Mr.

Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

STUDY ON THE CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

REGARDING THE BRANDED APPARELS AMONGST
THE YOUTH OF BANGALORE AT SHOPPER’S STOP

A project submitted to Shopper’s Stop (Bannerghata Road), Bangalore, as a part of a Live

Project required for the degree of Masters of Business Administration in International
Business, Christ University Institute of Management.

Guide: Mr. Abhishek (Departmental Manager, Shopper’s Stop)

Mentors: Prof. C.N. Kshetragna & Prof. Ghadially Zoher
By:
Mr. SAMRAT NANDY
Miss. KANKANA DEBNATH
Department of MBA (International Business)
Batch of 2010-2012
CHRIST UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Year: 2011
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

DECLARATION

We hereby declare that the project report entitled “Study on the consumer buying
behaviour regarding the branded apparels amongst the youth of Bangalore shopping at
Shopper’s Stop” submitted as a part of a Live Project for the degree of Master of Business
Administration in International Business is our original work and the same has not formed the
basis for the award of our degree, diploma, associates, fellowship earlier. So as far as we
know, it has not been submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any
degree or diploma.

Place: Bangalore Signature of the students

Date: 08/03/2011 ------------------------------------

------------------------------------
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

Acknowledgement

It is with real pleasure that we record our indebtedness to our mentors Prof. C.N. Kshetragna
& Prof. Ghadially Zoher, Christ University Institute of Management, for their counsel and
guidance during the preparation of this project.

We are also grateful to the Unit Head of Shopper’s Stop (Bannerghata Road), and also Mr.
Abhishek (Departmental Manager) and all other employees of Shopper’s Stop for their active
support & cordial co-operations.

Cordial thanks are also due to Mr. Vyomesh Ranjan, one of our friend for his co-operation
and encouragement to make the project complete.

We offer our thanks to all those who have directly or indirectly extended their co-operation
for conducting this project work.

Place: Bangalore Signature of the students

Date: 08/03/2011 ------------------------------------

------------------------------------
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

Executive Summary
More information is needed to understand the young consumer. Although expanding in the
past five years, research about the buying behaviours of consumer has tended to significance
of youth. Shopper’s Stop should understand the immense diversity among consumers if they
are to market apparels accurately and successfully.

The purpose of this research was to investigate youth to examine if differences in their
buying behaviour for apparel exist. In addition, consumer attributes and personal
characteristics were investigated separately and in relation to the purchase behaviour of
youth.

Objective
The objective behind this capstone project which we are going to conduct on the buying
behaviour of the youth towards branded apparels are:

 To study and analyse the impact of psychological factors on buying of youth

regarding apparels.
 To study the most preferred brand in the apparel segment amongst the youth.
 To study & analyse the brand preferences of youth in buying branded apparels.
 To study the factors which influence the buying behaviour for branded apparels.

Need of this Project

As in this competitive era one must be aware about the customer needs & wants & what a
customer expects from the company. One must have this information if he want to stay in the
market with a competitive edge over others. After conducting this study we must be able to
understand what customer wants from a brand, why he switches to other brands, what are the
factors involved which force him to purchase branded apparels. By which Shopper’s Stop can
formulate the strategies as per the customer needs & deliver them the products which
consumer want from the company which will be profitable for Shoppers Stop.

Scope of the Study

If we talk about the scope of this study in future then the scope of such study is very wide.
Scope of the study is that after gathering the information about the youth who like to
purchase the branded apparel & after studying the factors which influence them to go with
that specific brand. This study will be helpful for Shopper’s Stop. They will be able to know
the taste & needs of the consumer & what will be the products which will help them to
change the non-user of the brands they sale & retain their existing customers by providing
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

them the products ( apparels) which they want from Shoppers Stop. This study will actually
help Shoppers Stop to formulate and implement the marketing strategies.

INTRODUCTION TO APPARELS FASION

Apparel fashion has always changed no matter what category of apparel it is, and youth’s
wear is no exception. Social forces are believed to influence fashion including youth’s. One’s
spouse, family and culture are some of the forces that change fashion. An example of one’s
spouse influencing an individual, when he buys apparel, is that she may accompany him and
offer suggestions when he purchases items of apparel. A young male consumer’s family and
culture can influence his purchase decision because of the social interaction he has with them,
including whether his dress is acceptable to the group Identification of the role of apparel as a
sign of business success is not a new concept. A review of related literature revealed that self-
image/product image congruity was related to an individual’s behaviour to a particular item
and that apparel products had symbolic meaning. Studies have considered the relationship
between the self and apparel and have taken into account the various aspects of the self such
as actual self-image and ideal self- image. If the image of an outfit were a positive match with
the self-image, including both the actual self and the ideal self, the apparel item would be
worn most of the time.

