feel, and act with respect to the brand, as
well as the prices, market share, profitability that the brand commands for the
firm. Brand equity is an important intangible asset that has psychological and
financial value to the firm.
Customer based brand equity2 can be defined as the differential effect that
brand knowledge has on the consumer response to the marketing of that brand.
Positive customer based brand equity is when consumer react more favorably to
a product.
Brand knowledge2 consists of all the thoughts, feelings, images, experiences,
beliefs, and so on that become associated with the brand. In particular, brands
must create, strong, favorable, and unique brand associations with customers,
for example Ruf & Tuf jeans were introduced as youthful and sturdy brand.
Brand Equity model – Aaker Model2 – Professor David Aaker views brand
equity as a set of five categories of brand assets and liabilities to a brand that
add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or
to that firm‟s customers. These categories of brand assets are:
1. Brand loyalty
2. Brand awareness
3. Perceived quality
4. Brand associations
5. Other proprietary assets such as patents, trademarks, and channel
relationships.
Brand Equity model – Brand resonance2 – The brand resonance model also
views brand building as an ascending, sequential series from bottom to top:

Brand resonance model
1. Identity - Ensuring identification of the brand with customers and an

associations of the brand in customers' mind with a specific product
class or customer need
2. Meaning - firmly establishing the totality of brand meaning in the

mind of customers by strategically linking a host of tangible and
intangible brand associations
3. Response - eliticiting the proper customer responses in terms of

brand related judgement and feelings
4. Relationship - converting brand response to create active loyalty

relationship between customer and brand.
Brand Salience relates to how often and easily the brand is evoked under various
purchase or consumption situations.
Brand performance relates to how the product or service meets customers‟
functional needs.
Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product or service,
including the ways in the brand attempts to meet customers‟ psychological or
social needs.
Brand judgments focus on customers‟ own personal opinions and evaluations.

Brand feelings are customers‟ emotional responses & reactions with respect to
the brand.
Brand resonance refers to the nature of the relationship that customers have with
the brand and the extent to which customers feel that they are “ insync” with the
brand.

“Fashion begins and ends with the customers” – Stephen Frings4
Fashion & its relation with brand
As per Graca Guedes5 ,to the three components of fashion – style, acceptance
and styling, announced by authors like Frings, Packard et al and Wolse, a fourth
element has been added. Those three components orient this new element the
brand, but they are also determined by it. From this new trend, with social and
economic implication, emerge 2 different concepts of fashion products: the
fashion global product and the market segment fashion product.
Marketing communication applied to fashion products
Marketing Communication
Advertising Public Relation Promotion Direct Marketing
Special Events
Fashion shows
Sales force
Store Visual merchandising
The market of fashion products is highly competitive market whose main

characteristics is the similar positioning of a large number of brands and, in this
respect the brand‟s image developed by marketing communications can
influence the adoption process of the products. This process, the marketing
stimuli, a side with the intention to influence the purchase decisions must
transmit similar messages in all communication support. The harmony of this
complex process must consider such aspects as the brand awareness and the
brand image, both determined by the characteristics of consumers‟ perception.
The image is a mental representation of the brand or product attributes and
benefit. It is a multi dimensional phenomenon that depends on the perception of
those attributes and benefits. In fashion products, both mental representation and
its perception are built in a continuous way, and developed through the image of
fashion transmitted by each seasonal collection and by all activities of marketing
communication. The overall effect of fashion product branding depends on the

integration of all the components of the marketing communication plan, including

visual merchandizing, with the product design. All these three elements have an
impact over the adoption process and a similar final goal: to influence the
purchase option of fashion products through the satisfaction of a certain fashion
image demand.
The brand image in the marketing communication process
Brand Identity Brand awareness

Idea
Personality Brand
Brand Image
Characteristic Product
Benefits User
Attributes
This system reinforces the need to develop of the brands‟ image considering the
implications over the brand identity and awareness of what confirms the
importance of fashion products branding. The brand may benefit from a greater
reputation and higher proximity to its buyers if the design of each collection takes
in consideration the following aspects:
 In order to keep or develop the value of the symbolic speech of the

products, the brands‟ image management should be focused in one
particular style;
 The consumer buys or uses fashion products of different types and styles;
 An effective fashion image developed through the seasonal collections,
allows the brand to achieve image coherence and to capitalize on it in the
market by building global brand.
The adoption process of fashion products reflects the great influence of the
image of fashion that it transmits as well as its inherent identification potential
(social, cultural and economic), besides its basic functions – to protect the body.
Recognizing this, consumer searches for fashions that more nearly fit his/her
own needs and wants, rather than those of the idealized people who in the past
have appeared in advertisements and commercials.

