Abstract
In order to advance our knowledge about consumers’ shopping behaviour and preferences in two emerging markets (China and India), the current study was undertaken to investigate (1) apparel consumers’ shopping behaviour; (2) the effect of consumer innovativeness, and (3) the salient impact of apparel evaluative cues. An online self-administered survey consisted of shopping behavioural questions, the Domain Specific Innovativeness (DSI) scale, 12 apparel cues, and demographic questions were used for this study. In total, 266 and 236 usable data were collected from Chinese and Indian female participants respectively. The findings indicated that Chinese and Indian fashion innovators tended to spend more money on new clothes than non-innovators. Chinese fashion innovators spent significantly more time shopping online than did Indian innovators. In terms of the importance of evaluative cues, fashion innovators and non-innovators in both countries considered fit to be the most important cue; style, colour, and comfort played a relatively important role in clothing evaluation as well, but ease of care and durability were cited as relatively less important among many other cues. The two least important cues were brand name and country of origin.
Highlights
In 2016, China launched a new Five-Year Plan (2016-2021) for economic and social development with emphasis on new-style consumption to improve the quality of life, as well as to boost economic growth (HKTDC, 2016) Areas targeted for improvement/expansion included green, fashionable and quality consumption
In order to gain a deeper understanding of consumer innovativeness between these two emerging markets, the following questions were raised to guide and direct this research study: How may consumer innovativeness differ across nations? Are there any differences in consumer behaviour between different consumer groups? What type of product attributes would be preferred by the innovators and non-innovators? Does fashion innovativeness affect consumer shopping behaviours and clothing choices differently in China and India?
We proposed that shopping behaviour, consumer innovativeness, and clothing evaluative cues could greatly affect consumer choices and purchasing decisions of new fashion products
Summary
In 2016, China launched a new Five-Year Plan (2016-2021) for economic and social development with emphasis on new-style consumption to improve the quality of life, as well as to boost economic growth (HKTDC, 2016) Areas targeted for improvement/expansion included green, fashionable and quality consumption. According to the prediction of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC, 2017), China will become the largest economy in the world, followed by India and the United States by 2050 India is another emerging country in the AsiaPacific region, and has experienced rapid economic growth since the launch of its New Economic Policy in 1991 (Deloitte, 2013). China’s total retail sales are expected to reach $4.99 trillion (Reuters, 2016), with India’s being $1.3 trillion by 2020 (The Times of India, 2015) Another recent study (Yu et al, 2015) reported that consumers’ expenditure on apparel and footwear in Asia is expected to grow from US$625 billion in 2014 to US$920 billion by 2018. Does fashion innovativeness affect consumer shopping behaviours and clothing choices differently in China and India?. The effects of national culture and individuals’ cosmopolitanism on consumer innovativeness and innovationadoption behaviour
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