Statement of the Problem

Market segmentation has become an important tool used by Shopper’s Stop and for
identifying target customers. Segmentation as the process of partitioning markets into
segments of potential customers who have similar characteristics and who are likely to
exhibit similar purchasing behaviour. Segmentation has become a major tool of Shopper’s
Stop for planning marketing strategies. Segmentation research has several objectives that
include analyzing markets, finding a niche, and developing and capitalizing on a superior
competitive position. This research investigates Cultural factors such as apparel involvement,
media, and reference group influences, self- esteem and social class. It also investigates
demographics such as income and age. Do cultural influences, how much money they earn,
and their age make a difference in their apparel choices? Do they let their wives chose their
clothes or do they make these choices?

INTRODUCTION TO SUBJECT
“Consumer Behaviour” is defined as the behaviour that consumer displays in the searching
for, purchasing, using, evaluating, & disposing of the products & services that they expect
will satisfy their needs. Consumer Behaviour focuses on how consumer make the decisions to
spend their available resources (Time, Money, Efforts) on consumption related items. That
includes what they buy ,why they buy it , when they buy it, where they buy it , how often
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

they buy it ,how often they use it ,how often they evaluate it after the purchase & the impact
of such evaluations on future purchases.

Market segmentation in Consumer Behaviour: Market Segmentation is defined as the

process of dividing a market into distinct subsets of the consumers with common needs or
characteristics and the selecting one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix.
Segmentation studies are designed to discover the needs & wants of the specific groups of the
consumers so that the specialized products can be kept in stock to satisfy each group’s need.
To understand the consumer buying behaviour we have two consumer decision making
models on the basis of which we can study the buying behaviour of the youth towards
branded apparels.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Research Design: A research design is an arrangement of conditions for collection and
analysis of Data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with
Economy in procedure. It constitutes the blueprint for collection, measurement and analysis
of data. Our research design will be exploratory research design.

Data Sources: In dealing with any real life problem it is often found that data at hand are
inadequate, and hence, it becomes necessary to collect data that are appropriate. The
researcher can collect data either through primary source or secondary source.

a) Primary data: These are those data which are collected afresh and for the first time, and
thus happen to be original in character. We will be using the structured questioners and
tracking sheets for close observations.

b) Secondary data: These are those which have already been collected by someone else and
which have already been passed through the statistical process. We will collect it from the
sources like internet, published data etc. Population of the study Youth visiting Shopper’s
Stop will be included in population.

Sampling Size: It is the total number of respondents targeted for collecting the data for the
research. Sample size of 100 persons will be taken for this research.

Sampling Technique: Random sampling technique will be used in this research project.
Sampling Frame: Frame is the list of respondents.

Data Processing: Daily data will be entered into MS-Excel sheets. After the exhaustion of
the specified brand zones of Shopper’s Stop this data will be analyzed using simple graphical
and tabulation techniques.
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

Analytical Tools: After collection of data another work necessary for any data collector is to
correctly analyse that data. So statistical tools will help us to correctly analyse the data. As
we will be using here the software named SPSS for analysis of the data. We will use
following statistical tools:

Hypothesis Testing & Chi-square test will be used when the set of observed frequencies
obtained after experimentation have to be supported by hypothesis or theory. The test is
known as X2- test of goodness of fit and is used to test if the deviation between observation
(experiment) and theory may be attributed to chance (fluctuations of sampling). χ 2 also
enables us to explain whether or not two attributes are associated or related to each other. To
test the goodness of fit the null and alternative hypothesis to be tested is as follows:

Null Hypothesis Ho: There positive correlation between the demographic factors &
Physiological factors.

Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a negative correlation between the demographic factors
& Physiological factors.

STATISTICAL TOOLS TO BE USED

Chi –Square Test Procedure:

 Set up the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the observed
and expected value.
 We compute the value of CHI- square by using the formula
CHI-square = ∑ χ2 = Σ((Oi-Ei)²/Ei) where O = Observed value E = Expected value

Degree of freedoms = (R-1)*(C-1)

Level of significance = 5

Types of Apparels in Shopper’s Stop

In Shopper’s Stop we found so many Internal Private Label brands as well as International
brands in different apparel segments which include:

 Corporate Wears
 Ethnic Wears
 Sports Wears
 Casual Wears
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

PLAYERS IN APPARELS MARKET IN SHOPPER’S STOP

As we have discussed that there are so many apparel players ruling in Shopper’s Stop out of
which some players are internal private label Players & some players are of International
standards. Every player have their different product portfolio in a particular apparel segment
Or there are many players in each apparel segment which we have discussed above i.e.
corporate/formal wears, semi-formal wears, ethnic wears, Sports wears & casual wear
segments.