The store image in marketing communication process
Image store
Idea
Geographic Location Visual Merchandising
Exterior Design Interior design other
Architecture Space design Sales assistant

Display & Fixture Package
LAYOUT Windows
Lightening & music
Signs
The store image development is established through its geographical location,

the commercial zone where it occupies & its external design, as well as by the
product that it offers and their representation in the internal space of the store.
The combination of these factors defines the store atmosphere of look or the
personality of the store, which image of itself should match customers
impressions of the store.

Qualitative research
It is necessary to assess the strength as well as understand nature of the brand‟s

equity relative to competitive brands, and to track it over time.
Assessing the strength of brand equity3 according to Richard Elliot & Larry
Percy can be done by finding Brand awareness & salience, Brand preference
and Brand users.
Brand awareness according to Sroll reflects the extent to which people can
either remember or recognize a brand. When people think about brands in a
product category, those come to mind represent recall brand awareness; they
are recalled based only upon a category cue. If someone is shown a list of brand
names or pictures of packages, those that can be identified represents
recognition brand awareness.
Brand salience depends upon awareness, but reflects the relative strength of
that awareness in relation to the target market‟s awareness of other brands in the
category. This relationship will be reflected in the relative relationship between
what is known as „top-of-mind‟ awareness and all the other brands in the
category of which someone is aware.
Brand preference, like brand salience, can be an indicator of the strength of
brand equity. Brands that are preferred are likely to enjoy greater equity than
those that are not. Preference for a niche brand may be high in its market
segment, but relatively low in the market as a whole.
Brand users or category understanding is one of the primary function of
quantitative research and specifically users of a brand vs. users of competitive
brands. Based upon this, one is able to „profile‟ various user segments.

Statistics Tools
 Tabulation
The collected data is arranged in the form of rows and columns that is in
the tabulation form. The purpose is to simplify the presentation and to
make comparisons.
 Percentage analysis
The collected data which is present in the form of percentage will help us
to get the clear cut picture of the contribution of various responses.
 Co-relation analysis
Co-relation between two attributes have been computed to understand the
relation between each other and how one attribute affects the other.
SPSS & Microsoft Office Excel 2007
SPSS – Statistical Package for Social Science is the key software used to
prepare complex graph, to do various analysis like correlation, regression, rank
correlation etc. which are used in Minor project.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 – The primary data collected was input in excel
sheet and with the help of various formula it was easy to do data analysis. Simple
bar graph, pie chart, doughnut chart etc are outcome of Microsoft office Excel
2007.
Notes
th
1. Marketing management – Kevin lane Keller & Phillip Kotler, 12 Edition, Chapter 9 Page No 273
th
2. Marketing management – Kevin lane Keller & Phillip Kotler, 12 Edition, Chapter 9 Page No 274
onwards
3. Strategic brand management – Richard Elliot & Larry Percy, Indian Edition, Chapter 6 Auditing and
Measuring Brand equity, Page no. 110
th
4. Fashion – From consumer to concept – Stephen Frings, 6 Edition chapter2 page no.31
5. Paper - Branding of Fashion product : a communication process, a marketing approach, by Graca
Guedes, Universidade Do Minho (Portugal), Paula da Costa Soares, Instituto Politecnico do Porto
– ESIEG (Portugal).

Objectives

“The Indian Economy is soaring. I think Indian people love brands. There
isn’t another American designer on this soil, may be because they don’t
know it, may be because they don’t understand it, may be because they
don’t care. I care about it. I am excited about it and I feel very positive that
we are going to build a wonderful lifestyle business here.”
– Tommy Hilfiger, International fashion icon4
The objectives behind our minor project “Critical analysis of brand preference for
apparel and accessories” are:
1. To study the consumer confidence and consumer market in India.
2. To study the environment for the apparel & retail sector in India.
3. To understand the buying pattern of the consumers in India.
4. To find out consumer preferences with respect to brands with the help of
secondary data.
5. To find out consumer preferences with respect to brands with the help to
primary data and SPSS.

