A Study on the Life Style Segmentation in Apparel Warket

- with special reference to adult women in Seoul -

Jeong Hi-Yun(Dept. of Business Administration, Graduate School of Chung-Ang University)

1. Purpose of study

The purpose of this study is to segment an apparel market on the base of their life style for satisfaction of varied needs and high efficiency of marketing activity.

The specific purposes of this study are as follows :

First, to segment apparel market of adult women in Seoul on the base of their life style.

Second, to understand the characters of demographics, clothing purchase behavior for each segmented group.

Third, to propose marketing strategic implications for each semented group.

2. Method

This study selected randomly 500 adult women(under graduate school students, working women and house wives) in Seoul as the sample, and used finally 380 questionnaires of them for statistical analysis because of insufficiency of response. The study used factor analysis and cluster analysis to group same respondents, frequency analysis, ANOVA, duncan-test characteristics of purchase behavior and demographics for each group.

3. Research Findings

The respondents were divided into 5 groups of different life style patterns according to the results of analysis. There was no difference between groups in their demographics. But there was difference between groups in their purchase behavior. The findings of the research on each group are as follows ;

1) Group I(positive behaviors)

Consumers of this group show attributes with which they live subjectively without considering others and participate in service circle and leisure actively. They purchase clothing for changing mood, receive information from department store and famous named store and satisfy through praise of others.

2) Group II(conservative traditionalists)

These consumers dislike new fashion and positive action because of their conservative attributes. They purchase clothing based on needs and season change, select clothing according color, size, style, and like decent simple image. They also buy more home wears and working wears than others and are satisfied with positive evaluation of others and cheap price.

3) Group III(Economical consumers)

These consumers are interest in advertising of discount sale and purchase clothings with previous plan. This purchase motives are season change, needs, and harmony with other clothing. They obtain information mainly to department store and satisfy from cheap price and positive evaluation of others.

4) Group IV(Fashion followers)

Consumers of this group interest in new goods and receive fashion rapidly due to consider clothing life as important thing. They purchase clothing according new fashion, color and design and seek information from fashion magazines. They also use department store and famous named store mainly for purchasing clothing, and statify from design, color, others positive evaluation.

5) Group V(practical seeker)

Because these consumers consider practical use, they select clothing of common style, They purchase clothing for changing season and needs, like decent simple image and satisfy also from others positive evaluation and good quality. The source of information is reference group such as friends and families.

Based on the findings mentioned above, it is concluded as follows

In this study, the difference of demographics between groups was not showed but their purchase behavior showed differently. As many consumers consider various goods for selecting, they purchase clothing mainly in department store. They also like maker goods of high quality and high price due to improvement. As many consumers are satisfied with others positive evaluation, we can infer that reference group influence consumer behavior.

In conclusion, this life style segmentation has purpose that marketing managers are given these informations and various wants of consumers can be satisfied.