PLAYERS

 Corporate Wear’s segment

 FORMAL SHIRTS
 LOUIS PHILLIP
 AUSTIN REED
 INDIAN TERRAIN
 VAN HEUSEN
 PROVOGUE
 VETTORIO FRATINI
 WILLS LIFE STYLE
 STOP
 ARROW
 ZODIAC

 FORMAL TROUSERS
 BLACK BERRY
 SHAPES
 THEME
 ARROW
 GEOVANI
 ACROPOLIS
 VETTORI FRATINI
 Casual & Party Wear’s Segment
 ZOD!
 MARIO ZEGNATI
 V.
 LIFE
 Ethnic Wear’s Segment
 KASHISH
 MANYAVAR
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

 Premium Brands in Shopper’s Stop

 ENERGY
 ESRIT
 ALLEN SOLLY
 TOMMY HILFIGER
 CALVIN KLEIN
 MUSTANG
 LOUIS PHILIP
 PROVOGUE

Did not get ample time to research on few types of segments like:

 Jeans
 FLYING MACHINE
 NUMERO UNO
 WRANGLER
 MISS LEE
 LEE ( PERFECT FIT )
 LEVIS
 PEPE JEANS

 Undergarments, Socks & Hanky

 JOCKEY
 HENZE
 TOMMY HILFIGER
 CALVIN KLEIN
 STOP
 VETTORI FRATERNITY
 ALLEN SOLLY

 Ties
 ZODIAC
 VETTORI FRATERNITY
 AUSTIN REED
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the consumer-centred approach to brand
management to assist Shopper’s Stop in reducing the depreciation of brand equity. Brand
equity was operationalized in the context of conjoint measurement. In total, 100 respondents
participated in survey testing of brand equity for six brands each in various apparel segments.
It was found that brands did not hold much beyond their name. Companies holding strong
brands will need to define product design & Fashion in terms of their perceived functionality
across consumer cutting edge methodology to test mindset segmentation by combinations of
product features as a new basis for brand management was used. In contrast to traditional
segments, Shopper’s Stop has built and position brands around customer segments. The study
focused on brands in the various apparel segments requiring the repositioning (like Mustang)
to create proper brand awareness. Linked the scenario with the article written by Gabay
Gillie(2009).

Not surprisingly, many crucial insights emerge from this survey. For instance, proposed that
consumers attempt to control their innate impulsive tendencies because they perceive impulse
buying as normatively wrong and do not want to be perceived as immature or lacking
behavioural control. Despite the risks and the negative normative associations with such
behaviour, found that impulse buying is present in most apparel segments. The survey also
reveals that between 27 and 62 percent of department store merchandise is bought on
impulse. From the article written by Nukhet Harmancioglu (2009).

The purpose of this project is to analyze youth's impact on innovation decision making
empirically. This paper is a diary study with 14 parents depicting their experiences with
regard to the topic of interest over a period of three weeks. This paper will help Shopper’s
Stop to tailor appropriate marketing and innovative strategies to attract more youths. Special
attention is given to the familial dynamics in the innovation decision-making process. This is
to prevent inter-family conflicts fuelled by the youth's requests. Moreover, despite its many
bonuses, the diary method has rarely been applied in the context of familial purchase decision
making. Youth's influence is stronger in earlier stages of the innovation buying process,
based on different communication strategies with differing effects on their parents'
purchasing behaviour. The survey indicate that status-seeking teenagers have overall, a more
positive attitude toward foreign luxury brand apparel as compared to internal private label
brands, with the exception of Party wear brands. On the other hand, non- status seeking
teenagers reported that they have more positive attitude towards internal private brands like
STOP and Vettori Fraternity.

The purpose of this project is to explore the relationship between the customer's risk
aversion and its relationship with brand loyalty and to test empirically whether this
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

relationship is mediated by brand trust and brand affect. A randomly selected sample of
STOP users was drawn. Their risk aversion, two forms of loyalty (attitudinal and repurchase
loyalty), brand trust and brand affect have been measured with existing and tested scales. The
hypothesized model has been tested using PLS (Partial least squares) findings are limited to
formal apparel users. The generalization of the results could be extended by broadening the
list of segments, for example with other segments products may have more brand effect and
brand trust or may be even more important in developing brand loyalty. This paper explains
why certain customers have more trust and experience more affect than others and how this is
related to loyalty. Hence, Shopper’s Stop can increase brand loyalty by targeting more risk
aversive customers. Customer's risk aversion is significantly related to the two forms of
loyalty (attitudinal loyalty and brand loyalty). When brand affect and brand trust are
introduced into the model, the previously highly significant relationship between domain-
specific risk aversion and attitudinal loyalty becomes insignificant and the risk aversion-
repurchase relationship becomes much weaker, while risk aversion strongly influences brand
trust. Related with the article written by Matzler Kurt(2008).