Consumer confidence and consumer market in India
Consumer Confidence - AC Nielsen report1
According to AC Nielsen‟s Consumer Confidence, Concerns, Spending and

Attitude to recession, the definitive gauge of consumer sentiment around
economic and social concerns across 51 countries
After months of speculation and uncertainty around the global economy, it

appears the penny has finally dropped for the world‟s consumers. Consumer
confidence worldwide has fallen to its lowest level in several years.
46 percent of global consumers claim they put their spare cash into savings, up
4percent in the last six months. The world‟s most avid savers have always hailed
from Asia Pacific, where an average of 57 percent of consumers chooses to build
their nest eggs. Holidays and vacations continue to be a popular choice, with 34
percent of consumers across the globe planning to spend on a well-earned
vacation. One in three (32%) consumers chooses to buy new clothes, up 2
percent from six months ago. (fig on next page)

Bullish Denmark, India and Indonesia lead the charge, with four in five (79%) of
consumers optimistic about the size of their wallets.

Consumer Markets – KPMG report2
Indian consumer markets are changing fast, with rapid growth in disposable
incomes, the development of modern urban lifestyles. Indian consumers are
becoming increasingly sophisticated and knowledgeable about products; media
channels that allow companies to communicate with consumers are growing in
diversity and reach.
Foreign brands remain very powerful in India, especially in clothing and
personal care products, but increasingly brands have to be associated with
value.
India‟s consumer markets are unique. India has more people living in poverty
than any other country. Its population is less urbanized than almost every other
comparable economy. Literacy rates are lower than in most Asian competitors
and income is less well distributed across the whole population than in most
Asian competitors.
The market is also highly regional. A patchwork of cultures and languages,
federal India also has a highly uneven pattern of wealth. Average state incomes
in Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra are around five times the level in Bihar, for
example. Some urban areas continue to be richer on average, while large rural
areas of Bihar, Jharkand, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa are officially destitute.
According to recent data from India‟s Marketing Whitebook by
BusinessworldIndia has around 208 million households. Of these only a little over
six million are „affluent‟ – that is, with household income in excess of
INR215,000. Another 75 million households are in the category of „well off‟
immediately below the affluent, earning between INR45,000 and INR215,000.

Environment for the apparel and retail sector in India
ATKearney Report
According to The 2008 AT Kearney3 Global Retail Development IndexTM - India

continues to be among the most attractive countries for global retailers. At 511
billion $ in 2008, its retail market is larger than ever and drawing both global and
local retailers.
Organized retail which still accounts for less than 5% of the market, is expected
to grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40% from 20 Billion $ in
2007 to 107 billion $ by 2013. India‟s overall retail sector is expected to rise to
833 Billion $ by 2013 and to 1.3 trillion $ by 2018, at a CAGR of 10%.
Consequently, as a democratic country with a high growth rates, India‟s retail
market opportunity is unchallenged. Consumer’s spending has risen sharply
as the youth population (more than 33% of the country is below the age of
15) has been a significant increase in its disposable income. In the past 4
years alone consumers spending rose an impressive 75%.
But challenges have emerged that could potentially slow the pace of growth for
new global entrants – stifling regulations, soaring real estate costs and fiercely
competitive domestic retailer groups. In addition, shopping mall projects are
running resource constraints that are delaying completions and destructing many
retailer entries strategies.
Global retailers, hungry to enter this market, continue to frustrate by restrictive
government regulation. Under India‟s current laws which the government relaxed
somewhat in 2006, single brand retailer can own a 51% majority stake in joint
venture with a local partner.
Such relaxed regulation does not extend to multi brand retailer such as Wal-Mart,
Tesco and Carrefour, which must operate through franchise or cash & carry
wholesale format. Accordingly, Wal-Mart recently joined forces with Indian
telecom giant Bharti enterprises. Bharti will own retail shop under the Wal-Mart
franchise and Wal Mart will operate logistic, procurement and storage activities.
In the past couple of years, numerous retailers including the SPAR group,
Carrefour, Marks & Spencer and Nautica have entered the market. Earlier
entrants, including Wal-Mart and Metro, have plans for a blitz across the country.
Tesco and Kroger will feel additional pressure as the situation grows more
competitive.
Local hypermarket retailers are moving aggressively to get ahead of further
loosening of foreign investment regulation. Taking their cue from success of
hypermarket in china local retailer such as Pantaloon, the Tata group‟s Trent,
RPG enterprises, K Raheja Corporation and Reliance have all taken an early

