The Personal and Psychological Buying Influences of Fast Fashion versus Australian Designer - Literature review Example

Literature Review Fast Fashion Fast fashion is a concept that has found significance among fashion retailers within the contemporary fashion industry (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst 2010). The term refers to prompt response to promising, current fashion trends or consumer demands by fashion apparel retailers, designers or manufacturers through the delivery of fashionable commodities. Fast fashion apparel are based on the emerging or recent fashion trends that are designed punctually to enable mainstream consumers to capitalize on current clothing styles at a relatively lower price. The concept of fast fashion is extensively used by industry players such as Spain-based Zara, UK-based TopShop and Forever 21 in the United States (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst 2010). Academics such Gabriealli, Baghi and Codeluppi (2012) agree that the key objective of fast fashion is to promptly design or manufacture products in a cost-efficient manner. Essentially, the efficiency is achieved through an understanding of the demands and the desires of the target market by the retailers (Gabriealli, Baghi and Codeluppi, 2012). Often, the demands or desires comprise trend-setting garments at a price that is at the lower end of the industry. Based on Bhardwaj and Fairhist’s (2010) perspective, the term fashion should describe an expression generally accepted by a set of people over a period of time. In addition, it should be characterized by a number of marketing factors such as short life cycle, high impulse buying, low predictability and high market demand volatility. In this case, for fashion clothing retailers to be profitable in the industry, they have to use the “speed market approach” to take advantage of fashion that is yet to grace the stores of competitors. Indeed, the fast fashion clothing industry has significantly transformed over the last two decades because of some major changes in the business environment (Gabriealli, Baghi and Codeluppi 2012). Ruane and Wallace (2013) define fashion as a cyclical expression of environmental, social and cultural features that are unique in a particular point of time within a certain geographical setting and which plays a crucial role in satisfying an individual’s self-image (Kacen and Lee 2002). From this perspective, it is perceivable that fashion is a self-reflective phenomenon and consumers’ relationships with certain fashion apparel are unique since it enables the consumers to express self-images of their own desires. Bhardwaj and Fairhist (2010) posit that market responsiveness and the agility through speedy incorporation of consumers’ preference into the manufacturing or designing process increase the retailers’ profit margin. Indeed, based on a historical perspective, fashion shows and fashion runways are recognized as some of the most influential inspiration of the fashion industry. From 1999 to date, catwalks, fashion runways and fashion shows transformed to become public phenomenon as photographs of the events were published in influential magazines and on the internet (Watson and Yan 2011). Consequently, conscious consumers became informed of fashionable styles and designs from these fashion events fashion shows and runways. Fast fashion retailers such as Zara and TopShop quickly adopted such designs in a bid to attract the consumers much faster and to introduce understanding of the designs to the stores in a period of between three and five weeks. On account of the virtue of rapid responsiveness, the fashion clothing industry transformed from preoccupation with forecasting the future trends and instead, majored on using real-time information to interpret the desires and demands of the consumers (Bhardwaj and Fairhist 2010; Watson and Yan 2011). Incapability to correctly predict or forecast the future trends, in addition to the failure to promptly reproduce and produce fashion clothing as noted on runways, leads to risks that are associated with longer lead times and inability to draw attention to the fashion-conscious consumers. Bhardwaj and Fairhist (2010) however propose that use of real-time information can mitigate the risks. Theories and perspective on fashion Watson and Yan (2011) cited the works of Schultheis (1988) to discuss three points that cover the theory of fashion. Fashion can be described as a consumer behavioral phenomenon surrounding material immaterial context within the sphere of “social influence and diffusion”. Within the sociological perspective, fashion is depicted as an indication of taste, cultural capital and social identity (Kacen and Lee 2002). Watson and Yan (2011) argue that fashion involves the distinguishing and imitative characteristics that have triggered continuous change to occur. Watson and Yan (2011) further cite the works of Behling (1985) to demonstrate that the median age and the economical state of a society can affect the rate at which a certain fashion is perceived to be acceptable. In situations where the median age in the society is low, then fashion would flow from the streets (bottom) towards the wealthier upper class (upwards). In cases where the median age of the society is high, then fashion would flow from the top downwards. The economy of state also affects the rate at which fashion change is acceptable. For instance, an upward trend in the economy affects the speed of fashion acceptance more significantly than the downward trend. The effect depicts an increased speed of acceptance. Within the context of fast fashion, speed of acceptance depends on the type of fashion that each consumer ascribes to (Watson 2012). Consumer perspective Based on an observation by Bhardwaj and Fairhist (2010), consumers are increasing becoming more fashion-conscious and demanding. As a consequence, the fashion apparel retailers have been forced to offer the right apparel at the right time in the market. As discussed earlier, this situation can be described as “fast fashion.” The consumer market is typically fragmented with regard to consumption patterns prompting fast fashion concept to gain significance among consumers. Basing on such developments, a general consensus among market analysts is that there is a need for identification of the full-spectrum of consumer behavior towards fast fashion (Bhardwaj and Fairhist 2010). Literature survey of fast