This risk-based explanation has gained widespread acceptance and has been empirically
tested several time Isabel J. Grant (2006) Isabel J. Grant in his study “Buying behaviour of
“teenage” girls and key societal communicating factors influencing their purchasing of
fashion clothing” said that The term “teenagers’” is relatively new in marketing terminology,
but has captured the attention and interest of marketers and many commercial stakeholders in
different fields of business, who are or are becoming aware of the huge potential of this
group. “Teens” are those young people whose ages range from “pre-adolescent to 25 years”
and have been described as “the richest generation” in history and the spending of this age
group “has roughly doubled every ten years over the last three decades”. Jensen, 2006
Although there is a stable demand for foods , the demand structure may change over time,
and there could be a tendency towards other competing products or substitute ones. This is
directly linked to such variables as the social and cultural level, purchasing power, and
development process of the consumer. Rising consumer income, changing demographics and
lifestyles, and shifting preferences due to new information about the links between diet and
health all contribute to new demands for foods As the cultural level and capital incomes
increase, the consumption of carbohydrate foods decreases and the consumption of protein
foods increase Eun Joo Park (2005) in his study “A structural model of fashion-oriented
impulse buying behaviour” Said that Impulse buying behaviour is a sudden, compelling,
hedonically complex buying behaviour in which the rapidity of an impulse decision process
precludes thoughtful and deliberate consideration of alternative information and choices.

Several researchers have reported that consumers do not view impulse purchasing as wrong;
rather, consumers retrospectively convey a favourable evaluation of their behaviour .Other
researchers have treated impulse buying as an individual difference variable with the
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

expectation that it is likely to influence decision making across situations Judith Cardona
Forney (2005):Judith Cardona Formation in his study said that Emotion that encompasses
affect and mood is an important factor in consumer decision making. Typically, emotion is
classified into two orthogonal dimensions (e.g. positive, negative). Positive emotion can be
elicited by an individual's pre-existing mood, affective disposition, and reaction to current
environmental encounters (e.g. desired items, sales promotions).Emotion strongly influences
actions including impulse buying . Consumers in more positive emotional states tend to have
reduced decision complexity and shorter decision times). Moreover, when compared to
negative emotion, consumers with positive emotion exhibited greater impulse buying because
of feelings of being unconstrained, a desire to reward themselves, and higher energy levels .

Sexton and Perlman (2005) In a study involving single and dual income families reported that
dual income wives perceived themselves as less feminine than the single income wives, even
though their perceptions of masculinity were not significantly different. The authors
suggested that these results were indications that, at very least, career-minded women in the
sample perceived themselves as having attributes traditionally regarded as masculine. The
authors reported that even though the wives are different in terms of their traditional
orientation, they did not show significant differences in terms of power structure in the
family. This finding suggests that even though the couples are different in terms of their
marital structure, the ideology of marital power is similar Kwan C.Y. (2004): This paper
explores young Chinese consumers’ decision-making behaviour towards casual wear
purchase in Mainland China. Specifically, it offers empirical results on the relationship
between consumers’ decision-making styles and clothing choice criteria towards buying
casual wear.

The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) for
examining different consumer decision-making styles, was adapted in this study. A
questionnaire survey was employed as the tool to collect primary data and the research
instrument was administered to 161 University students in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou
in the Mainland. The results show that six decision-making styles (recreational and hedonistic
consciousness, perfectionism consciousness, confused by over choice, habitual and brand
loyalty, price and value consciousness, and brand and fashion consciousness) were found in
the Mainland Nuray Kizilaslan(1998) One of the factor is past Experience. Other Factor on
which consumers place the most importance having any problems sorted out quickly. Since
most products will perform satisfactorily most of the time, few will need to make use of
customer services in this way. Yet clearly brand owners need to be ready to deal promptly
with any issues which do arise. Value and satisfaction are ranked second and third. A second
tier of factors reflects a more complex notion of loyalty. While consumers say using a brand
when they could use others is important, slightly more weight is given to being rewarded in
some way for this loyalty. Brands also need to continue to evolve, through new variants and
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

line extensions, in order to satisfy the demand that they be updated. Marketing factors are in
the third tier of importance, with a marginally positive balance of opinion. Loyalty schemes
may not be ranked as highly as being rewarded (which could involve a promotional
mechanic, or gaining points from a retailer’s loyalty card), but they do offer another route to
achieve the same goal. In ten, reflecting the high frequency of purchases for consumers at all
income levels. In the third tier of factors which reinforce loyalty, other brand-related issues
emerge. These are the need to offer a wide range, providing better value than competitors,
and reliability. Consumers want products that fit into their repertoire and will continue to
deliver value and performance every time. Although quality and product range are the
commonest factors named. The demand for more special offers underlines the price
sensitivity in this market. Even so, consumers are not necessarily dissatisfied.