lead due to ambitious expansion plans. Season business such as Reliance &
Aditya Birla are locking at the upstream value chain (farms, logistics and storage)
to better their positions once they begin competing directly with the likes of Wal-
Mart.
As the retail industry in India matures, companies are pursueing new business
models. For example, Reliance restructured and is now pursuing joint venture
opportunities with international retailers such as Office Depot, Marks & Spencer
and Neiman Marcus. The industry is also beginning to consolidate with Aditya
Birla acquiring Trinethra Superretail, the Wadhawan Group acquiring small
regional retailers, and Actis investing in the supermarket chain Nilgiris.
The real estate costs are prohibitive and the cost to acquire to train and retain
workers has increased as more lucrative work opportunities emerged. Although
the workforce continues grow rapidly (with more women and farmers entering), it
cannot keep up with the growth across all the business sectors in India.
Still, large retail outlets hold a strong appeal for customers even though they
place India‟s 4 million to 6 million mom-and-pop shops at risk. This is causing
concern over the pace of change and could be another speed bump on the road
to India‟s 1.2 billion consumers.
The Global Retail Apparel Index 2008
Rank Country Absolute Growth Consumer Score

market size prospects affluence
1 Brazil 45 33 42 48
2 China 74 22 36 47
3 India 57 37 31 47
4 Turkey 29 37 59 46
5 Chile 22 47 44 46
6 Romania 21 54 34 45
7 Argentina 21 44 39 41
8 Thailand 22 25 57 40
9 Russia 52 22 39 39
10 UAE 31 42 28 38
ATKearney Retail Apparel Index analysis evaluates more than 30 apparel

markets to identify the top 10 countries in terms of market size, growth
prospects and consumer affluence.
 The retail apparel index is comprised of market indicators 55% and

growth indicators 45%.
 Market indicators include total clothing sales and imports, total and
youth population & clothing sales per capita.

 Growth indicators include total clothing sales, compound annual

growth rate (CAGR) in clothing imports and clothing sales per capita,
population growth and CAGR of GDP per capita.
 Within each metric, a country is assigned points based on its value
on the metric against the largest sample.
For example, china has the largest total sales at $ 93.5 billion, so its scores 100
points in the metric, Brazil has $ 76 Billion in total clothing sales, so it scores 81.4
points (76 divided by 93.5 times 100)
Apparel is India’s second largest retail category (behind food & grocery),
representing 10% of retail market. Projected to reach $ 37 billion for 2008,
apparel will be among the highest growth categories, with a CAGR of between 12
to 15%.
In 2008, organized retail will represent roughly 10% of the total market. The rapid
growth is supported by the burgeoning Indian middle class. Mean Annual
disposable income is growing at more than 6% CAGR, consumer spending is
expected to increase 8% per year. Other factors supporting these brisk growth
rates include
 more apparel focused shopping malls

 continued penetration of credit cards
 organized apparel retailing in tier 2 and tier 3 cities
 the popularity of ready-to-wear clothing and western fashion for women.
Still, India’s apparel market is highly fragmented. The top 7 competitors
represent less than 10% of total market. Customers tend to be loyal to a
specific retailer – Shopper’s Stop, Westside & Pantaloon – instead of any
particular apparel brand. This has led to a thriving private label apparel market
for ready-to-wear clothes and more competition. However, brands as Benetton,
Louis Phillipe, Van Heusen and Esprit are capturing a strong following
among Indian consumer.
There is a flurry of activity across all price points, with new concepts and brands
being launched almost every month. Madura Garment joined Peter England
People, a mass market family store modeled after GAP and Old Navy.
Discounter Koutons has opened nearly 1000 stores in the past few years.
A key challenge for apparel retailer in India is to induce customer to purchase
quickly, which means sales promotion tactics are important, including end of
season sales, festival promotion and special events.
Local firms such as Future Group are having sales of $ 845 million. It has more
than 5 million sq feet of retail space in roughly 450 stores across 40 cities. Its
principal formats include pantaloon, a departmental store chain & Big Bazaar, a
hypermarket chain. Shopper‟s Stop has 5 million sq feet of retail across 88 stores
in 12 cities. The group plan 6 million square feet of retail space by 2011.

