Clothing purchase behavior and the Canadian household life cycle

Abstract

The first intention of this research is to test if Wells and Gubar's model (1966) of consumer behavior, based on the life cycle, still explains the Canadian population's consumption behavior. A second objective, if warranted, is to determine the possibility to segment the Canadian population based on life cycles with the aim of explaining garment/apparel consumption. Using the Survey of Household Spending from Statistics Canada (2009), this article analyses total clothing expenditures and their subcategories of expenses for women and girls, men and boys, and children. Each expense is analyzed using two different data: (1) gross amount of money spent annually and (2) percentage of the category on household total spending. The three hypotheses of this research are validated, confirming (H1) the non-representativeness of Wells and Gubar's model; (H2) the importance of integrating single households in the life-cycle model since their purchase behaviors are significantly different from those of traditional households; (H3) the possibility to segment based on life-cycle criteria to better understand Canadian realities.