fashion shows a range of aspects of supply chain management that is backed by supply chain theory to advance fashion retailers’ business model. Towards this end, it is critical to note that few studies have sought to interpret the concept of fast fashion as “consumer- driven” model. The area is therefore under-researched (Bhardwaj and Fairhist 2010; Gabriealli, Baghi and Codeluppi 2012). In the contemporary fashion industry, information and trends flow across the globe rapidly. This is beneficial to the consumers as they are able to have more alternatives and hence shop more frequently. Some researchers have noted that change in lifestyles due to social-cultural factors and the need to have unique forces have triggered fashion apparel retailers to replenish their merchandise constantly in consistency with the growing competition in the market (Gabriealli, Baghi and Codeluppi 2012). The constantly changeful consumer demands and desires have affected the process of forecasting to shift towards imitating the famous styles and designs from fashion magazines and runways in small quantities yet more repeatedly. Figure 1: Factors affecting consumer behaviour (Yakup and Jablonsk 2012) The idea of throwaway fashion is varied among different generations (Noble, Haytko and Phillips 2009). For instance, the young people or youth of a population who are referred as Generation Y would show preference for higher number of cheap, low-quality yet fashionable clothing in contrast to baby boomers which are given to show preferences that involve buying fewer high quality apparel (Noble, Haytko and Phillips 2009). From the perspective of conservative consumers, fast fashion is perceived as “wasteful” buying since, instead of purchasing one high quality item to satisfy a need, they give preference to buying a large number of lower quality apparel and then discard the old one quickly. Towards this end, based on varied consumer perspectives, it can be argued that indeed fast fashion being a supplier-driven approach, it is also a consumer-driven approach (Ruane and Wallace 2013; Gabriealli, Baghi and Codeluppi 2012). Factors affecting Consumer Behavior Most scholars and fashion retailers agree that social, economic, cultural, personal and psychological factors play a critical role greatly beyond the control and influence of marketers in influencing the purchasing decisions and consumer behavior (Constantinides 2004). The fast fashion model has found extensive application in the fashion industry as it offer self-directed proposals in stylistic content which directly estimate the fashion retailer’s second and third lines. Fast Fashion model also demonstrate its capacity to persistently stimulate the contemporary consumers who no longer make purchase of clothing because they need it. Indeed, Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi (2012) advise that a high effective cloth designing and manufacturing process often sustains low prices. Further, it replenishes the selection of available garments in the store. Based on this perspective, it is critical to note that a number of key psychological factors indeed affect consumer’s buying behaviour. Such factors may include motivation, attitudes and perceptions. These factors play a significant part in influencing consumers to develop certain fashion preferences. However, as explained by Constantinides (2004), many of these factors are beyond the control or marketers of retailers. However, understanding their impact on a target market is critical since marketing strategies can be established to appeal to their preferences. In buying a product, a consumer undergoes a decision process consisting of five stages: problem recognition, information search, evaluating alternatives, purchasing decision and post-purchase behavior. Consumer behavior and the consequential purchase decision are greatly influence by the social, cultural and psychological characteristics (Watson and Yan 2011). Figure 2: Consumer decision-making process (Yakup & Jablonsk 2012) Motivation Motivation influences buyers’ behavior. Within this context, motivation refers to the drive that directs the consumers towards purchasing a certain product. In case the motivation is high, it would imply that the perception or need is high. In this case, an individual will endeavor to actively satisfy the need. Consequently, consumers will decide to purchase the product. The aspect of motivation is directly correlated to “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” which postulates that individuals will often seek to satisfy psychological needs first, ahead of safety, esteem needs and self-actualization needs (Yakup and Janlonsk 2012). Kacen and Lee (2002) discuss the concept of fashion and buyer behavior based on the concept of collectivism. According to them, collectivism is a social pattern consisting of a certain group of people who see themselves as a central part of one or more collective groups. Such people who are collectivist are motivated by norms and duties imposed by their groups. Kacen and Lee (2002) also posit that individualism plays an integral role in determining the consumers’ purchasing power. They define individualism as a social pattern consisting of individuals who view themselves to be autonomous. On critical analysis, people who are individualist are often motivated by personal preferences, desires, rights and needs. Such people tend to give priority to their personal motivations (Kacen and Lee 2002; Yakup and Janlonsk 2012). In addition, they emphasize a rational analysis of their correlations with others. Both collectivism and individualism influence consumers’ buying behavior through their impact on self-image and self-identity as well as responsiveness to normative influences and the desire to restrain internal perceptions in a bid to act appropriately (Kacen and Lee 2002). Perception Perception of a situation confronting buyers will also determine what they decide to buy. It refers to the process by which consumers choose, organize and understand the environmental and informational stimuli in a bid to form a consequential picture of the situations surrounding them. A typical form of environmental and information stimuli is advertising. Creation of perceptions is a consequence of the brain’s distinctive processes of selective distortion, selective attention and selective retention. Selective retention refers to the tendency of a consumer to examine the maximum information they