McConocho and Tully, 1993 Changes in the economic environment have led to changes in
the roles of husbands and wives. The authors concluded that even though changes in the
environment brought changes in the decision-making roles, these changes could not be
generalized to all products. Sex role orientation involves those values and norms that are
related to the duties and responsibilities of each sex. The behaviour of each spouse within the
family is affected by attitude norms and preferences that each spouse brings into the family.
These norms are, in turn, shaped by factors such as individual attitudes, the attitudes of each
spouse's parents.

Z. Gokalp Goktolga (1993) Product performance, in offering better products than

competitors, is the strongest reason given. This is closely followed by value for money and
habit, plus convenience. Since these items are in use every day, they must be affordable,
accessible and deliver against their promise. The second tier of factors can be seen to relate to
corporate and master brands which both cover a wide range of products but are also a way of
explaining what those products are for. This is likely to be especially important when line
extensions or product innovations are introduced. The importance of marketing factors was
cited by– sales promotions are the strongest reason, while direct marketing is the softest.
Brand advertising will help to create loyalty among one in five consumers, as will the way
consumers are treated by the stores where they buy these products household goods
companies have to be sure that their distribution chains also provide good service. This is
further reinforced by the importance of convenience as factor. The factors which create
loyalty among consumers range in nature, but also in importance.

Filiatrault and Ritchie, 1980 Younger, more educated couples and couples with higher social
class were also found to have modern sex role norms . It was suggested that couples with
modern sex role orientations will make more joint decisions relative to couples with more
traditional sex role orientations, who will be more likely to have one spouse dominate the
decision-making process. Traditional sex roles are rigid and tend to make the decision-
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

making in the family less complicated, i.e. the expected roles and responsibilities of each
spouse are quite clear. With the modern sex roles, the expected behaviour of each spouse is
less predictable due to the flexibilities and autonomy associated with each role, complicating
the decision-making process.

Green and Cunningham (1975), more women are performing traditionally male dominated
tasks and vice versa, and with increased autonomy, the wife is able to have more influence in
decisions within the family. One of those areas affected by the diminishing sex role
distinction is in consumption aspects of family decision-making. The findings showed that
husbands of liberal wives make relatively fewer decisions compared to the husbands of
moderate and conservative wives. Decisions related to groceries were found to be wife
dominated , and decisions related to life insurance were husband dominated. Decisions
regarding the purchase of furniture were reported to be made jointly. Interestingly, decisions
related to the purchase of major appliances, automobiles, and vacations were reported to be
related to the attitudes of the wives.

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATON

1. Awareness about the International /National Brands of Apparels

Aware %age: Yes =100, No= 0

Interpretation:

From above figure it is clear that out of the total sample of 100 customers everybody
is aware about the national & International brands of apparels.

2. Degree of Preferences of branded apparels among the Youth Preference %age

 Mostly Preferred=65
 Preferred=17
 Moderate=10
 Least Preferred= 5
 Not Preferred =3
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

DEGREE OF PREFERENCE OF
BRANDED APPARELS BY YOUTHS
MOSTLY PREFERED PREFERED MODERATE
LEAST PREFERED NOT PREFERED
10% 5% 3%

17%

65%

3. HYPOTHESIS TESTING

Step1: State Hypothesis

Ho: Branded apparels are least preferred by the youth.

Ha: Branded apparels are highly preferred by the youth.

Step 2: Set the Rejection criteria

DF = 5-1 = 4

At alpha=0.05 and 4 degrees of freedom

The critical value from the chi-square distribution is 9.49

Step 3: Compute the Test Statistics

χ² = ∑ (O-E)²/E

Schemes Observed Expected O-E (O-E)² (O-E)²/E

1 65 20 45 2025 31.15
2 17 20 -3 9 0.529
3 10 20 -10 100 5
4 5 20 -15 225 11.25
5 3 20 -17 289 14.45
χ²= 62.37
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

Interpretation:

As the Chi-square test statistics 62.37 exceeds the critical value of 9.49 hence null
hypothesis is rejected and hence we reached at the result that our alternative
hypothesis is accepted hence Branded apparels are mostly & Highly preferred by
youth.