Ernst & Young Report
According to Ernst & Young retail report4 the organized retail in the year 2002 is of 1075
$ million and is expected to grow with CAGR of 16%.
The clothing segment (2005) is positioned for further organized retail penetration
due to the high level of branding activities by apparel retailers and merchandising
spread across formats such as department stores, hypermarkets, own retail
outlets and franchises.

Understanding buying pattern of consumers in India

According to Ernst & Young report4 Indian consumers‟ lifestyle and profile is also
evolving rapidly.
India has one of the youngest populations in the world with 54% of the
population below the age of 25. Discretionary spending has seen a 16% rise
for the urban upper and middle classes and the number of high income
households has grown by 20% year on year since 1995-96.
There is an increasing shift from price consideration to design and quality,

as there is a greater focus on looking and feeling good (apparel as well as
fitness). At the same time, the new Indian consumer is not beguiled by retailed
products which are high on price but commensurately low on value or
functionality.
There is an easier acceptance of luxury and an increased willingness to

experiment with mainstream fashion. This results in an increased tendency
towards disposability and casting out -from apparel to cars to mobile phones to
consumer durables.
The self-employed segment of the population has replaced the employed

salaried segment as the mainstream market. 40% of primary wage earners in
the top 2-3 social classes in towns with a population of 1 million or more are self
employed professionals and businessmen. This has driven growth in
consumption of productivity goods, especially mobile phones and two and four-
wheelers.
Finally, credit friendliness, drop in interest rates and easy availability of finance
have changed mindsets. Capital expenditure (jewellery, homes, cars) has shifted
to becoming redefined as consumer revenue expenditure, in addition to
consumer durables and loan credit purchases.
The 4 major organized retail sectors are
 Food & Grocery

 Clothing
 Consumer Durables
 Books & Music
In 2003-04, private consumption expenditure in India amounted to Rs 1,690,000

crores (USD 375 billion) of which, retail sales constitute about 61% (USD 230
billion).

Food & Grocery (USD154 billion) contributes about 41% of private consumption
expenditure and about 77% of total retail sales. However, this segment is largely
controlled by the unorganized small outlet sector -penetration of organized retail
is about 1% in this segment.
This is one of the primary reasons for India‟s low organized retail penetration
rate. The sector is defined by low gross margins, but there is a tremendous
growth potential in the organized sector in the form of hypermarkets,
supermarkets and hard discount chains. In such a scenario, pricing and network
will be the key to success.
Clothing is the second largest segment in terms of retail sales.

Consumer Preference for apparel brands
India devotes roughly the same share of their income to apparel as do Chinese
and Brazilian. But the countries lower per capita income levels means overall
spending on apparels is significantly lower, and the habit of Indian shopper
present intriguing challenges for multinationals eyeing the market. For starters,
nearly 40% of mass-market Indian shoppers McKinsey5 surveyed said that their
most important shopping occasions revolved around special events such as
weddings and annual religious festivals – a figure dramatically higher than the
one for shoppers in the other emerging markets McKinsey studied. Furthermore,
to a greater extent than else were shopping is a family activity in India, nearly
70% of its shopper‟s always go to stores with their family, and 74% - more than
twice than average of Brazil, China and Russia view shopping as the best way to
spent time with family. The preference for family – oriented shopping is
consistent across age groups, income segments, regions and city sizes.
As in many markets, in India women are the primary decision makers in apparel
purchases for the entire family. But India‟s men also have an important role –
indeed, half of McKinsey survey respondent said that their husband had a major
influence on which stores they frequented – a proportion far higher than Brazil
(3%), China (8%) and Russia (18%). What‟s more, India is unusual in that the
market for men‟s apparel is larger than women‟s market, where traditional Indian
apparel still dominates. Mass – market apparel retailer must therefore find
formats and merchandising approaches that will attract shopper‟s seeking
apparel not only for special occasion but also appealing to entire family.
According to McKinsey5 survey young Indian aged 18 – 24 years strongly trust
brands from their own country but also believe that foreign brands are of higher
quality than local brand.
In India, rather than using only income bands to define category of consumers,
we use the socioeconomic class code established by the Market Research
Society of India, high-end or “global” consumers are those in socioeconomic
class (SEC A), mass-market consumers are those in SECs B and C, and
struggling consumers are represented by SECs D and E. In addition to
household income the class code incorporate the levels of education and
occupation.

