Foreign apparel brands and the young Indian consumer

177 Pages·2012·1.21 MB·English

by  Parvathi Padmanabhan

PADMANABHAN, PARVATHI, Ph.D., Foreign Apparel Brands and the Young Indian
Consumer: An Exploration of the Role of Brand in the Decision-Making Process. (2012).
Directed by Dr. Nancy Hodges. 165 pp.

This study examines how young Indian professionals make decisions about
apparel products considering the myriad of options that are now available to them in the
marketplace. Declared an emerging market by the US Department of Commerce in 1993
(Bandyopadhyay & Banerjee, 2003), and with projections of increases in urban per capita
GDP of 6% every year until 2025, India has become an attractive market for many
foreign companies. Considering its large population and emerging young professional
middle class, many apparel brand companies have begun to compete for the Indian
consumer‟s attention. However, little is known about what this consumer looks for when
considering apparel brands.
In this study, a qualitative approach was used to understand the role of brands in
the decision-making process of young, urban Indian consumers. Multiple methods were
employed to collect data, including focus groups, spousal dyad interviews and
observation. Data collection took place in Bangalore, a large city in the South of India.
Thirty-four males and females between the ages of 22 and 35 participated in the study. In
addition, consumption behaviors of young consumers in three shopping malls in and
around Bangalore were observed. Data analysis was conducted for commonalties and
differences that surfaced in the participants‟ experiences which were then grouped
together to form themes. These themes were used to structure four conceptual areas that
help in understanding the decision-making process of young professionals in urban India:
Brand Awareness, Brand Choice, Brand Meaning and Understanding the Young Urban
Indian Consumer. Participants were segmented into groups by factors that surfaced as
important to their decision-making, including brand consciousness, price consciousness,
whether they were from the city or had migrated to the city, and whether they were
married or single. Practical implications of the study for retailers and marketers are
provided along with suggestions for further study.
FOREIGN APPAREL BRANDS AND THE YOUNG INDIAN
CONSUMER: AN EXPLORATION OF THE ROLE OF
BRAND IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

By
Parvathi Padmanabhan

A Dissertation Submitted to
the Faculty of The Graduate School
at The University North Carolina at Greensboro
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

Greensboro
2012

Approved by

Nancy Hodges, Ph.D.
Committee Chair
© 2012 Parvathi Padmanabhan
I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Mahalakshmi and Dr. Padmanabhan,
and my husband Manjunath Kandagal, for their relentless support and encouragement at
every stage of this dissertation. The long telephone conversations and constant support
throughout the PhD program helped me to finish this dissertation.

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APPROVAL PAGE

This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of
The Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Committee Chair __________________________________
Dr. Nancy Hodges

Committee Members __________________________________
Dr. Kittichai Watchravesringkan

__________________________________
Dr. Byoungho Jin

__________________________________
Dr. William Tullar

____________________________
Date of Acceptance by Committee

_________________________
Date of Final Oral Examination

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to give my thanks to all those who have supported me throughout my
PhD program. I appreciate my sincere thanks to my advisor Dr. Nancy Hodges for her
constant support and advice. I am grateful to her in help guide me in a topic that I was
interested in exploring. I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Kittichai
Watchravesringkan, Dr. Byuongho Jin, and Dr. William Tullar, for their guidance and
thought-provoking feedback.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to VF Arvind Brand Pvt. Ltd. for
supporting and allowing me to use their facility to carry out my research in Bangalore. I
am thankful to all the employees at VF Arvind Brand Pvt. Ltd., particularly Sameera
Kamulkar and Vipul Mathur for their guidance and encouragement.
I would like to thank all the participants, without whom this study would not have
been possible. I am thankful to my brother, Krishna Kumar for his support. Finally, I
would like to thank all my friends and family, especially my grandparents, for their
support and love.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... .ix

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1

Background ..................................................................................................3
Indian Consumers: Then and Now ..................................................6
Retailing in India..............................................................................8
International Brands in India ...........................................................9
Psychographic Segmentation of Indian Consumers ......................11
India: An Emerging Market ...........................................................13
Purpose and Objectives ..............................................................................15
Conceptual Framework ..............................................................................16
Methodological Considerations .....................................................16
Theoretical Considerations ............................................................16
Scope and Significance ..............................................................................17
Summary ....................................................................................................18

II. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................19

Profiling the Young Indian Consumer .......................................................19
Consumer Decision-Making ......................................................................21
Problem Recognition .....................................................................23
Information Search.........................................................................24
Evaluation of Alternatives .............................................................25
Product Choice and Outcomes .......................................................25
Consumer Decision-Making Styles ...............................................26
Evaluative Criteria and Product Choice .........................................28
Brands and the Decision-Making Process .................................................31
Brand as an Evaluative Criterion ...................................................31
Brands and Consumers in Emerging Markets ...............................34
Brands and the Indian Consumer ...................................................37
Guiding Research Questions ......................................................................40
Summary ....................................................................................................42

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III. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................43

Interpretive Research Design .....................................................................43
Data Collection Methods ...........................................................................45
Focus Groups .................................................................................46
Spousal Dyad In-Depth Interviews ................................................46
Observation ....................................................................................48
Participant Sample and Selection...............................................................49
Data Analysis and Interpretation ...............................................................52
Summary ....................................................................................................53

IV.THEMATIC INTERPRETATION .......................................................................54

Brand Awareness .......................................................................................55
Awareness vs. Availability ............................................................55
Cost vs. Value ................................................................................58
Brand Importance...........................................................................63
Brand Choice .............................................................................................66
Appearance and Style ....................................................................67
Fit and Comfort ..............................................................................70
Price ...............................................................................................72
Competing Brands .........................................................................79
Previous Experience.......................................................................83
Brand Meaning...........................................................................................87
Family and Friends ........................................................................87
The Workplace Context .................................................................91
The Social Context .........................................................................95
Understanding the Young Indian Consumer..............................................98
The Emergence of the Mall............................................................99
Being from vs. Moving to the City ..............................................102
Married vs. Single ........................................................................106
Jugaadu ........................................................................................107
Summary ..................................................................................................110

V. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .........................................................112

Brands and the Young Indian Consumer .................................................113
Brands and the Decision-Making Process ...............................................118
Problem Recognition ...................................................................118
Information Search.......................................................................119
Evaluation of Alternatives ...........................................................121
Product Choice and Outcomes .....................................................123
Consumer Decision-Making Styles .............................................124
Practical Implications...............................................................................129
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Segmentation of Participants .......................................................129
Marketing Potential ......................................................................135
Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research ..................................138

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................143

APPENDIX A. FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS .............................................................160

APPENDIX B. SPOUSAL DYAD QUESTIONS...........................................................161

APPENDIX C. TEMPLATE FOR OBSERVATION .....................................................163

APPENDIX D. CONSENT FORM .................................................................................164

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