Apparel’s segment mostly liked by the Youth

Apparels segment %age

 Ethnic= 5
 Corporate= 14
 Casual= 51
 Sports= 29

APPAREL SEGMENT MOSTLY LIKED BY

YOUTH
ETHNIC CORPORATE CASUAL SPORTS

29% 5% 14%

52%

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

Step1: State Hypothesis

Ho: Youth mostly prefer & like other apparels segment over the Casual wears .

Ha: Youth mostly like casual wears amongst the other apparel segment
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

Step 2: Set the Rejection criteria

DF = 4-1 = 3

At alpha =0.05 and 3 degrees of freedom

The critical value from the chi-square distribution is 7.81

Step 3: Compute the Test Statistics

χ² = ∑ (O-E)²/E

Schemes Observed Expected O-E (O-E)² (O-E)²/E

Ethnic 5 25 -20 400 16
Corporate 14 25 -11 121 4.84
Casual 51 25 -26 676 27.04
Sports 29 25 -4 16 0.64
χ² = 48.52

Interpretation:

As the Chi-square test statistics 48.52 exceeds the critical value of 7.81 hence null
hypothesis is rejected and hence alternative hypothesis is accepted so the casual wear
segment is mostly liked by the youth.

Brands of particular apparels segment which are preferred most :

Corporate Wears Interpretation: ZODIAC dominates this category with a major
share of 15% which is due to the best quality of material. ARROW occupies the
second position comprising a 14% share due to large number of outlets and
reasonable rates. Louis Philip is at the third spot with a 13% share due to absolute
publicity and good range of collection. Fourth position is shared by STOP, Indian
Terrain.

Ethnic Wears Interpretation: High end customers dominates this category with a
whooping 18% (Kashish) share because of its recent seasonal effect. It is followed by
Private label brands with 16% share due to its positioning. Second position is shared
by Manyavar, taking 13% share. The reason being reasonable prices and good range
of collections.
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

Sports Wears Interpretation: Vettorio Fratini Sports runs through all other top
brands to finish first with 22% share due to its universal appeal that signifies better
quality. LP sports finishes second with 19% share due to brilliant positioning that
connects to today’s youth. Third position is occupied by Arrow Sports with 16% share
because of great discounts given by the company.

Casual Wears & Party Wears Interpretation: Out of the top brands surveyed in
casual category, 16% prefer because MARIO ZEGNETTI has a wide variety of range
to suit all tastes. Following MARIO ZEGNETTI is ZOD! with 15% preference
because of good positional strategies used by the company and also the second best
company in terms of providing good quality. Third position is taken by V. because of
many factors such as fair location and mainly for the huge range of colours and
comfort.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
 I try for pleasing colour combinations in my clothing.

PLEASING COLOUR COMBINATION IN

CLOTHING
ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER

29% 5% 11%

19%

36%

According to the survey, majority of the people seldom try to wear pleasing colour
combinations in their apparel. Also many people tend to opt for pleasing colour
combination. This is because men are not that specific about colour combinations and
often have second preferences.
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

 I try on some of the newest clothes each season to see how I look in the new
styles.

SEASONAL TRIALS OF CLOTHES

ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER
15% 4% 21%

36%
24%

Majority of the people seldom try new clothes every season and nearly one-fourth of
the people try new clothes each season. The reason being, the sample tends to wait for
the prices to drop down – typical Indian mentality.

 I have a long-term plan for purchasing more expensive clothes items of clothing.

LONG-TERM PLAN FOR PURCHASING

MORE EXPENSIVE APPARELS
ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER
28% 7%

34%

22% 9%
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

The majority of the people tend to plan on a long term basis to buy expensive clothes.
Nearly half of the remaining seldom follows the above. The reason being a clear
difference between the higher and middle-class purchasing styles.

 I try to buy clothes with well-known labels.

PURCHASE OF WELL-KNOWN LABELS

ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER

6% 4%

43%
27%

20%

Almost half of the sample size usually tends to buy well-known labels but the demand
for well-known labels decreases with the decrease in income. The reason for such a
huge demand for well-known labels being increasing popularity of branded apparels
among today’s youth.

 I try to keep my wardrobe up-to-date.

According to the survey majority of the people not very often keep their wardrobe
up-to- date and one-quarter of the people sometimes tend to up-to-date their
wardrobe. The remaining half mostly opts to keep their wardrobe up-to-date with the
latest in the apparel section. The reason being ones wardrobe comprises of huge
variety of top labels, which sometimes does not go with today’s youth culture.
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

KEEP ONES WARDROBE UP-TO-DATE

ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER
11% 15%
 I ask my
friends
what they
19%
29% are
wearing to
an event
before I
26% decide
what to
wear.