It is evident from research that in 6 months Indian‟s spent 59 € (Rs. 4838) which
is lowest in BRIC countries, but 38% of Indians buy clothes for special events like
festivals and weddings. Most of Indians shop with family and friends which is
68% highest among BRIC countries.

Young generation (Youngistan) frequently goes for the shopping of apparels

which is average of 4.5 trips per six months and average spending is also much
higher than the average spending. This is why the apparel brands are targeting
the youth in BRIC countries including India.
Age groups of 18 – 24 years and 25 – 34 years would like to spend more on

apparel if their income increases instead of saving. Most of the youngster believe
that domestic brands can compete with the foreign brands but they would like to
purchase foreign brands.

In India 23% people buy clothes for going out with family and friends, 10% for
going to work, 26% for all purpose use, 25% in order to wear at home, and
majority of 38% for special occasions.
According to Nielsen survey6, Indian‟s are in the list of top 10 countries which
disagree that designer brands are of significantly higher than standard brands.

Primary Data Analysis with help of SPSS
Sample Design
A sample design is a definite plan for the obtaining a sample from a given
population. A majority of patrons in a sample were selectively chosen to make
the sample represent the universal population as closely as possible.
Sample Unit
The sample unit consists of people of age group ranging from 18 years to 55
years & above. The sample consists of students, government employees,
employees, doctor, engineers, service category, manager, professors and
housewives.
Sample Size
The sample size of the survey is 116 people. A conscious effort is made to cover
each and every type of category of people and to cover almost all the region of
Mumbai.
Male: 65 Students: 34
Female: 51 Salaried: 82
Primary Data Collection
The primary data is that which is collected for the first time, and thus happen to
be original in character. For this study questionnaire method and interview
method has been adopted. Clearly and understandably set of questions had
been printed and got filled by 116 people for their valuable response.
Limitations:
The duration of survey and its geographical extent is one of the limitations. For
more authentic and relevant results a larger sample size with a greater
geographical reach can be considered at later stage.

Sample Analysis
Demographic Classification - SampleAge Groups

60
50
40
No. of people
30
20
10
0
15 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 & more
Age in years

Shopping Preference – Time Period & Format of store
Shopping Time Period
8% 7%
16% every week

every month
every 3 month
38%
every 6 month
every year
31%
It is evident from the pie chart that 38% of the total population prefers to shop
every month.
Retail format preference
70
60
50
No. of people
40
30
20
10
0
EBO MBO Discount Street Internet
Store Shop
No. of People 15 65 27 7 0
Multi Brand outlet leads the preference of retail formats followed by discount
stores, exclusive brand outlets, and street shop. In India internet shopping is not
so popular, out of 116 samples no one preferred internet shopping for garment
and accessories.

Customer spending & its relation with average frequency of spending
Customer Average Spending

> Rs. 3000 < Rs. 1000
15% 9%
Rs. 2000 - 3000

35% Rs. 1000 - 2000
41%
41% of the consumer spends between Rs 1000 – 2000 whenever they shop
garments and accessories.
SPSS analysis tool (Reports – 123 Summaries) enables us to know the relation
between the average spending of the customer and frequency of shopping. It can
be concluded that majority of the consumers who spends Rs. 1000 to 2000
shops either every month or every 3 months.
Average spending of customer

< Rs. 1000 Rs. 1000 – 2000 Rs 2000-3000 >Rs. 3000
Every week 2 2 2 2
Frequency Every month 5 19 17 3
of Every 3 months 1 18 13 4
shopping Every 6 months 2 6 6 5
Every year 1 2 3 3

Types of Media Influence for Fashion Brands on people
39 Media Preferred for Fashion Brands

40
35 28
No. of People
30 23
25
16
20
15 7
10 3
5
0
Media
Out of 116 people, 39 notice the fashion brands in newspaper followed by 28

people in the magazine. From SPSS Population pyramid graph, the most
preferred media for the male is Newspaper and Television and for female is
Magazine and Newspaper, internet and movies are not much popular media.

