PPT - Ch. 3 - Consumer Segmentation

The Environment of Fashion

Key Concepts• The four major factors affecting

fashion• How research is used by fashion

producers and retailers to help them with market segmentation

• The five basic psychological factors that motivate human behavior—and how each affects fashion

Everything you always wanted to know about the environmental factors affecting fashion, as well as the geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral research tools for market segmentation.

chapter three

2008 Fairchild Books, Inc.Chapter 3The Environment of Fashion 2

The Environment of Fashion

A. Market Segmentation by geographics, demographics, psychographics, and

behavior

C. The sociological characteristics of the class structure

D. The psychological attitudes of consumers

B. The degree of economic development and well-being of a country or society

The four major environmental factors that affect fashion interest and demand.


• Psychographics: How do social class and lifestyle affect the mind of the consumer?

• Geographics: In what type of climate does the consumer live?

Target MarketsTarget Markets are specific groups of potential customers that a business is attempting to turn into regular customers. These markets are divided into four major segments.

Marketing Segmentation

• Demographics: What is the educational, income, age, race or gender of the consumer?

• Behavioral: Is the purchase about an occasion, benefit, status, or attitude?



• Research firms combine geographic and demographic studies. Caritas produces the PRIZM system that combines groups based on the degree of urbanization and socioeconomic status



• The VALS system groups consumers based on Primary Motivation and Resources.


The Economic EnvironmentFashion demand depends on a high level of economic development, which is reflected in consumer income, population characteristics, and technological advances.


PERSONAL = Total income of a group, i.e., before taxes.

The Economic Environment

DISPOSABLE = “Take home pay.” Used to buy food, shelter, clothing and other necessities.

DISCRETIONARY = What remains for the consumer to

spend after taxes and necessities.

Consumer IncomeConsumer Income

Most Important Income for Fashion DemandMost Important Income for Fashion Demand


Population: United States

1920 106 million

2000 274 million

The U.S. population has increased dramatically and will continue to grow.

2025 (estimated) 394 million

1950 151 million

1980 227 million


The Sociological FactorsThe key sociological factors influencing fashion today are leisure time, ethnic influences, status of women, social and physical mobility, instant communications, wars, disasters, and crises. Leisure time and suburbs greatly influence the fashions in today’s America.


U.S. Population Percents by Ethnicity


Status of Women

• As the century progressed, advanced education became available to increasing numbers of women.

• More than half of today’s college students are female.

• As women’s rights advanced throughout the 20th century, the marketing of fashion evolves…

• At the beginning of the 20th century, women could not vote, rarely worked outside the home or attended college, and enjoyed little social freedom.


• Women have progressively achieved more social freedoms and entered areas that were formerly the sole domain of men.

Status of WomenWorkWork

• This affects fashion from planning to production through retailing.


Social Mobility

• The middle class tends to follow the upper class’s fashion choices; however, the size of the middle class has a great economic influence on fashion.

• Many sociologists relate fashion change to changes in social mobility and the effort to associate with a higher class by imitation.


Physical Mobility

• The great American pastime takes people all over the continent, exposing them to different lifestyles.

• This exposure creates the desire to emulate lifestyles, which can be achieved through donning the clothing of different regions.

DrivingDriving


Physical Mobility

• Formerly an entitlement of the wealthy, the middle class is now able to experience different cultures within the U.S. and internationally.

Vacation TravelVacation Travel

• The effect is similar to the automobile domestically, but with greater range and economic punch. It also enhances the need for clothing that is easy to maintain and pack.


• Americans move often and live in different parts of a vast country.

Physical Mobility

MovingMoving

• This exposes people to different cultures, economies and weather patterns.


• The instantaneous medium with interactive capacity. You can learn what others are wearing in distant parts of the globe at the speed of light.

Faster Communications

The Internet

• The medium shines as the newest marketing opportunity for the fashion industry.


• A ubiquitous media engine that propels ads at the consumer.

• It informs us about fashion on a national and international scale.

• Celebrities often act as spokespersons in “infomercials” (program length advertising on television).

Faster CommunicationsTelevisionTelevision


The Psychological Environment

• Boredom, the greatest ally of the fashion industry.

• Curiosity – curious consumers like to experiment.

• “New” is often the quality that brings the consumer to the shop.


Reaction to convention comes in two forms:

Psychological

• Conversely, acceptance by the majority is an important part of the definition of fashion.

• Each new generation establishes independence by asserting values in opposition to the establishment.


• “Fashionistas” have an armor that gives them self-assurance.

• In a way, the fashion conscious are secure knowing they are wearing the most current look.

• Those who know that their clothes are dated are at a psychological disadvantage.

Psychological

Self assurance


• People conform to the dress of certain groups in order to be accepted in that group.

Psychological

• Companionship…all humans seek companionship.

• “Uniforms”, or conformity in dress, put people in “tribes”, or certain groups.

• “Tribes” create psychological comfort.

• We all balance individuality with the need to belong.


Psychological People’s surroundings and desire for companionship can be the starting point for an outrageous fashion trend

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PPT - Ch. 3 - Consumer Segmentation