CONSULTING FRIENDS BEFORE

SELECTIONG AN APPAREL FOR AN
EVENT
ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER
19% 24%

11%

46%

According to the survey majority of the sample size sometimes opts to consult their
friends before choosing their apparels. Also, one-fourth of the respondents always
take their friends opinion before choosing their apparels. The reason being, today’s
youth goes for few opinions before taking a decision in terms of choosing apparels.

 I get new clothes for a special occasion if the clothes I have are not the type my
friends will be wearing.
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

PURCHASE NEW APPARELS FOR NEW

OCCASIONS
ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER

10% 26%

26%

14%
24%

The survey shows that majority of the respondents in the sample size sometimes tend
to buy new clothes for special occasions and the remaining usually or often purchase
new clothes for special occasions. This is because the youth today prefers change in
taste in every aspect of apparels.

 I wear different clothes to impress people.

WEARING DIFFERENT CLOTHES TO

IMPRESS PEOPLE
ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER
19% 6% 19%

36% 20%

According to the survey more than one-third of the respondents not very often tend to
wear different clothes to impress people. The remaining respondents sometimes opt to
wear different clothes with the intention of impressing people. The reason being
today’s youth believes more in simplicity.
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

 I have more self-confidence when I wear my best clothes.

FEEL MORE SELF CONFIDENT WITH

BRANDED APPARELS
ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES SELDOM NEVER
5% 9%
6%

51%

29%

According to the survey half of the respondents never tend to relate their self-
confidence with their best apparel they wear and close to one-third of them seldom
tend to connect their self-confidence with their apparel. The reason for the above
being that today’s youth follows the trend that does not connect confidence and
apparels.

Reference group which influence the purchasing.

Reference groups %age

 Family = 8
 Friends = 53
 co-workers = 7
 Brand Itself = 23
 Others = 9
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

REFERENCE GROUP WHICH

INFLUENCE THE PURCHASING
FAMLIY FRIENDS CO-WORKERS
BRAND ITSELF OTHERS

9% 8%
HYPOTHESIS
23%
TESTING
Step1: State
Hypothesis:
53%
7%
Ho: Friends are
not most favoured
reference group
which influence youth to go for branded apparels while purchasing over other like family &
brand itself

Ha: Friends are most favoured reference group which influence youth to go for branded
apparels while purchasing over other like family & brand itself

Step 2: Set the Rejection criteria

DF = 5-1 = 4

At alpha=0.05 and 4 degrees of freedom

The critical value from the chi-square distribution is 9.49

Step 3: Compute the Test Statistics

χ² = ∑ (O-E)²/ E

Features Observed Expected O-E (O-E)² (O-E)²/ E

1 8 20 -12 144 7.2
2 53 20 33 1089 54.45
3 7 20 -13 169 8.45
4 23 20 3 9 0.45
5 9 20 -11 121 6.05
χ² = 76.6

Interpretation:
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

As the Chi-square test statistics 76.6 exceeds the critical value of 9.49 hence null hypothesis
is rejected and hence alternative hypothesis is accepted & we reached at the result that
Friends are most favoured reference group which influence youth to go for branded apparels
while purchasing over other like family & brand itself.

Marital status
Marital status %age

 Single = 64
 Married = 36
Interpretation: Survey which we have conducted, out of 100 respondents 64% of the
respondents are single that they are un-married and only 36% of the respondents are married.

Age:

Age %age
 Below 17
 18-20
 21-24
 above 25
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

VARIOUS AGE GROUPS

BELOW 17 18-20 21-24 ABOVE 25
9% 6%

34%

51%

Interpretation:
From the data we surveyed, we found that most of the youth respondents are between the age
of 21-24 years 51% of the youth fall in this age interval whereas 34 % of respondents (youth)
are falling in the age interval of 18-20 years and only 6% of youth are below 17 years of age.

FINDINGS:
After conducting the whole survey on our project we found that:

 Branded apparels are mostly preferred by the youth when there are so many national
& international brands are existing in the market in the current fashion oriented
generation.

 Majority of the people are inclined more towards casuals. This is followed by
Corporate and Sportswear both getting decent responses. Ethnic comes last with
minimal number of respondents preferring ethnic wear.

 Out of the top brands surveyed in casual category, youth prefer MARIO ZEGNETTI
because it has a wide variety of range to suit all tastes over the other brands like
ZOD! and V.
 In the corporate category ZODIAC dominates this category with a major share of
15% which is due to excellent promotion and best quality of material than other
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

brands followed by the ARROW, Louis Philip, STOP, Indian Terrain, Wills Life
Style, Austin Reed.

 In the category of Sports wears Vettorio Fratini runs through all other top brands to
finish first with 22% share due to its universal appeal that signifies better quality.
Vettorio Fratini is mostly liked by the youth over the other brands like rebook LP
Sports and ARROW Sports.

