Segmenting women fashion magazine readers based on reasons of buying, fashion involvement and age: a study in the Turkish market

Abstract

The objective of this study is to understand why women buy fashion magazines and to cluster them accordingly. Hence fashion magazine consumers are clustered into groups based on why they buy fashion magazines, their fashion involvement levels, and their ages. According to the findings of the study, the reasons why women buy fashion magazines may be defined under 13 dimensions. Moreover, three distinct clusters are found and labeled as “Young occasional buyers interested in being informed on different styles and brands”; “Elder deal-prone low-fashion-involved buyers interested in current events and assessments on current events”; and “Settled high-fashion-involved regular magazine buyers interested both in trends and in content, design and visuality of magazines.” All three clusters are distinct and thus should be subject to different marketing strategies. The study is significant because although fashion magazines are one of the most important distribution channels for fashion marketing, research on them is very limited. Moreover, this research will offer insight both for fashion magazine marketers, who will be able to determine marketing strategies according to the varying clusters formed, and for academicians who are interested in fashion marketing.