Clothing Involvement Profiles of African-American Students for Marketing Strategies

Abstract

Successful marketing strategies for clothing business are strongly dependent on understanding the way in which consumers become involved with clothing product before making a purchasing decision. This study revealed that African-American college students have higher mean scores of clothing involvement than the other ethnic consumers have, which is caused by the highly skewed distribution pattern of clothing involvement. 240 completed data were analyzed to explain such unique characteristics of African-American students' consumption behavior using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA). As a result, many of African-American college students think it is very important to choose clothing that makes them look good with the fit and style. In particular, the high-involvement groups tend to follow the latest fashion trends and dynamic clothing styles in order to create their better personal image with best-fitting clothing. Fashion magazine is one of the most important information sources to them because it usually deals with lots of the current fashion issues for young consumers compared to other information sources.Keywords: product attributes, information sources, product involvement, African-American college students 2014). However, very little research has been done on clothing involvement profile, which is an analysis representing the extent to which consumers exhibit various characteristics in each group's apparel purchasing behavior. This study focuses on the African-American college students' involvement profile with clothing and its implications to marketers. The unique characteristics of African-American students shown in clothing involvement profile attempt to be understood through the analysis of relationship between clothing involvement and product attributes/information sources. Literature Review InvolvementInvolvement, which contains the personal attachment of products or service, is one of the most important ijms.ccsenet.org

Apparel Fashion for Niche Market: Profiles of African American Consumers

“…Those high-involvement consumers more sensitively consider the newest styles and current trend of fashion rather than the price of the clothing. Interestingly, the recent research [9] demonstrates that African American consumers have higher mean scores of clothing involvement than the other ethnic consumer groups, suggesting that they are very promising potential consumers with considerable purchasing power in the clothing market. Such highly involved African American consumers are very sensitive to the latest fashion trends and dynamic styles in order to create their better personal image with best-fitting clothing [9,10].…”

“…Interestingly, the recent research [9] demonstrates that African American consumers have higher mean scores of clothing involvement than the other ethnic consumer groups, suggesting that they are very promising potential consumers with considerable purchasing power in the clothing market. Such highly involved African American consumers are very sensitive to the latest fashion trends and dynamic styles in order to create their better personal image with best-fitting clothing [9,10]. always brought up when people wear their clothing in many different purposes such as protection from hazardous environments or selfexpression of their personality, identity, mood, and more.…”

Online Clothing Shopping Behaviors and Intention among College Students

“…The level of involvement is closely related to the personal relevance of objects, and is deeply influenced by the consumers' behaviors and attitudes (O'Cass, 2000). If consumers have a high level of product involvement, they are searching for a product a long time with the help of various resources; these products tend to be highly priced and durable (Tigert et al, 1976;Zaichkowsky, 1986;Evrard & Aurier, 1996;O'Cass, 2000;Warrington & Shim, 2000;Seo et al, 2001;Michaelidou & Dibb, 2006;Seo & Namwamba, 2014;Seo, 2016;Johnson et al, 2017;Dillahunty & Seo, 2019).…”