This exploratory study identified issues and concerns related to the American apparel industry. Dialogue with apparel manufacturers sought their responses to the following: factors influencing apparel production site selection; opinions on profitability, government intervention, and the future of the American textile and apparel industries; opinions regarding the quality of materials and production techniques in the U.S. and overseas; and awareness of industry-related programs and regulations. Management personnel from nine domestic and nine overseas apparel manufacturers based in the San Francisco Bay Area were interviewed. For the domestic firms the most important criterion for production site selection was lead time; for the overseas firms the most important criterion was cost. Both groups also identified quality control and sourcing as important. A recurring issue for both groups was inflexibility in domestic sourcing and production; they indicated that greater flexibility would increase American apparel industry profits. Both groups predicted more government intervention, increased prices, and continued inflexibility in the future. Not all respondents were aware of industry-related programs and regulations.
Abstract A single site case study explored supply chain relationships within the apparel retail product development process. It identified drivers, facilitators, and barriers as relationship determinants that either facilitated or impeded collaborative efforts between the retailer and supply chain members. As the retailer integrated product development with its suppliers, a triangular relationship was formed between the retailer, the overseas manufacturers, and the designated suppliers.
The purpose of this study was to identify quality control problems and causes of these problems associated with overseas apparel manufacturing. Apparel exporters and fabricators in seven Asian countries were visited. Through content analysis, four major problem categories were identified, which included construction, finishing, materials and fit. These problems appeared to be due to seven causes: (i) not following specifications, (ii) production method, (iii) management, (iv) facilities and equipment, (v) skills of workers, (vi) governmental structure and resource availability, and (vii) culture.
Abstract Apparel offers consumers a high hedonic value associated with experiential pleasure. Being fashion driven with a focus on newness and change, apparel products can create an illusion of something fantastic. In turn, this subjects apparel to various hedonic behaviors such as impulse buying. The more consumers browse apparel stores to get an idea about the latest trends in the market, rather than relying on a shopping list, the greater the possibility of impulse shopping. Moreover, consumers are likely to be more divergent on what they want than what they need. This suggests apparel as a product category as a stimulus effecting impulse purchases. Impulse buying is considered a pervasive phenomenon in modern lifestyles and it accounts for a substantial percentage of products sold across a broad range of categories. One explanation may be that consumers buy products for a variety of non-economic reasons or hedonic tendency, such as fun, fantasy and social or emotional gratification. By stimulating consumers to recognize product needs, in-store browsing plays an important role in influencing impulse buying behavior. Also, impulse buying is activated by the emotions aroused in the proximity of an appealing object. This emotional response may occur largely without regard to financial or other consequences. Based on the extant literature, we developed a conceptual framework to analyze how predictors (hedonic tendency, in-store browsing, and shopping emotion) affect apparel impulse buying. Five hypotheses were tested during an apparel shopping episode to determine if: hedonic tendency is positively related to shopping emotion (H1); hedonic tendency is positively related to in-store browsing (H2); in-store browsing is positively related to shopping emotion (H3); in-store browsing is positively related to impulse buying typologies (H4); and shopping emotion is positively related to impulse buying typologies (H5). A questionnaire was developed based on literature review. Data were obtained from 290 college students enrolled at a southwestern state university in the U.S. Following verification the measurement items, path analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.53. A path model shows that six paths have significantly positive relationships. This empirical study of assessing and predicting apparel impulse buying extends the understanding of predictors for and provides an extended structural model of apparel impulse buying. This study reveals three typologies underlying apparel impulse buying: Fashion-oriented impulse buying, Memory-oriented impulse buying, and Browsing-oriented impulse buying. Findings indicate a consumer’s hedonic tendency is a significant predictor of shopping emotion and in-store browsing and it is pertinent to apparel impulse buying. This suggests that hedonic tendency can drive consumers to act on apparel impulse buying when they experience a positive feeling and are in-store browsing. This result implies that positive shopping emotion tends to reduce decision complexity, including impulse buying. Therefore, typologies of apparel impulse buying can be predicted in a path model by an attitudinal component (e.g., hedonic tendency and in-store browsing) and emotional factors (e.g., satisfied and excited). In particular, shopping emotion serves as an important mediating predictor of impulse buying of apparel products. This suggests that impulse buying of college students is more conjunct with an emotional unplanned purchase of apparel products. Also, this finding supports impulse buying as satisfying a hedonic need or providing emotional gratification. This study provides insights to retailers and researchers in understand structural relationships between consumer characteristics and impulse buying of apparel products. Keywords: Hedonic tendencyIn-store browsingShopping emotionApparel productsImpulse buying
University women in California (n = 108) and New Zealand (n = 101) were surveyed to determine the importance attributed to 18 descriptors defining nine clothing values. Awareness of, and concern about, clothing's country of origin were determined. Mean scores, t-tests and chi square analyses were done. Although a similar rank order of importance for clothing values exists for both groups with exploratory, economic, sensory, and aesthetic values rated highest, and social I (putting others at ease) and social II (approval from others) rated lowest, some differences were found. The New Zealand sample rated sensory, aesthetic, and political value descriptors significantly higher and one social II descriptor significantly lower than the United States sample. Both groups appeared to be more aware of, rather than concerned about, clothing's country of origin. The two groups differed in ability to recall country of origin. More New Zealand women were able to recall country of origin. Over half the United States sample but less than ten percent of the New Zealand sample recalled purchasing primarily imported apparel.