need in order to establish the suitability of purchasing a product. Selective distortion depicts the tendency of individuals to interpret information in a manner that they perceive will support what they wish to believe or already believe. Concerning selective distortion, Yakup and Janlonsk (2012) explain that consumers will often forget some of the stimuli they are exposed to and store only such information that best suits their current beliefs and attitudes. In which case, selective retention enables consumers to remember some attributes they favor and dispel those they tend not to like. Learning Several learning theorists are of the consensus that much of the human behaviour is a “learned behaviour.” In the same manner, consumer behaviour is greatly a part of learned behaviour as buyer behaviour is learned through responses, cues, drives and reinforcement, each of which builds upon the other (Yakup and Janlonsk 2012). Drives are strong stimuli within the mind of a consumer that create a need for an action. On the other hand, cues describes the minor stimuli that conditions consumer behaviour. Drives trigger cues. Responses refer to consumer actions based on drives, and cues. Responses create reinforcement in consumer behaviour, which influences the consumer’s future purchasing behaviour (Yakup and Janlonsk 2012). Beliefs and Attitudes Consumer beliefs and attitudes established dramatically through day to day activities influence their buying behaviour. Basically, consumer beliefs refer to descriptive thought processes they have about a product or situation. On the other hand, attitudes refer to consumer’s consistent feelings, evaluations and tendencies towards a product or situation (Yakup and Janlonsk 2012). Hedonism and Online Fffects on Generation Y purchasing behaviour William and Page (2011) observed that each generation has its unique characteristics, demographics experiences, expectations, values, lifestyles and generational history. Consequently, in the apparel industry, fashion apparel retailers reach out to multigenerational consumers to interpret their needs and appeal to their desires (Josiassen, Assaf and Karpen 2010). Miller (2012) depicts Generation Y (Gen Y) individuals as those born between 1977 and 1994. Such individuals are technology savvy and comprise a truly global consumer segment. William and Page (2011) observes that Gen Y individuals are generally well-grounded and wise for their age. They are generally accustomed to diversities in the universe as they were born into an advanced technological society. Eight key values are ascribed to the Gen Y, including customization, choice, integrity, scrutiny, speed, entertainment, collaboration and innovation. Studies have shown that Gen Y is impulsive spenders as they are generally free from financial commitments (Noble, Haytko and Phillips 2009). In which case, they love trendy products and fast fashion. Effective multitasking has enabled this generation to be successful. With regard to the internet, market researchers have hypothesized that there is often a need to interpret correctly how Gen Y use the media, the media they use and at what instances they use the media (Constantinides 2004). For instance, they generally use the internet as it is interactive. Gen Y is however impatient since they are raised in a world of technology and instantaneous gratification. Since the internet offers consumers the capacity to acquire very exact niche products unlike in traditional retailing, internet allows buyers to satisfy their self-expression and self-identity. Internet technology enables self-expression as it enables buyers to access virtually any fashion apparel despite the distance (Constantinides 2004). This allows them to express their desired self-image. Examining consumers’ relationship with online fashion brands is integral since relationships impact and are impacted by the contexts wherein they are entrenched. Given the interactive potential of the internet, it provides an opportunity for consumers and fashion retailers or designers to communicate directed despite their locations (Josiassen Assaf and Karpen 2010). Therefore, online consumers have immense quantity of fashion apparel and price information, which they can compare much easily. The interactive feature of the internet has played a critical role in promoting hedonistic buying. Shopping for fashionable items (hedonism), has long been associated with hedonic benefits. Miller (2012) explains that this is because consumers (particularly Gen Y) interact with fashion brands and form attachment to brands enabling the fashion to be part of their lives. Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi (2012) agree that such tendencies are in actual fact related to the psychological factors that influence consumer behaviour. Studies on materialism have observed that consumers tend to seek satisfaction or happiness by spending on luxury items to make their feel better (Miller 2012). However, review of hedonism within the fashion context shows a number of inconsistencies in how the hedonism construct operates. For instance, whether effective items should be integrated within the hedonism construct or creates separately (Miller 2012). In operationalizing hedonism, Miller (2012) shows that pleasure can be used to describe three pleasure aspects, namely cognitive, affective and sensory pleasure to examine the consequences of hedonism in fashion shoppers’ shopping list. Others focus on a single facet of pleasure (sensory pleasure). In which case, Miller (2012) discusses that hedonism as an emotional arousal that is related to inherent enjoyment. However, this notion restricts hedonic responses to those that are related to visual aural or taste. The limitation does however not include feelings or emotions evoked. Other hedonism operationalization’s include; stimulation, adventure, enjoyment and inspiration. In spite of which hedonism operation is operationalized, it is apparent that hedonism influences fashion shoppers (Miller 2012). Towards this end, it can be argued that hedonism operations such as enjoyment and adventure that is derived from learning new styles or fashion influences the innovativeness of fashion (such as being the first to purchase) and the pricing of fashion apparel. They also influence the decision to buy, the frequency of fashion apparel, the intention to purchase and loyalty to a fashion brand. 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