INFLUENCE OF STATUS CONSUMPTION, MATERIALISM AND SUBJECTIVE NORMS ON GENERATION Y STUDENTS’ PRICE-QUALITY FASHION ATTITUDE

Year 2020, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 163 - 176, 19.02.2020

Natasha De Klerk

Abstract

Fashion is regarded as one of the world’s largest consumer industries, generating up to 2.5 trillion US Dollars in consumer spending in 2016. South Africa is one of the leading fashion markets in Africa, reaching recorded retail sales revenue of approximately ZAR172 billion by end of 2016. Owing to the intense competition, effective marketing strategies are essential in order for fashion marketers and retailers to differentiate themselves and to target their markets effectively, including when targeting Generation Y consumers. Generation Y are described as the largest and most profitable consumer group for marketers and retailers, representing approximately 36 percent of the South African population in 2018. This generation represents a salient current and future market segment for a variety of industries, including the fashion industry. Therefore, understanding their attitudes towards using price as an indicator of quality for fashion products is likely to be essential in designing marketing strategies to ensure sustained success and growth. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine Generation Y students’ price-quality fashion attitude and the influence of the materialistic dimensions of success and happiness, together with the dimensions of fashion status consumption and fashion subjective norms thereon. The study followed a quantitative research approach, whereby self-administered questionnaires were completed by a non-probability convenience sample of 600 students, who were registered at the campuses of three South African public higher education institutions situated in the Gauteng province. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The findings of this study suggest that status consumption, materialism and subjective norms significantly influence Generation Y students' price-quality fashion attitude.

Keywords

Fashion marketing, price-quality fashion attitude, Generation Y students, South Africa

References

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