Prerequisites for symbolic consumption in the Russian apparel market
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STATEMENT ABOUT THE INDEPENDENT CHARACTER OF THE MASTER THESIS 2
ABSTRACT 3
INTRODUCTION 7
CHAPTER 1. SYMBOLIC CONSUMPTION IN THE APPAREL MARKET 9
1.1. The concept of symbolic consumption 9
1.2. Specifics of consumer behavior in the fashion market 15
Conclusion 19
CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH MODEL DEVELOPMENT 21
2.1. Individual characteristics 22
2.2. External factors 25
2.3. Demographic factors 28
2.4. Research model 30
CHAPTER 3. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH 33
3.1. Research design 33
3.2. Questionnaire development and variables operationalization 34
3.3. Sampling profile 36
3.4. Data analysis results 39
3.5. Discussion 48
3.6. Managerial implications 52
3.7. Limitations and further research 53
CONCLUSION 55
LIST OF REFERENCES 57
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 61
APPENDIX 2: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS 66
APPENDIX 3: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF EXTERNAL FACTORS 71
APPENDIX 4: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLIC FUNCTIONS 76
APPENDIX 5: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: STATUS AND WEALTH DEMONSTRATION
80
APPENDIX 6: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: GROUP-BELONGING INDICATION 82
APPENDIX 7: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: EXPRESSION OF SENSE OF STYLE AND
TRENDINESS 84
APPENDIX 8: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: DEMONSTRATION OF INTERESTS AND
VALUES 86
APPENDIX 9: DISPERSION ANALYSIS 88
ABSTRACT 3
INTRODUCTION 7
CHAPTER 1. SYMBOLIC CONSUMPTION IN THE APPAREL MARKET 9
1.1. The concept of symbolic consumption 9
1.2. Specifics of consumer behavior in the fashion market 15
Conclusion 19
CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH MODEL DEVELOPMENT 21
2.1. Individual characteristics 22
2.2. External factors 25
2.3. Demographic factors 28
2.4. Research model 30
CHAPTER 3. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH 33
3.1. Research design 33
3.2. Questionnaire development and variables operationalization 34
3.3. Sampling profile 36
3.4. Data analysis results 39
3.5. Discussion 48
3.6. Managerial implications 52
3.7. Limitations and further research 53
CONCLUSION 55
LIST OF REFERENCES 57
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 61
APPENDIX 2: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS 66
APPENDIX 3: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF EXTERNAL FACTORS 71
APPENDIX 4: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLIC FUNCTIONS 76
APPENDIX 5: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: STATUS AND WEALTH DEMONSTRATION
80
APPENDIX 6: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: GROUP-BELONGING INDICATION 82
APPENDIX 7: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: EXPRESSION OF SENSE OF STYLE AND
TRENDINESS 84
APPENDIX 8: REGRESSION ANALYSIS: DEMONSTRATION OF INTERESTS AND
VALUES 86
APPENDIX 9: DISPERSION ANALYSIS 88
Relevance of the study
During the past years more and more fashion brands have been switching their focus from highlighting the functional and qualitative features of their products to the symbolic ones, creating a certain brand story, and promoting their clothes through the lifestyle, social status, and values they consider their consumers desire to be associated with. This gave ground to studying the concept of symbolic consumption, defined as the tendency of consumers to rely and focus on the meanings attached to goods, beyond their physical properties, and provide an important means by which consumers define themselves. As for now, the majority of brands study their target buyers behavior, analyze how they want to be perceived by society: if they are prone to make any statement about themselves by putting clothes on every day, if they want to highlight their belonging to a certain group by shopping where this group usually shops, or if they want to stand out of the crowd by choosing brands which promote uniqueness and free spirit. Many more aspects of symbolic consumption are constantly being researched in the clothing industry worldwide, providing brands with more effective positioning and promotion companies.
As for Russian market, during the recent years it has been facing turbulent changes: at first, stores were temporary closed due to COVID-19 in 2020, then in 2022 top international players like Inditex Group, Hennes & Mauritz Group, Mango etc. left the market, and online stores like ASOS and Farfetch stopped delivering to Russian customers. Those large companies had made a huge market share which now is supposed be filled with existing and newly developing local Russian brands that have less knowledge about the market, consumer behavior, and symbolic consumption patterns in particular.