Influence of Celebrity endorsement for fashion brand
Do Celebrity endorsement influence brand

selection?
Agree
9%
Disagree
28%
Somewhat agree
28%
Indifferent
25%
Somewhat disagree
10%
The various fashion brands are being promoted by celebrities such as:
 Actors: Shahrukh Khan (Belmonte), Amitabh Bachann (Reid & Taylor),

Saif Ali Khan (Provogue), Akshay Kumar (Levis 501), Kangana Ranawat
(Levis), Esha Deol (Provogue), Abhishek Bachann (Flying Machine),
Hrithik Roshan (John Players) etc.
 Sport stars: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Siyaram), Yuvraj Singh (Donear),

Maria Sharapova (Nike), Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh), etc.
 Models & Designer: Milind Soman (Excaliber), Rohit Bal (Linen Club)
etc.
 Celebrities in Movies: Louis Phillipe (Don – Shahrukh Khan), Van

Heusen (Ghajini – Amir Khan), Spykar Jeans (Golmaal), Pantaloon (Na
tum Jano na hum), Reebok (Shah Rukh Khan – Main hoon Na), Polo
Sport (Shah Rukh Khan – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) etc.

Relative Preference of consumer while selecting garment & accessories
Store Proximity 1.99
Store Ambience 1.81
Price 4.09
Quality 4.64
Design 4.46
Brands 3.99
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
More the score, prefered the most (best is 6)
From the chart it is clear that Indian‟s give first priority to Quality while selecting
the garment and accessories. Indian‟s are not so brand conscious and brand
loyal. Design is the second attribute preferred while selecting the garment and
accessories.
Indian consumers are price conscious as it ranks third among all the attributes.
Unlikely in America and Europe people are brand and fashion conscious but here
people need “value for money”, which means the product should be of best
quality, latest design and price should be affordable.
Brand comes fourth in ranking according to the survey.
Attributes of store such as proximity of store and ambience of store comes last in
the priority of Indian consumer. Consumers do shopping on an average for every
3 months, so proximity of store does not play important role. Shopping and mall
visit is the most preferred pass time for the Indian consumer.
Ambience of store does not matter in consumer buying preference directly but it
helps in impulse buying and increasing foot falls.

Impulse Buying Vs. Planned Buying, Indian Brands Vs. International Brands
Do consumer plan brand, color, type of

merchandise etc before buying?
Impulse Buying
Planned Buying
Does Indian Fashion Brands have standards

that of International Brands?
International
Brands Indian Brands
48% 52%

Selection of one brand over other
Consumers who purchase the fashion products from Exclusive brand outlet
prefer shopping one brand over another only because of the brand image of the
particular brand.
In multi brand outlet, majority of male select a particular brand over another due
to brand image but majority of female purchase a particular brand over another
brand due to shopping experience.
Overall preference for one brand over another is the shopping experience for a
particular brand. Celebrity endorsement is not much considered while choosing
one brand over another.

Consumer stand on Emergence of Women & Kid’s wear brand
Emergence of Women & Kids wear in India
Not Possitive Move
Possitive Move
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Conclusion
In India the branding in the garments and accessories is in the growth phase.
Consumers have started identifying and preferring branded products over
unbranded products due to growth in retail sector. Another observation is that
Indian consumer is quality and price conscious rather than brand conscious
which means there are very few brand loyal customers. Thus proper category
management and catchment can improve branding and brand loyalty in India.
Notes:
1.Consumer Confidence concerns, Spending and attitude to recession, a global Nielsen report – June 2008.
(www.nielsen.com)
2.Conumer Markets in India –the next big thing? – KPMG report – September 2005. (www.kpmg.com)
3.Emerging opportunities for Global Retailers – The 2008 AT Kearney Global Retail Development Index
(www.atkearney.com)
4.The Great Indian Retail Story – Ernst & Young Report – 2006 (www.ey.com/india)
5.The Mckinsey Quaterly – How half the world shops: Apparel in Brazil, China, and India. 2007
(www.mckinsey.com)