 In the Ethnic segment, High end customers dominates this category with a whooping
18% (Kashish) share because of its recent seasonal effect. They are followed by
Private label brands with 16% share due to its positioning. Second position is shared
by Manyavar, taking 13% share. The reason being reasonable prices and good range
of collections.

 Friends are most favoured reference group which influence youth to go for branded
apparels while purchasing over other like family & brand itself.

 Majority of the sample size seldom tend to update their wardrobe and hence not very
often do they opt for pleasing colour combinations and seasonal trial of new styles in
apparels.

 Today’s youth sometimes ask their friends about their apparels before choosing ones
apparel for an event and hence do not care about buying new clothes similar to that of
their friends.

 Today’s youth, wears what they like irrespective of his/her friend’s approval. During
survey we found that today’s youth always prefers new clothes for special occasions.

 In the survey we also found that today’s youth always try new clothes without
planning to buy them. They not very often try on different apparels to impress people.

 Today’s youth also very rarely decide on clothes according to their mood and never
connect self-confidence with their apparels.

CONCLUSION
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

From the survey that was conducted, we conclude that majority of the people are inclined
more towards casuals. This is followed by Corporate and Sportswear both getting decent
responses. Ethnic comes last with minimal number of respondents preferring ethnic wear.
The survey shows that majority of the sample size seldom tend to update their wardrobe
and hence not very often do they opt for pleasing colour combinations and seasonal trial
of new styles in apparels. Also today’s youth only sometimes cares to be considered as
outstandingly well-dressed by their friends, which is majorly responsible for their trial of
accessories during the purchase of new apparels. Today’s youth majorly tend to go for
branded clothes and they always plan long-term for the final purchase. Today’s youth
sometimes ask their friends about their apparels before choosing ones apparel for an
event and hence do not care about buying new clothes similar to that of their friends. The
youth today, wears what they like irrespective of his/her friend’s approval. The survey
also depicts that today’s youth always prefers new clothes for special occasions. The
survey shows that today’s youth always try new clothes without planning to buy them.
They not very often try on different apparels to impress people. They also very rarely
decide on clothes according to their mood and never connect self-confidence with their
apparels.

LIMITATIONS:
There are following constraints of the study which can be explained as:-

 The time of research was short due to which many fact has been left untouched.
 The Area undertaken in research in Shopper’s Stop (Bangalore) only. But to do a
completer research a wide area is required, so the area is also a constraint of the study.
 Sample for the study taken is of only 100 consumers. This can also act as a constraint
in the study.
 While collecting data questionnaire was not allowed to use by Shopper’s Stop
authority, so tracking sheet and short conversations with customers were the only
medium of the survey. This can also be a constraint of the study.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

After studying the buying behaviour of the youth of Bangalore in Shopper’s Stop regarding
the branded apparels, what we recommend to Shopper’s Stop is that:

 In Bangalore youth is aware about the National & International brands but some of
the brands are not available in Shopper’s Stop like Peter England so companies
should expand their distribution networks and also few brands like MUSTANG is
very new to customers. So proper brand promotion and positioning is required for
such brands.
 Consumer of the Indian market are very price conscious , due to very high prices of
some international brand consumer is not able to afford that particular brands ,so
Shopper’s Stop should make some of the internal private label brands of apparels
more available at affordable price.
 Most of the youth make the decision of buying the apparels when they saw that
celebrity is using & wearing that particular brands. So Shopper’s Stop should
promote the internal private label brands by endorsing the Celebrity whose
personality is matching with the brands.
 Few mannequins should be kept in the corporate segment to attract more customers.
 It is better to position more trial rooms near the men’s department.
 Generally apparels which are kept below the waist-line of the customers are
overlooked by them, so the most common sizes of apparels should be kept in the eye-
level of the customers.
 Spraying of room-fresheners at regular intervals in the apparel segment can hold the
customers for a bit more time in the same section.
 All the internal private label brands should be positioned beside the top level brands
to create a brand promotion and awareness among the customers.
 Shopper’s Stop should keep most of the browsers towards right as people are mostly
right handed and they feel a comfort zone browsing towards right direction.
 More Transition zone should be kept allowing some space between the entrance of
the apparel segment and the apparels racked thus giving more time to the shopper’s
eye as he/she approaches it (visual anticipation).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

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 Mr. Samrat Nandy
Miss. Kankana Debnath
MBA – 1st Year
Christ University Institute of Management,
Bangalore

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WEBSITES:

 www.apparelsindustry.in/india.htm
 http://en.wiki.wikipedia.com/indian_industry
 www.managementparadise.com/consumerbehaviour_branded_apparels.htm
 www.scribd.com
 www.shoppersstop.com