Shoplifting or theft, offenders'immature or mature emotional responses to shoplifting, and moral predictors of global self-esteem were explored. Phase 1 classified moral emotions by shoplifting situations. Phase 2 predicted effects of moral situations on moral emotions and moral self and their overall effect on global self-esteem. Implications address moral education and shoplifting.
Purpose This study aims to examine the causal relationships among fashion involvement, positive emotion, hedonic consumption tendency, and fashion‐oriented impulse buying in the context of shopping. Design/methodology/approach A self‐administered questionnaire developed from the literature was administered to 217 college students during a scheduled class. They were enrolled at one metropolitan university in a southwestern state in the USA. A structural equation model using a correlation matrix with maximum likelihood was estimated by LISREL 8.53. Findings Fashion involvement and positive emotion had positive effects on consumers' fashion‐oriented impulse buying behavior with fashion involvement having the greatest effect. Hedonic consumption tendency was an important mediator in determining fashion‐oriented impulse buying. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to college students at one metropolitan university in a southwestern state in the USA and to general fashion products. Practical implications Retailers may encourage consumers' positive emotion through strategies such as store design, product displays, package design, and sales. A focus on entertainment, interest, and excitement may be as important as getting the right mix of merchandise and pricing. Other retail strategies might be to stress the relative rationality and non‐economic rewards of impulse buying in advertising efforts; to make impulse purchases more risk free through convenient return policies; and to increase enablers such as offering credit and extending store hours. Originality/value Few studies exist for predicting fashion‐oriented impulse buying behavior. This study addresses the need to examine impulse buying behavior related to fashion products.
ABSTRACTThis study examined whether consumers' levels of technology anxiety moderate the causal relationships among determinants of mobile shopping adoption in a modified Unified Theory of User Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. With the moderating role of technology anxiety, facilitating conditions were examined as an antecedent driver of utilitarian and hedonic performance expectancies in determining mobile shopping adoption in the modified UTAUT model. A sample of 400 mobile services users drawn from a purchased consumer panel participated in an online survey. Structural equation modeling analysis was used to examine the hypothesized paths in the adoption of mobile shopping. Results indicated that the effect of facilitating conditions on both utilitarian and hedonic performance expectancies is stronger for consumers with a low level of technology anxiety than for consumers with a high level of technology anxiety. Moreover, consumers with a high level of technology anxiety rely more on social influence in the use of mobile shopping than consumers with a low level of technology anxiety. The modified UTAUT model reveals insightful results and provides a holistic framework for predicting emerging mobile shopping adoption behavior.Keywords: Mobile shopping; Facilitating conditions; Social influences; Technology anxiety; UTAUT1. IntroductionThe ubiquitous characteristic of an Internet-enabled mobile phone is profoundly affecting the way people use services and information in their daily lives. This increased use of mobile internet and online services is enabling the creation of new services that promise alternative opportunities for companies [Yu 2012], In the retail industry, the rapid adoption of mobile Internet and smartphones has retailers attempting to capitalize on the promise of technology-mediated mobile services as a new and important channel to serve and connect with consumers [Liesse 2007], The mobile shopping channel has become a personal shopping assistant for consumers to enhance their shopping experiences and assist in making purchases across channels.While mobile shopping services may promise better consumer shopping experiences, there are concerns about whether consumers will actually adopt technology-mediated services when available. This new technology-mediated mobile shopping channel is different from traditional (e.g., in-store, catalog) and online shopping channels and it is not yet validated across consumer segments. Further, with the extremely private and personal nature of the mobile phone device, mobile shopping services often involve security and privacy issues resulting from transacting financial and personal information. Therefore, consumers' concerns for security and privacy may be higher in the mobile shopping channel than in other shopping channels. Due to its newness and uniqueness in shopping encounters (e.g., small screen size, using 4G & 5G mobile technologies), mobile shopping may provoke user anxiety in its embryonic stage of mobile shopping adoption. In that regard, consumer anxiety may be a significant barrier facing consumers at the moment when mobile shopping is used. If this is the case, consumer mobile shopping adoption might be leveraged by reducing consumer anxiety about using mobile shopping. Therefore, by understanding the relationships among consumers' underlying motivations to adopt mobile shopping and their associated anxieties, retailers may benefit by being proactive in designing mobile shopping services that help alleviate anxiety in the adoption stage.This study examines determinants of consumer mobile shopping adoption using measures suggested by Venkatesh et al. [2003]'s Unified Theory of User Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Although extant technology acceptance models and theories are well-established and validated in previous studies [e.g., Dabholkar and Bagozzi 2002; Davis 1989; Davis et al. 1989; Venkatesh 1999], testing that is based upon one technology acceptance model may bring skewed and blurred outcomes, particularly when examining a new technology phenomenon. …
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