Research gap
Existing research on the topic considers symbolic consumption in general, without concentrating on apparel market (some papers consider symbolism in clothing, but even they still apply limitations which are not relevant to current research’s market, and do not provide statistically proven conclusions). Moreover, there is no research that would be targeted at the Russian market, while we may assume that it differs from other ones in terms of consumer behavior due to unique historical, information and financial context. Finally, during the literature analysis there was no study identified that would try to provide the systematical model of the prerequisites and factors which would motivate customers to symbolic consumption.
Aim & objectives of the study
This study aims to examine the factors predetermining symbolic consumption tendencies among consumers in Russia based on their behavioral characteristics and provide the insights on how fashion brands should promote their clothes to their target audience depending on the research findings.
In order to achieve the set goal, the following aims have been set:
1. To research the concept of symbolic consumption and study consumer behavior in the fashion market;
2. To determine the factors which could predict consumer’s propensity to symbolic consumption;
3. To develop a model of defined factors’ influence on propensity to symbolic consumption through the functions consumers expect their clothes to perform;
4. To validate the model on the basis of empirical research and provide theoretical and practical conclusions.
During the past years more and more fashion brands have been switching their focus from highlighting the functional and qualitative features of their products to the symbolic ones, creating a certain brand story, and promoting their clothes through the lifestyle, social status, and values they consider their consumers desire to be associated with. This gave ground to studying the concept of symbolic consumption, defined as the tendency of consumers to rely and focus on the meanings attached to goods, beyond their physical properties, and provide an important means by which consumers define themselves. As for now, the majority of brands study their target buyers behavior, analyze how they want to be perceived by society: if they are prone to make any statement about themselves by putting clothes on every day, if they want to highlight their belonging to a certain group by shopping where this group usually shops, or if they want to stand out of the crowd by choosing brands which promote uniqueness and free spirit. Many more aspects of symbolic consumption are constantly being researched in the clothing industry worldwide, providing brands with more effective positioning and promotion companies.
As for Russian market, during the recent years it has been facing turbulent changes: at first, stores were temporary closed due to COVID-19 in 2020, then in 2022 top international players like Inditex Group, Hennes & Mauritz Group, Mango etc. left the market, and online stores like ASOS and Farfetch stopped delivering to Russian customers. Those large companies had made a huge market share which now is supposed be filled with existing and newly developing local Russian brands that have less knowledge about the market, consumer behavior, and symbolic consumption patterns in particular.
Research gap
Existing research on the topic considers symbolic consumption in general, without concentrating on apparel market (some papers consider symbolism in clothing, but even they still apply limitations which are not relevant to current research’s market, and do not provide statistically proven conclusions). Moreover, there is no research that would be targeted at the Russian market, while we may assume that it differs from other ones in terms of consumer behavior due to unique historical, information and financial context. Finally, during the literature analysis there was no study identified that would try to provide the systematical model of the prerequisites and factors which would motivate customers to symbolic consumption.
Aim & objectives of the study
This study aims to examine the factors predetermining symbolic consumption tendencies among consumers in Russia based on their behavioral characteristics and provide the insights on how fashion brands should promote their clothes to their target audience depending on the research findings.
In order to achieve the set goal, the following aims have been set:
1. To research the concept of symbolic consumption and study consumer behavior in the fashion market;
2. To determine the factors which could predict consumer’s propensity to symbolic consumption;
3. To develop a model of defined factors’ influence on propensity to symbolic consumption through the functions consumers expect their clothes to perform;
4. To validate the model on the basis of empirical research and provide theoretical and practical conclusions.
The goal of study was to reveal the factors predetermining symbolic consumption of apparel in the Russian market. To achieve this goal, a set of tasks has been set, completion of which let the research to determine which factors consumers who are prone to symbolic consumption are influenced the most.
The first stage of the research, presented in the first chapter of this paper, on the basis of literature review and market research, the definition of the symbolic consumption has been derived, as well as the classification of symbolic functions of apparel which depends on the symbolic aim consumer desires their clothes to perform while making a purchasing choice: wealth and status demonstration, group-belonging indication, indication of personal sense of style and trendiness, and expression of personal interests and values. Further, the conceptual model has been developed, which focuses on the definition of the consumer’s propensity to each of the symbolic functions as a consequence of individual characteristics consumer possesses, external factors, and demographic factors.