Appendix
Name:_________________________________Age: _____ Gender:_________
Email Id:______________________________ Occupation:_________________
1. Please Tick how often do you shop clothes & accessories?
Once in a Once in a
Once A week month Once in 3 month Once in 6 month year
2. How much do you spend on an average for shopping for clothes & accessories?
< Rs 1000 Rs 1000 - 2000 Rs 2000 - 3000 > Rs 3000
3. Where do you shop apparels often? (Please tick any one)

EXCLUSIVE MULTI BRAND DISCOUNT STREET
BRAND OUTLET OUTLET STORES SHOP INTERNET
4. Where do you notice Fashion brands maximum (often)? (Please tick any one)
Newspaper Magazine Television Hoardings Movies Internet
5. Does a celebrity endorsement influence your brand selection?

Agree Somewhat agree Indifferent Somewhat disagree Disagree
6. Which attribute matters most while selecting apparels? Rank your preference. (1 is most
preferred and 6 is least preferred)
Brand Price
Design Ambience of Store
Quality Proximity of Store
7. Do you plan particular brand, color, type of merchandise etc before shopping?
yes no
8. Do Indian Fashion Brands have standards (quality, design) that of International Fashion
Brands?
yes no
9. Is the entry and emergence of women and kids wear brands in India a positive move in
India?
yes no
10. What will you consider while choosing a particular brand over another brand
of similar product quality and price range?
Brand image Celebrity Endorsement Shopping Experience

Critical Analysis of Consumer Brand Preference For Apparel & Accessories

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Minor Project: Critical Analysis

of Consumer Brand Preference for

Research & Compiled by:

Akansha Choudhary M/FMS/08/03

Master of Fashion Management

Secondary Data Source

CERTIFICATE FROM GUIDE REGARDING COMPLETION OF WORK

Akansha Choudhary (M/FMS/08/03)

2 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

We are grateful to NIFT for providing us an opportunity to do research work on “Critical

Master of Fashion Management

3 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

4 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

5 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

About Brands and Fashion

“Consumers are evolving entities. Their aspirations & expectations are

India represents an economic opportunity on a massive scale, both as a global

Consumers consider fashion as part of an overall budgetary spend, so apparel

6 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

 From a proliferation of brands

 Fast mutation of its specificities

1. Annual report of Shopper‟s Stop Ltd is available on www.shoppersstop.com & page 17

7 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

8 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

Brand2 according to (American Marketing Association) is „ A name, term, sign,

9 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

Brand resonance model

1. Identity - Ensuring identification of the brand with customers and an

2. Meaning - firmly establishing the totality of brand meaning in the

3. Response - eliticiting the proper customer responses in terms of

4. Relationship - converting brand response to create active loyalty

10 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

11 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

“Fashion begins and ends with the customers” – Stephen Frings4

Fashion & its relation with brand

Marketing communication applied to fashion products

Advertising Public Relation Promotion Direct Marketing

Store Visual merchandising

The market of fashion products is highly competitive market whose main

12 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

integration of all the components of the marketing communication plan, including

The brand image in the marketing communication process

Brand Identity Brand awareness

 In order to keep or develop the value of the symbolic speech of the

13 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

The store image in marketing communication process

Geographic Location Visual Merchandising

Exterior Design Interior design other

Architecture Space design Sales assistant

The store image development is established through its geographical location,

14 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

It is necessary to assess the strength as well as understand nature of the brand‟s

15 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

16 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

17 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

1. To study the consumer confidence and consumer market in India.

3. To understand the buying pattern of the consumers in India.

primary data and SPSS.

18 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

Consumer confidence and consumer market in India

Consumer Confidence - AC Nielsen report1

According to AC Nielsen‟s Consumer Confidence, Concerns, Spending and