At the second research stage, conducted in the Chapter 2, the factors characterizing each conceptual model construct have been identified based on the literature analysis. Thus, 4 research models have been developed, each for the one of the defined symbolic functions of apparel. The dependent variables were studied as individual’s propensity to symbolic consumption with an aim of realization of the certain symbolic function of apparel. For the confirmation of the developed model, the set of 11 hypotheses has been proposed: 4 reflecting the individual characteristics’ influence on the dependent variables, other 4 - external factors’ influence, and final 3 - the demographic factors’ influence.
As a part of the third stage of this work, the empirical study has been conducted in the Chapter 3. To test the set model the online survey has been conducted, and the data later has been analyzed with the use of factor analysis and regression analysis. The research identified the factors significantly influencing propensity to symbolic consumption of apparel in the case of each symbolic function. While some factors showed stable significance in all of the regression models, some of them were significant only in the cases of certain symbolic functions, which proved the importance to distinguish different types of symbolic consumption while studying this concept in the scope of the apparel market.
The hypotheses considering the external and demographic factors’ influence showed more support than the individual characteristics’ impact, which lead to the definition of the opportunities of the further research.
Finally, the managerial implications of the study have been developed for the brands and companies using or planning to use the symbolic meanings’ translation in heir positioning and promotion. The research helps to identify the best target sample for the already executed positioning strategy, as well as to adopt the marketing strategy to the already existent client base by studying their shopping behavior and demography.
Thus, the set goal and tasks of the research have been completed, as well as the research questions have been answered: the study identified the types of symbolic functions clothing performs to consumers, and defined which external factors and consumer’s individual characteristics may influence their propensity to symbolic consumption of apparel in the Russian market.
The first stage of the research, presented in the first chapter of this paper, on the basis of literature review and market research, the definition of the symbolic consumption has been derived, as well as the classification of symbolic functions of apparel which depends on the symbolic aim consumer desires their clothes to perform while making a purchasing choice: wealth and status demonstration, group-belonging indication, indication of personal sense of style and trendiness, and expression of personal interests and values. Further, the conceptual model has been developed, which focuses on the definition of the consumer’s propensity to each of the symbolic functions as a consequence of individual characteristics consumer possesses, external factors, and demographic factors.
At the second research stage, conducted in the Chapter 2, the factors characterizing each conceptual model construct have been identified based on the literature analysis. Thus, 4 research models have been developed, each for the one of the defined symbolic functions of apparel. The dependent variables were studied as individual’s propensity to symbolic consumption with an aim of realization of the certain symbolic function of apparel. For the confirmation of the developed model, the set of 11 hypotheses has been proposed: 4 reflecting the individual characteristics’ influence on the dependent variables, other 4 - external factors’ influence, and final 3 - the demographic factors’ influence.
As a part of the third stage of this work, the empirical study has been conducted in the Chapter 3. To test the set model the online survey has been conducted, and the data later has been analyzed with the use of factor analysis and regression analysis. The research identified the factors significantly influencing propensity to symbolic consumption of apparel in the case of each symbolic function. While some factors showed stable significance in all of the regression models, some of them were significant only in the cases of certain symbolic functions, which proved the importance to distinguish different types of symbolic consumption while studying this concept in the scope of the apparel market.
The hypotheses considering the external and demographic factors’ influence showed more support than the individual characteristics’ impact, which lead to the definition of the opportunities of the further research.
Finally, the managerial implications of the study have been developed for the brands and companies using or planning to use the symbolic meanings’ translation in heir positioning and promotion. The research helps to identify the best target sample for the already executed positioning strategy, as well as to adopt the marketing strategy to the already existent client base by studying their shopping behavior and demography.
Thus, the set goal and tasks of the research have been completed, as well as the research questions have been answered: the study identified the types of symbolic functions clothing performs to consumers, and defined which external factors and consumer’s individual characteristics may influence their propensity to symbolic consumption of apparel in the Russian market.
